[jwcarlson]

Can you spot the queen here?

 

[drlonzo]

Looking mighty nice!

 

[jwcarlson]

Does she look Carniolan to you guys?

 

[drlonzo]

Does she look Carniolan to you guys?

Nope, she's a Cordoban Italian. Lower part of the pic center to right. Long pretty Cordoban Italian Queen. Carni Queens are dark, almost pure black looking..

 

[jwcarlson]

That's exactly what I thought on the first queen I got and the same with this one, but the very tip of her abdomen is a bit darker.

This is the second "Carni" queen from this supplier that's looked exactly like that. I have two more packages to pick up next weekend. I'll be curious to see if they look the same.

 

[drlonzo]

Here's a pic from the net of an actual Carniolan Queen. Also look up Michael Palmer on youtube and take a look at his bees. Carni's is what he runs.

 

[drlonzo]

Something else to think about is that most of the companies that are shaking bees for packages such as CFKohnen & Sons from CA have so many carni hives that they can shake carni bees into the package to go with the carni queens. I'm not saying that you can't get a carni like that as there is the Cordoban trait possible in ALL bee lines, but i would suspect them being italian all the way myself.

 

[jwcarlson]

Here's a pic from the net of an actual Carniolan Queen. Also look up Michael Palmer on youtube and take a look at his bees. Carni's is what he runs.

View attachment 10335

Yeah, I know. Beggers can't be choosers I guess. The package supplier (a middle man for C F Koehnen in this case) said that because of a failure of some sort in their truck, packages containing Italian queens were hit very hard and that most of their customers looking for Italians would have to settle for Carniolans. Which is what I wanted and what I ordered to begin with... That queen was "no good" and was rejected, or chilled, or some combination of dead. The replacement queen is the one pictured and she looks very similar to the first. I remember looking at both of them thinking, "Carniolan's must have a wide range of colors."

I'm not caught up on it although I was hoping for Carni's because of the overwintering capabilities and consensus that they are better for northern climates. I'm just glad we have a happy hive and a laying queen!
Maybe the next two packages will be Carni's and we'll have some ability to compare the two races.

http://www.koehnen.com/#!queens/c215j

I've looked at this page more than once the last couple weeks and scratched my head.

 

[drlonzo]

Possibly. However if you are looking for a good Carni to overwinter with, etc, you can always contact M Palmer. He raises queens and sells them all season long from about End of may i believe. You can always requeen and have her genetics in the hive within 60 days. May be an option if you really do want Carni blood lines.

 

[jwcarlson]

Possibly. However if you are looking for a good Carni to overwinter with, etc, you can always contact M Palmer. He raises queens and sells them all season long from about End of may i believe. You can always requeen and have her genetics in the hive within 60 days. May be an option if you really do want Carni blood lines.

I've considered that (either Palmer or Bush queens), but justifying putting more money into them seems a bit goofy at this point. We were planning one package and then trying to bait swarms. Of course like most things, when word gets out people are interested. The landowner at one of the places we hunt wants more honey bees around. He and his wife we planning on buying some bees and "throwing them in the woods". While that may be a perfectly valid way of trying to get more bees, I told him that's a lot like throwing a $100 bill into a crowd and hoping it blows back to you. He wants us to keep a hive at his place so since I'm driving 3.5 hours I figured we might as well buy another package and get two hives going at my brothers and one at the land owners. If we catch swarms, I guess we'll have to figure out what to do at that point.

I've wanted to keep bees since I was a kid and my dad and grandpa kept them. They quit during the tough years after continually losing all of their bees. I've been out of college for about six years now and have finally found my way back home. I am blessed to have a brother who has enough of a yard to keep them in as well as an understanding wife. I have very fond memories of extracting honey in my grandpa's garage on cold fall days with the wood burning stove burning away. Unfortunately he isn't around to see it, but my dad certainly seems to be getting the bug again. I've already told him he might wake up one morning with a nuc in his yard if/when we get to the point of needing to split.