When I began beekeeping, I was “buzzing” with excitement, and did a lot of research regarding various bee breeds and their known characteristics. When it came time to start my own hive, I debated about the kind of honey bee I should invest in. There are many bee breeds available for novice apiarists, including great standard varieties, as well as newer varieties. I have tried both standard and new breeds, including Italian, Carniolan, Russian, and Saskatraz honey bees. This article describes my subjective experiences with each of these breeds, my opinion as to whether each breed is good for beginning apiarists, and shares some management techniques that have worked for me with each breed.
Help in deciding what kind of bee to buy.
The most popular bee in the United states is the Italian honey bee. In second place for popularity are Carniolan bees. Both breeds are great for beginners or hobbyists, as they both are known to be very gentle and both produce well within the first year or two. They are also the most recommended and readily available bees to purchase. I have raised both Carniolan and Italian varieties for a number of years and have had great success with them.
I am currently raising Russian bees and Saskatraz bees. These both are becoming my favorite bee breeds for a variety of reasons that I will discuss a little later in the article.
There are many things to consider when choosing what kind of bee to begin your adventure. I will share my research and personal experiences with different honey bee breeds, and depending on your location, climate, and what you value in a breed, hopefully I can assist you in your choice of what bees to buy.
What kinds of honey bees are there?
The main varieties or races of bees available are Italian, Carniolan, and Russian. Some other varieties available are Minnesota Hybrid, Buckfast, as well as a few commercial hybrid varieties. A new variety that has become available more recently is the Saskatraz honey bee.
There are different characteristics and strengths to each race of honey bee. As mentioned above, I will share what I have experienced with the races I have raised. Additionally, I have also researched and visited with apiarists about races that I have not raised and will let you know what I have learned.
My experiences with Carniolan honey bees.
Carniolan honey bees were one of the first bees that I raised. They came from a local supplier. He taught a beginning beekeeping class and offered a discount on bee packages to those who enrolled in his class. He gets his bees from Olvarez Honey Bees Inc. The Olvarez Honey Bee company has a good reputation and is a major supplier for honey bees in the United States. I highly recommend getting your bees from a reputable well-known source, such as Olvarez, especially if it is your first-time raising honey bees.
The Carniolan bees were really healthy and active when I got them. In appearance, they were the classic yellow/orange with darker brown/black stripes — really pretty bees. I installed them into the hive quite easily, noting no aggressive behavior from the bees at all. During that first season, I checked on them often because I was pretty excited to see the progress of my new bees. Again, as I checked on them, I noted that they were not aggressive at all. They grew the comb well, the queen laid plenty of eggs in a good tight pattern, and the brood did exceptionally well.
When it came time to harvest the honey, the Carniolan bees were a little aggressive as I took the honey from the super. I can’t blame them, as I was taking all of their hard work. It took a couple of days after I pulled the frames from their hive for them to settle down.
The Carniolans were wonderful producers. They built up all of the comb for 3 large supers, built up the colony, and were able to produce enough honey for me to take 50 pounds of honey with plenty for them to use for the winter. I was told that generally you don’t get any honey the first year because the bees are using all the resources just to build the hive and the colony itself. I was amazed and overjoyed with my Carniolan bees.
The next year my neighbors started to get honey bees and establish hives all around the neighborhood. The hives were close enough to mine that some intermingling happened. I noticed that my Carniolan bees were not doing as well as the year before. I read up and there had been an increase of varroa mites in the area. I found out that my nifty hive was plagued with varroa mites.
I then put into practice a twice a year treatment for varroa mites. I used a miticide recommended by the beekeeper I took my beekeeping class from. This seemed to work, but really put some stress on the bees. The next year the treatment stressed my hives even more and weakened my Carniolan bees. Through that winter my Carniolan bee colonies died with plenty of food left in the hive.
I started four more Carniolan hives since then with similar results. They start well, then get weaker and finally die or swarm. One colony of Carniolan bees even swarmed and vacated the hive in October. It just didn’t make much sense for the hove to leave in the fall right before winter.
So, my conclusion is that beginning beekeepers do great with Carniolan honey bees. Carniolan honey bees are readily available from good sources. These bees work hard and produce well. They however can die, or collapse with varroa mite and tracheal mite infestations. If you have a location without any other beekeepers around Carniolan honey bees are a great race to use.
Traits of Carniolan honey bees that I have experienced:
- They are a gentle honey bee
- Good honey producer
- Good pollinator
- Successfully used and enjoyed by honey beekeepers for years
- Readily available from reputable producers
- The most popular bee in the United States
- Susceptible to mite infestation
- Not very hygienic, resulting in problems with disease and parasites
- Does not winter well in colder climates
My experience with Italian honey bees
My experience with Italian honey bees is very similar to my experience with Carniolan honey bees. I got Italian honey bees at the same time and from the same source as I got my Carniolan honey bees. I got them from a good local supplier.
