Italian or Carniolan ?

[gottabee]

I am a recent beekeeper. I have five hives, 4 Italian and 1 ferel. I have had good luck but am interested in results Carniolan vs Italian. If you have kept both I would be interested in your comparisions. Can you give me a few pointers?

Also would you keep both Italians and Carniolans in the same yard?

[Michael Bush]

Italians are, as Marion Ellis called them one day, "brood rearing fools".  Carniolans are more frugal.  If the weather is decent the Italians are rearing brood.  The Italians overwinter with a bigger cluster than the Carniolans and eat more stores in dearths because they don't have sense to cut back.  The Carnis fly in colder weather, stop rearing brood in a dearth and cut back to a small cluster in the winter and need a lot less stores.

I like them both, but I prefer the Carniolans for my climate.  I'd say in the deep south the Italians would probably do better.

[Horns Pure Honey]

In Illinois Italians seem to work for me the best. :)

[Finsky]

I kept carniolas 10 years but some year they were awfull to swarm,. I do not like them any more. Italian are god. Italians are many traces, bad ones and good ones. When I took italians again, my average yield jumped 80%.