Beekeeping is one of the most profitable sectors of agriculture. In order for it to generate income, you must first select a productive breed of bees, one of which is karnika or Krainskaya. Species features of karniks, as well as the advantages and disadvantages of the breed will be discussed below.

Characteristics and features of the breed

Karnika is a naturally occurring breed of bees. The breed was first discovered in the county of Karnik in what is now Slovenia. In 1880, the bees were given the official name Apis mellifica carnica Polltn. A little later, scientists came to the conclusion that the distribution area of ​​the breed is much larger. Since the end of the XIX century, insects began to be sold in different parts of the world.

Did you know? During the wintering period, bees do not empty the intestines at all.

The breed has good adaptive abilities. With the help of breeding, many strains of this breed were obtained. The main feature of this breed is its calm behavior, which allows not to use smoke and a protective mask on the honey collection. This feature has been preserved in artificially bred individuals. According to many owners of such bees, the uterus continues to worm, even being on the frame in the hands. In addition to this feature, bees are distinguished by high productivity and reduced susceptibility to diseases.

Karnika tolerates winters and quickly adapts to climate change. Unlike other breeds, strawberries consume less feed during the winter. For wintering and spring feeding of brood, a swarm of 6 kg of honey is enough.

Specific features:

1. The manufacture of propolis is determined by subspecies diversity. Some bee colonies do not produce this product at all. Southern species produce much more similar products than those living in the northern regions.
2. All bee colonies, regardless of the line, produce a white signet - this is an indicator of the quality work of the strawberry bees.
3. High organizational ability - strawberry bees build honeycombs even in the presence of negative influence factors (weather conditions, temperature changes, lack of uterus).

Varieties of breed

Karnika and its main lines:

• foot;
• Slenar
• trizek;
• hollesberg;
• varroatolerant.

Peshets

Peshets is one of the oldest lines of the Karnik view. The initial brood in terms of breeding is completely lost. The line was bred in conditions of a limited number of families, against the background of too aggressive drones of Italian bees. To preserve pure breedness, separate points of purebred breeding were used. Also, regular feeding was carried out with the original animals, which were carefully preserved by the author of the breed. After the death of the author, the breed was completely lost, and until today only a small number of subpopulations of the species in question have survived in Germany.

Characteristics of subpopulations of peshets:

• assiduous calm bees;
• work well with early bribes;
• differ in high productivity on different types of melliferous plants;
• when mating within the genus, positive characters are completely transmitted to the offspring;
• with free mating, positive pedigree traits remain within F1 and F2, making it suitable for hybridization;
• develop early, peak falls in May, tends to persist until September;
• Families effectively use 2 bribes, if they have a third, they take it for him, they remain working on long bribes;
• the uterus continues oviposition until mid-October;
• average degree of maturity - is eliminated by standard methods;
• with a sufficient bribe and a voluminous hive, loyalty is not observed at all.

Slenar

The slenar line is super-aggressive. The peculiarity of the line is that the bees do not stack honey in the nesting part, i.e. in the case there is sowing from plank to plank, and in the next case honey. With a three-case content, the bee bread is in the lower tier. A serious minus of the line is the inability to reproduce parental characteristics when mating with individuals of other breeds.

Important! The line slenar is used in breeding only for crossing within the line. Combination with other breeds gives increased viciousness and loyalty.

Characteristics of the sclenar line:

• the bees are extremely assiduous and not evil, thanks to which they can be bred even in urban conditions;
• positive qualities are inherited with purebred mixing; in F1, quality indicators fluctuate;
• the uterus late stops worming, so families are effective in late honey plants;
• progressive development, families are more often than average size, large ones can form only in the autumn before wintering;
• loyalty is not expressed.

Troisek

The line is one of the oldest. Refers to German breeding.

Important! The uterus Trozek stops worming when the average daily temperature is kept at 0 ° C for 3 days. When the temperature rises to + 5 ° C, it is able to resume scarring even in the winter months, which should be taken into account when breeding this breed to ensure comfortable conditions.