The Italian honey bees I got were a little lighter in color to Carniolan honey bees. They were easily installed into the hive. The Italian honey bees were a little more aggressive than the Carniolan bees. The Italian honey bees would try to fend me off when I checked the hive throughout the summer. Not overly aggressive, but noticeably more aggressive than the Carniolan bees. I could check the Carniolan bees without a bee veil, but I would pay the price with stings if I checked the Italian bees without my bee veil.
The Italians were really great producers. They built up the comb, brood, honey, and bee bread really well. They provided enough honey for them to winter over and I harvested 55 pounds of honey from their hive the first year.
Italian honey bees are on par with, or maybe hedge a little above the Carniolan bees. The Italian honey bees are a little more aggressive in my experience, but not overly aggressive. The guard bees of the hive did go after my father a few times as he walked by the hives. He knew to walk away quickly when those guard bees started to bump him.
I also experienced the same steady decline in the health of my Italian bees over the years. The decline coincided with a number of my neighbors establishing several more bee hives. The varroa mite infestation increased and the colonies got weaker. I found my Italian bees dead with plenty of food left in the hive throughout the winter. I never had them completely leave the hive like the Carniolan bees had. I did have the same result in mortality as the Carniolan bees even after varroa mite treatment.
It is interesting to note that all of my neighbors began to have sick and declining bee colonies at this time as well. All my neighbors who tried beekeeping have given up on the idea after their colonies either died or swarmed.
As a beginning beekeeper, Italian bees are an excellent choice to start with. Healthy bee packages are easily and readily available. Italian honey bees have been propagated and used for years and years in the United States. Italian bees are the most popular honey bee breed and often used in the same apiaries as Carniolan honey bees. They are great producers and are relatively gentle. Italian bees are however, susceptible to the mite issues that are becoming a large problem with beekeepers worldwide.
The traits of Italian honey bees that I have experienced:
- Gentle bees
- Good honey producer
- Good pollinator
- Successfully used and enjoyed by beekeepers for years
- Readily available from reputable producers
- One of the most popular honey bees in the United States
- Somewhat prone to swarm
- They are susceptible to mite infestation, virus problems and fungal issues
- Challenged to winter well in colder climate
My experience with Russian honey bees.
I have kept Russian honey bees for the last 3 years. I purchased them from my same local supplier of Olvarez Honey Bees. The Russian honey bees were a little darker in color with less pronounced yellow/orange stripes. The stripes were lighter grey/brown in color.
The Russian honey bees were installed in the same way that I have always installed bee packages. The Russian bees seemed a little more aggressive at this point than the Italian and Carniolan bees.
The Russian bees established a hive quickly and did well. My inspections only needed to be brief ones. I could immediately see that the Russian hives were very vigorous, healthy, with good brood. I was surprised to see that the Russian bees needed a super added to the hive sooner than I had expected.
The Russians produced well and then the test of surviving the winter was at hand. The first winter was rather mild. The Russian hives did well through that winter and really produced the next summer season. They have made it through another winter and summer season and have done well without swarming and succumbing to a varroa or tracheal mite issue. I have not treated them with any miticides either.
I have been keeping the Russian breed of honey bee. I wrote a full article on Russian bees here. If you are interested in the benefits of Russian bees you will find great information on them here.
One factor to consider is that all of my neighbor beekeepers have given up on their hives. All of the hives local to me are dead or have swarmed and vacated the hives. I am the only beekeeper in my general area now. Perhaps that has something to do with my stronger hive and lack of varroa mite problem. The Russian bees are doing very well. They are a little more aggressive than Italian or Carniolan bees, but I am willing to deal with that for how well they are working.
Traits of Russian Honey Bees that I have experienced:
- Mildly aggressive
- Hearty and vigorous
- Prolific makers of propolis
- Becoming more available
- Costs more than Italian and Carniolan bees
- Winter well
- Prone to swarming
- Resistant to varroa mites
My experience with Saskatraz honey bees
I have only have had Saskatraz bees for one summer season and half way through one winter at the time of writing this article. I will update it when I have more to report.
I can update on the Sakatraz bees after a winter and spring. The Sakatraz bees are doing amazingly well! They came through the winter with flying colors. They were so healthy that I was able to split the hive and now both hives are really doing well! I will keep updating, but as of the end of May, both hives have filled a medium super and are ready for additional supers. I have high hopes for these bees.
I installed the Saskatraz bees just like the other bee packages that I have had in the past. The Saskatraz bees look very similar to the Russian bees. Darker in color over all without much orange/yellow, but lighter grey/brown stripes. The temperament of the Saskatraz bees are very similar to the Russian bees as well. They are a little more aggressive than Italian or Carniolan bees. They also produce quite a bit more propolis than the Italian and Carniolan bees.
