Hello again,
I have the apis mellifera carnica, also called „Grey bee“. It is a very quiet and peaceful kind. Usually I don´t work with protective cloths. In winter the population becomes small, so they need less food then Buckfast or Ligustica bees. In spring the population grows very fast.
Negative is just that they like to swarm, but I think this characteristic came from former times, because the beekeepers propagated with swarms and used very small hives.
My hive type: I make the hives by myself from spruce timber. I use 10 frames per body, the frame size is 16.5x6.25 inches. In summer I usually use three bodies for breeding, no Queen excluder and then two honey bodies.
My Queen production: I use the Nicot system, have a Starter and a Finisher. When the Queens are eclosed, they come into “Apidea”-hives. This hives I bring up to a farmer in the mountains for copulation.
My honey: I don’t roam with my bees, so I only can harvest two kinds of honey: floral honey in May (major constituent is dandelion) and sylvan honey in end of July (major constituents are spruce and raspberry).
Pics will fallow…
Regards,
Hary