Carinthia save the Carnica bee-huge queen campaign!

Carinthia save the Carnica bee-huge queen campaign!

Völkermarkt, Österreich - The Carnica breeding group Karawanken has been committed to maintaining and increasing the Carnica Bee since its foundation in 2008. This breed of bees is of crucial importance for pollination in Carinthia and overall for the domestic landscape. The group consists of 34 members, the majority of whom are cultural and traditional beekeepers. Their commitment aims to maintain the genetic purity of the bees and avoid hybrids. In order to achieve this, young queens are mated in the Kočnatal, where professional breeders carry out performance tests and sell hundreds of queens, mainly in Carinthia. [Click-Kaernten] reports that all beekeepers can use the attendant, whereby a health certificate is required to prevent bee diseases.

The breeding group pays special attention to the promotion of hobby beekeepers. A special campaign is offered for this, which applies to the first 50 hobby and traditional beekeepers from Völkermarkt and Wolfsberg. Two queens can be handed over for only 20 euros, the usual price is 48 euros. This initiative is intended to support the beekeeping in sub -Carinthia and promote the genetic diversity of bees. Interested beekeepers can contact chairman Patrick Achatz on 0650/7781691 or the deputy Harald Sadjak at 0664/3881105.

The condition of beekeeping in Austria

In Austria, around 33,000 beekeepers are active, who look after around 450,000 bee colonies. These figures are crucial for securing pollination from both wild and agricultural crops. However, the structure of beekeeping has changed over the years. From 1990 to 2000, a decline was observed in both the number of beekeepers and the bee colonies. However, the number has remained stable since 2000, although fluctuating numbers are recorded. According to [BIEE-Oesterreich], the average number of bee colonies per company has been around 13 peoples in recent years.

The development of beekeeping in Austria also shows the challenges and opportunities that shape this industry. An overview of the past few years illustrates these trends:

The beekeeping in Austria is mainly structured in small business. Hobby beekeepers mainly act, while professional beekeepers only make up about 1.5% of the total number, but look after 20% of bee colonies. Beekeeping is particularly common in the federal states of Upper Austria, Lower Austria and Styria, where almost 60% of the companies are located. These beekeepers are organized in various associations, including local associations, nine regional associations as well as the Austrian beekeeping association (ÖIB) and the Austrian employment beekeeping association (Öeib). The umbrella organization of all associations, [bee-Austria], is the "Bee Austria" association.