Krajina bee is the most productive breed, which is very popular in Europe. These insects have high productivity, but there is no whimsicality, they are also valued in Russia. Homeland of bees Yugoslavia and Alps Australia. The beekeepers believe that the characteristics of these individuals combine the best indicators of the Caucasian and Carpathian bees.
Origin
Previously, the main habitats were Carinthia and Upper Kraina. In the old sources, these bees were called Carnian, a little later they also had other names: Krainsky and Carinthian.
In 1880, the official name Apis mellifica carnica Polltn appeared, then experts realized that this species of bees actually occupies a much larger area:
- Romania;
- Hungary;
- Carpathians;
- Bulgaria;
- Slovakia;
- Greece.
By the end of the 19th century, these bees began to be sold to other countries. Krajin bees outperformed even dark German ones in productivity and resistance to disease and climate. Soon they appeared in all European countries and the best reviews went about them.
Description and specifications
The main difference of the Krajina bee is that it is not like other bees, because instead of the yellow color inherent in bees, they have it gray with silver. The border is very thick, and the hair is short, so it seems to be shaggy.
The sizes of such bees are not large:
- working bees weigh 105 g;
- the uterus is also small from 185 to 205 g;
- drones weigh 230 g.
The proboscis of insects is not long and reaches only 6.6 mm, in rare cases it reaches 8 mm.
Types of Krajina bees
There are several types of Krajina bees, the most popular are considered below:
Bee species | Description |
Peshets | One of the oldest varieties, in order to maintain them, isolated places for crossing and a constant increase in the population with material that the author originally preserved were observed. Experts have worked hard to save this species, so today there are a lot of them. |
Karnika Troisek | One of the old breeding species of the Karin bee, they are clean, not prone to swarming, friendly. A family is developing with great growth in early summer. The uterus late stops laying eggs, but at a temperature of +5 this can resume even in winter. |
Troisek Wintersbach | Bees are resistant to diseases, brood is average, friendly, not fastidious to food, the rate of development is high. They give good productivity, so such bees are perfect for industrial beekeeping. |
A mixture of strawberries and northern bees | The brood begins late, but it’s good that when a bribe comes, they increase their strength. They need spacious hives, in winter their strength does not weaken, as in many other varieties. |
Troisek Celle | The bees are calm, the swarm is weak. It is not necessary to cross them with others, because nothing good will come of it. |
Karnika Sklenar | This species differs from others in strong aggressiveness. High rates come at a later date. It is impossible to cross them, since the new generation will have a bad character, weak performance and a strong swarm. |
Productivity
Krajin bees can give a lot of honey. For a day, the family is able to collect from 6 to 15 kg of honey, depending on the number of bees in the hive.
Even in poor honey gatherings, they have the ability not to lose their productivity. This is due to the size of the proboscis and the ability to take nectar with low sugar content. The excellent profitability of Krajinsky depends on the fact that they are economical in terms of winter costs.
The Queen's fertility reaches 1400-2000 eggs per year, and this is not enough. The high survival rate of young animals has a positive effect on farm profits.
The behavior of the Krajina bee
Krajin bees are very calm, friendly and have no malice. Insects will never sting a person for no reason. The beekeeper can open the hive without the presence of a mask and carry out the necessary manipulations, they will not touch him.
This type of bees lay a lot of wax and is happy to build. In one season, about 15 new frames may appear in one hive. The stripes are beautiful and the print is dry and white.
Advantages and disadvantages
A small drawback of these bees is swarming, in this case they are very similar to the breed of backfast. But if the bees are provided with proper care, then this drawback is absent in large honey collections. Even if swarming sets in, with timely measures taken, they abandon this business and do the work. You can also note a small amount of propolis.
As for the pros, they are as follows:
- high efficiency;
- explosion in development in spring;
- early readiness for wintering;
- disease resistance;
- large honey collection;
- profitability in winter;
- calm nature;
- ability to navigate in space.
These bees will never confuse their hive with a stranger; they protect their own nests around the clock.
Honey collection
These bees are fast in development, with the onset of spring, the family instantly builds up strength and gives early melliferous plants.