Main characteristics of the trizek line:

• a constant sign is exceptional calm and perseverance on the framework;
• the position regarding hybridization is not unambiguous, with purebred - the characters are fully preserved, in F1 with free mating the characters are partially preserved, in F2 they completely disappear;
• progressive development, peak in June;
• nests are large, can occupy the area of ​​three buildings;
• the uterus stops laying in November;
• average maturity - easily eliminated by standard methods, can increase dramatically if there is a uterus in the hive from the age of 2 years.

  

Hollesberg

The most common line among beekeepers. Its distinguishing feature - increased productivity - is much higher in comparison with other breeds. They show good effectiveness on all types of honey plants, regardless of the season.

Hollesberg is characterized by large strong families that can occupy up to 4 buildings. The uterus stops worming late. Medium-sized swarming - eliminated with standard techniques. The breed is suitable for dual-uterine maintenance.

Varroatolerantz

Varroatosis is a real disaster for beekeeping farms. It is caused by a tick of varroa. During the observation, it was noted that strawberry bees are able to independently remove ticks and dispose of them from their own hive. This made it possible to isolate a certain number of the most stable individuals and to draw a line resistant to varroatosis.

The line is characterized by smaller sizes of insects. They build small cells, forming small families. They have practically no swarm. The species retained its meekness and high productivity.

Appearance

The weight of the Karnik bee varies from 180–235 g. The color is gray-silver. A yellow hue indicates the mixing of several breeds. The abdomen is pointed. The proboscis is 6.5 mm long.

Features of bees

Uterus Karnika are highly fertile. The female is able to lay 2,000 eggs per day. This feature should be taken into account when organizing hives, since the rapid growth of families can lead to swarming.

Swarm Prevention Measures:

• the presence of a sufficient number of additional buildings in the hives;
• regular ventilation of hives;
• limitation of light supplied to the hives;
• separation of the uterus from the nest by the lattice during the expansion.

After strengthening, the uterus needs to be changed. This is best done in the spring.

Important! The first spring offspring of Karnik bees can be aggressive, unlike subsequent ones.

Anger among bees of this breed is rare, therefore, they are characterized by a quiet change of the uterus. Insects can independently carry out this process without human intervention. This happens if the old uterus is sick or has drastically reduced fertility. Bees bookmark the queen cells, from which a new queen appears. After its appearance, a new uterus kills the old.

Advantages and disadvantages of the breed

Before buying Karnik families, you need to familiarize yourself with their features and take into account all the pros and cons of insects.

• Advantages of the lines:
• high performance;
• rapid build-up of bee colonies;
• reduced tendency to swarm;
• malice;
• economical absorption of food in the winter;
• high fecundity of uterus, late termination of scarring.

• Disadvantages of bee strawberries:
• Rapid wear of insects due to the late termination of scarfing - in autumn, instead of resting, bees have to carry food in hives for late brood;
• decrease in uterine fertility in the second year of life;
• the need to organize overall hives for keeping large families, which is difficult for beginner beekeepers;
• lack of the ability to maintain positive indicators with free crossing.

Tips from experienced beekeepers for breeding Karnika

Recommendations and comments of experienced beekeepers for breeding Karnik bees:

1. Use multihull hives to provide bees with optimal living space. It is better to give preference to designs with vertical expansion.
2. Hives can be placed at a great distance from each other. This breed shows an excellent orientation on the ground, so it is easy to find a home.
3. Be sure to monitor the cleanliness of the hive - this will help to avoid problems with morbidity. Although bees produce a small amount of propolis, it still accumulates on the walls and frames, so it should be removed periodically.
4. Use the services of a veterinarian and be sure to invite him to bees every 3 months.
5. Carry out a uterus change on a spring brood.

Did you know? To build one honeycomb cell, bees need 100,000 particles of pollen.

Strawberry bees show excellent productivity even under adverse conditions, making them very popular among beekeepers. The brood output is much larger than that of other individuals.