Extra propolis is a great thing. Honey Bee Propolis is one of the best products of the hive for bee health. I wrote an extensive article here about bee propolis in the hive.
The Saskatraz bees did very well through the summer and produced plenty of honey for me to harvest 25 pounds of honey from the first season. They were a bit aggressive when I harvested the frames from their hive, but not unbearable.
I have not opened the hive this winter. The season has been too cold and snowy to risk it. I have however heard the bees, and all seems to be good so far. I will update this information as time goes on.
The update is that the Sakatraz bee colonies are thriving. I have never had bees this healthy after a long cold winter. I am absolutely impressed with this bee breed. As I stated earlier in the section. Sakatraz bees do great through the winter. I wrote an article on the wintering capabilities of the Sakarraz bee here.
Saskatraz bees are just fairly recently available. They are the result of a fascinating effort to get a honey bee that can resist varroa mites, tracheal mites, virus and fungal issues. These problems are thought to be contributory to colony collapse disorder. I wrote an extensive article here about the Saskatraz bee breed and how they were developed.
Traits of Saskatraz bees that I have experienced:
- Mildly aggressive
- Hearty and vigorous
- Prolific makers of propolis
- Becoming more available
- Costs more than Italian and Carniolan bees
- Winter well
- Prone to swarming
- Resistant to varroa and tracheal mites
- Not as readily available
- Costs more than Italian and Carniolan bees
My research about Buckfast honey bees
Buckfast bees have not been readily available in my area. I have never raised them but have researched them to see if they would be something to try if they become available to me in the future.
Buckfast honey bees are a bee developed in England. A monk at Buckfast Abbey developed them in the early 1900’s. There was a tracheal mite infestation throughout England and many of the honey bee colonies died. The monk, named Brother Adam, took some colonies that survived and led a breeding program to raise bees that were resistant to these tracheal mites. They eventually became commercially available and shipped to Canada and then to the United States.
By all accounts that I have read, Buckfast bees are very good honey producers. They winter well and have great tolerance of tracheal mites. Apparently the only major downfall is when the next generation of queen takes over. When the second-generation queen lays eggs those new bees become more aggressive. It is a common practice of Buckfast bees to re-queen the hive every other year to prevent the colony from becoming too aggressive.
My research about Minnesota honey bees.
Minnesota honey bees are a strain from the Italian honey bee. They have been selectively bred to be resistant to American foul brood disease, and chalk brood disease. The availability of this strain of honey bee has been limited in the past.
The Minnesota hybrid seems to be very similar to the regular Italian honey bee. The exception being with the resistance to American foul brood and Chalk brood. Minnesota hybrid honey bees have also been reported to show some resistance to varroa mites.
My research about commercial hybrid and backyard home reared honey bees.
Sometimes honey bees are available from commercial growers or people trying to produce their honey bee on their own. Generally, the bees that they have available are a large mix of the bee strains that they are using in their own apiaries. The result is nothing near a straight strain of honey bee. This can be somewhat beneficial to the variety of genetics that the bees may have. The downfall is that they can be somewhat unpredictable.
Another positive is that these bees lower in cost. Some of these bees are free for the taking if you catch a swarm. You might get a colony that is a great producer of honey, and you might get a colony that is very susceptible to mite infestation or virus and fungal issues. You just don’t know the characteristics, so it’s difficult to know how to best raise them without problems.
Summary
The breeds that I would recommend to new beekeepers is somewhat dependent on where they are keeping their hives. If there is not much competition and not much chance for neighboring hives to introduce a mite infestation, I would recommend Carniolan or Italian honey bees. They are tried and true and really are great in my experience.
If you are starting your new apiary with some neighbors keeping bees as well, I would lean towards Russian and Saskatraz honey bees. These breeds are a little more aggressive and may require some swarm preventative tactics. They are however more resistant to mite infestation and can winter well if you live in a colder climate.
I would encourage you to get your bees from a good reputable source. This will get you a good quality bee colony to start with.
More information on honey bees.
We have a lot of information on bees and beekeeping on our website. Please feel free to take advantage of all the experience and research that we have. It is practical research and hands on real experience.
A few things that we have found:
- Bee propolis is one of the best antibiotics for your beehive, read about it here.
- Bee Pollen is another product you can collect from the hive. There is a market for it and can be used as a health supplement. I wrote an informative article about bee pollen here.
- Bee pollen and Bee Bread are different things, I wrote about the differences and the way bees use both in an article here.
Beekeeping is fascinating. Please look at the articles that we have written under the beekeeping link at the top of the page. You will find some great information.