Carol,
In today's times, it is difficult to find a "stock" of any particular race of
bees that
has maintained the good points and the bad points that have been assigned to
that race many times in the past.  This is NOT true of the Italian or
Carniolan races, because some highly knowledgeable genetic scientists have
artificially inseminated thousands of queens and selected certain daughters
to be bred in an attempt to "purify" the race back to how it was originally
portrayed centuries ago.

As far as know, not much such work has been done with Apis mellifera caucasia,
because the race was never really very popular in the U. S.  Why? It is well
established that it uses an over abundant amount of propolis; and it does
really
start population building until quite late in the season in comparison with
the
Italian and particularly the Carniolan.  After all the Caucasian race's
native home
is the Asian mountains, which require a good bit of "weather-stripping" with
propolis to keep out the cold winter winds, and in this climate, spring is
late in
coming, like June rather than April or May.

Twenty years ago, when I was scientifically trying various races to fine that
which I deemed the most suitable for our EARLY strong nectar flow in Maryland
starting in mid April and becoming intense in May, the Caucasian race was a
miserable failure
because they were "still asleep" in April and May and the queens had not
really laid
much brood.  Further, the over abundance of propolis just made a mess of
beekeeping.

Although I switched from Italians to Carniolans 54 years ago (1948) to take
advantage of the Carniolan's "explosive" late winter (very early spring)
buildup,
I would also say that for most people a GOOD STOCK Italian that has been bred
by a
highly skilled queen breeder is HARD TO BEAT.  You must realize that there
are some
very highly skilled and knowledgeable queen breeders in the U. S., and there
is also a bundle of queen producers who don't know the first thing about
genetic behavior.
By the selection of a highly knowledgeable queen breeder rather than just a
queen producer, might be all you need to make you happy.  Inquire around and
learn WHO are
highly respected queen breeders, and who are officials of prominent
associations
like the National Honey Board, the American Beekeeper Federation, and perhaps
EAS.

I still prefer Carniolans for Central Maryland beekeeping in spite of their
propensity to swarm, because our TOTAL nectar yielding period is DONE AND
OVER for the year by June 10th, and the Carnies hit full strength by April
1st, so I get very high yields of honey compared other beekeepers who cannot
seem to handle Carniolan swarming.

I hope I have helped.

George Imirie
Certified EAS Master Beekeeper
Ending my 70th year of beekeeping in Maryland and Northern Virginia
Past President of Maryland State Beekeepers
Author of ABF's Newsletter Hobbyist Tips  bimonthly
Author of George's PINK PAGES at www.beekeeper.org/george_imirie/index.html
and www.cybertours.com/~midnitebee/