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Author Topic: Warm weather & Russians/Carnies. etc.  (Read 1235 times)

Offline greenbtree

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Warm weather & Russians/Carnies. etc.
« on: January 11, 2012, 10:12:51 pm »
50 today - went out and lifted my 6 hives.  4 still seemed good, but 2 were light.  I opened up those two, and they were all the way to the top and just packed with bees.  One was from a southern Italian queen package, one from a swarm I collected - if I had to guess I would say also Italian.  I has started a Russian package this Spring also, but of course, that one failed on me.  I threw on some sugar, mountain camp style, and closed them back up.  We are supposed to finally get Winter tonight with temps in the teens.

So, those of you with different lines - how are your bees handling this weird warm weather?  I know the Russians are supposed to deal with cold well, but what about freaky warm with no forage?

JC
"Rise again, rise again - though your heart it be broken, or life about to end.  No matter what you've lost, be it a home, a love, a friend, like the Mary Ellen Carter rise again!"

Offline backyard warrior

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Re: Warm weather & Russians/Carnies. etc.
« Reply #1 on: January 11, 2012, 11:22:34 pm »
Just wanted to say one thing carnies and russians do well in the winter no doubt but alot of us have to remember that the italians were brought over here many years ago and have lived threw the harsh winters. I think alot of it has to do with natural selection obviously and some years are better than others when it comes to available resources.  Only the strong survive and i found this the case wether it be carnies russians or italians and alot of it has to do with location some areas are better than others  Chris

Offline BjornBee

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Re: Warm weather & Russians/Carnies. etc.
« Reply #2 on: January 12, 2012, 08:24:48 am »
The same positive attributes of Russian and carni lines in cold, also equate to positives in warm winters. here is why....

Russians and carni are much more likely to shut down going into winter (and during dearth periods) as compared to Italians. This based on a stoppage of any fall flow, the shortening of days, night time temps, etc. This means the Russian/carni lines do not get stuck on brood as seen sometimes with Italians. And I also know they go through winter with smaller clusters than the Italians. (This smaller cluster is a reason I use insulated tops and smaller box arrangements than what most bulletins from universities suggest, which is way over blown many times)

So what happens in warmer than usual winters? The Russians and carni lines still for the most part shut down going into winter. But the smaller clusters use far less stores than those mega Italian clusters. And they do fine. That means with Russians and carni lines, the risk of starvation is less, and my feed cost is lower than perhaps Italians would have in the same warm season.

I do know that many of my hives now have more brood than they should, or normally have in colder seasons. So I hope the same weather patterns continue.

Warm weather, cold weather, the bees still benefit from the weather whether cold or warm. With Russian or Italian, whatever the traits are, they are magnified one direction or the other just fine. If you like Russians for their cold weather traits, you probably like their warm winter traits also.


I would imagine that southern producers are jumping for joy as their Italians are probably going to come out of winter with much bigger clusters and build brood faster than in recent years. That is good for them and the bee industry.

I checked one yard two days ago. I lost one full size hive and one nuc, out of 40, so far this year. Both had issues and were tagged as goners. So no big surprise. So I think my Russians and Carni bees are doing great.
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Offline backyard warrior

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Re: Warm weather & Russians/Carnies. etc.
« Reply #3 on: January 12, 2012, 04:28:15 pm »
Mike i agree with you when it comes to the carnies and russians. My carnies and russians arent eating  the fondant  like my italians are.  But most of us i would assume close them up in the fall and dont look till spring a big no no with the italians.  I have a few carnies that havent touch the bags of fondant i have some italians that i have put 10 lbs on already.  I think the italians that make it threw winter like you said with big cluster will be booming come the nectar flow.  I am on the same page as you as far as saying the carnies are less maintence when it comes to feeding in the winter months.  I assume much of the large clusters in the winter result from southern package growers feeding all winter and building up for the spring shakes like you stated. They like the brood producers thats where they make their money.  Unfortunately us that are raising bees for honey and pollination dont want those huge brood nests in the winter cuz we have to check on them and feed the heck out of em, but the up side of it all is if they make it till spring they have a huge hive to collect honey.. then after the flow we have a huge hive to split up into nucs and give a northern over wintered queen to raise nucs threw winter thats just my philosphy we will see what happens come spring that will determine what my thoughts are on the dark bees compared to the light bees.  Chris