Allen Dick writes:
 
> The Carniolan has the reputation of being conservative in the fall and
> winter, yet building up rapidly  from small winter populations in the
> spring.  They also have a reportedly a longer lifespan than many
> bees.
 
One of our hives of Carniolans when fetched back from the heather
(damp coastal air seems to be necessary for our heather to have
usable amounts of nectar) had superceded their queen and although we
were certain that she was a virgin we overwintered the hive as per
normal. Absolutely all the heather honey was taken in mid-Sept
(problems with digestive wastes otherwise) and the hive given
sugar syrup for the winter. At this time there was NO brood.
 
After a long, cold, wet spring the hives came to life again and
examination showed that the queen was indeed a virgin, producing
prodigous quantities of drone brood. She was duly dispatched (a job I
hate doing) and two frames of eggs moved in from our strongest hive.
A well formed queen cell was produced (may have been more than one, we
stopped interfering as soon as we saw the first) and has duly hatched
and mated and is now laying quite well.
 
It is now June 9th., the hive is still well populated and working
away at fetching pollen and nectar. I find this amazing and had fully
expected the hive to dwindle long before the queen was "up and going".
 
The vast majority of the foraging force currently working away
hatched before the second week of Sept last year!!!!!!
 
Aren't bees wonderful creatures?
 
Cheers Tony,
Trondheim 63-26 N 10-45 E
------------------------------------------------------
Anthony N Morgan,
Forsteammanuensis
Institutt for Elektroteknikk
Hogskolen i Sor-Trondelag
N-7005 Trondheim, Norway
Tlf. 73 55 96 04
Fax. 73 55 95 81