The productivity characteristic is very high, but they give the best results in the early stages, and this happens in early spring. They can actively engage in their work when the air temperature reaches 11 degrees Celsius.
This variety is not sensitive to small honey collections, but at the first opportunity they switch to good indicators. This breed shows the best indicators on red clover, but in other places they are also able to show their skills. Bees fly out of their houses even in bad weather with little rain, when other species of bees do not even come out of the tray.
First, the bees fill the brood with honey, and then they switch to store sales. Product print is mostly light and dry.
Wintering of Krajina bees
Families of Krajina bees prepare in advance for wintering as soon as the main summer bribe is completed. The intake of nectar in the hives ceases, the uterus ceases to lay eggs.
Krajin bees tolerate a change in temperature, or rather its increase. Regarding cold resistance, only Central Russian bees can give in to it. But the Caucasian bee does not tolerate cooling as well as the Krainsky.
Beekeepers have recently referred to the characteristic features of spasmodic development. Insects winter in weak families. From stocks for the winter, 8 full frames. To date, European stores have begun to offer extensions that allow you to expand the hives. Since then, Krajin bees are propagated in full-fledged strong families.
Swarming and methods of prevention
As already known, Krajin bees are prone to swarming. Now the question is, what should the beekeeper do to prevent this? How to save part of the insects in the spring? Swarming occurs in connection with:
- a decrease in pheromones in the queen bee, as a result of this there are many drones;
- young bees on the basis of instinct are ready to collect nectar, but it is not there yet, so they begin to swarm.
The first signs that the swarm is about to begin are as follows: the Krajina bees have stopped construction and are not flying out of their houses, and the queen is debugging fewer eggs. This can be stopped in time or not allowed at all:
- strengthen ventilation in the house, to stimulate the further structure;
- reduce the light in the hive.
In addition, many beekeepers prevent swarming by expanding the nests with a multi-case design. Thus, the uterus is separated from the brood by a grid to avoid overloading the bees. That is, the uterus can multiply freely, and working bees bring more nectar.
Bee disease
The beekeeper has to deal with various diseases of bees very rarely, since they are resistant to them. This is especially true for decay and nosematosis. Insects are energetic and they are characterized by high vitality, they almost never suffer from anything. In recent years, only calcareous offspring is often found.
Treatment of ascospherosis (calcareous offspring)
A variety of bee karnik can suffer from ascospherosis. This ailment causes the Ascosphaera apis fungus, which infects larvae of any species. The fungus itself will not go anywhere from the hive, because it has high viability. This insidious mushroom must be eliminated by beekeepers.
You can find out that the larvae are infected with ascospherosis by their appearance: a white calcareous coating appears on them. The fungus grows both on the body and from the inside, so the bodies of the larvae will increase in size. If you do not take measures, then in the end the larva simply turns into a piece of stone, which the bees themselves throw out of the hive.
Infection occurs due to increased moisture at lower air temperatures. In second place, the reason may be non-compliance with hygiene standards when caring for the hive. If the beekeeper works with dirty equipment, then bees can freely get infected with ascospherosis.
If the infection did occur, then you must immediately take measures, throw out the frame with the infected larvae, and treat the hive with Ascocin, Unisan or Nystatin. You can resort to folk methods by wrapping crushed garlic in gauze and place in a beehive, where all bees will be relocated for a while.
Reviews
Positive feedback from beekeepers is driven by high productivity.
Vasily Potapkin, 48 years old. I bought Krajin bees on the advice of a friend and didn’t regret it at all, since these insects can produce 30% more honey than other types of bees, and you’ll taste your fingers. I also want to say about the wintering, they tolerate winter well, do not get sick, do not die, even in the Russian harsh climate.
Ekaterina Voilova. Transcarpathia. I inherited these bees from my father, I did not know how to care for them, but it turned out to be simple, they are friendly, do not bite, you can work with them even without special equipment. In addition, the bees are working, they bring a lot of honey, you can earn a lot of it.
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Krajina bee is perfect for industrial production, because it has high productivity. They are also economical in winter, consuming little food. In addition to good features, they have the ability to swarm, but with timely measures this can be avoided.
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Russia. Krasnodar city
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