Buckfast bees in Ieland

Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum

Help Support Beekeeping & Apiculture Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.

sorbus

New Bee
Joined
Feb 2, 2013
Messages
5
Reaction score
0
Location
Ireland
Hive Type
None
Are there any Irish beekeepers in south Leinster who keep Buckfast bees?
 
May be a good idea to contact the Irish Buckfast Beekeepers’ Association, or one of the other Buckfast breeders in Ireland.
 
May be a good idea to contact the Irish Buckfast Beekeepers’ Association, or one of the other Buckfast breeders in Ireland.

Its a good slap on the face for the Irish Black Bee breeders whom wish to have purer strains of native bees in Ireland...

Not very considerate wanting to keep buckfast in South East.

Busy Bee

PS. Sorry "Hivemaker"
 
Its a good slap on the face for the Irish Black Bee breeders whom wish to have purer strains of native bees in Ireland...

Not very considerate wanting to keep buckfast in South East.

Busy Bee

PS. Sorry "Hivemaker"

Irish Buckfast breeders/keepers are keeping bees, as is their right, in all parts of Ireland. The onus is on each keeper to control matings if they wish to be able to determine the outcome. I have an 80 mile round trip to my mating apiary but it's worth it to be able to keep docile (much abused word in beekeeping circles), healthy, productive bees.
 
Irish Buckfast breeders/keepers are keeping bees, as is their right, in all parts of Ireland. The onus is on each keeper to control matings if they wish to be able to determine the outcome. I have an 80 mile round trip to my mating apiary but it's worth it to be able to keep docile (much abused word in beekeeping circles), healthy, productive bees.

"Docility" unfortunately I have been on the recieving end of a 1st cross Black & Tan not a very nice thing to experience, in their purer form of each yes docility is noticeable. However there is always the "cause and effect" theory.

The "cause" for perfect strain and the "effect" of our meesing with nature. How the hell can we expect to replicate native stains in our existence when 4 million years of evolution has taken place. We're the ******** whom moved strains from their evolved location to where they are now, shame on us. Why can't we just leave things the way they are.

Busy Bee
 
Totally agree Pbee.The Buckfast bee is back on these islands and the people who breed and keep them generally have experimented with other bees including the "native bee" and have found the Buckfast superior.The proper breeding material and queens can be obtained through people like Hivemaker who is I think doing a great thing in resurrecting the Dartmoor mating site and making authentic lines of Buckfast available.I may be one of the most northly Buckfast keepers in Ireland and if not would like to contact anybody who is further north I have obtained proper Buckfast stock and found them vastly superior in ever way in our rain soaked climate compared to anything I have kept in the last Twenty years.
 
"Docility" unfortunately I have been on the recieving end of a 1st cross Black & Tan not a very nice thing to experience, in their purer form of each yes docility is noticeable. However there is always the "cause and effect" theory.

The "cause" for perfect strain and the "effect" of our meesing with nature. How the hell can we expect to replicate native stains in our existence when 4 million years of evolution has taken place. We're the ******** whom moved strains from their evolved location to where they are now, shame on us. Why can't we just leave things the way they are.

Busy Bee

Practicality not purity is the driver of selective breeding. The natural characteristic of Amm is to be defensive and what I need is big colonies that I can do the necessary manipulations on with the minimum of gear and fuss. The majority used to Amm or unselected hybrids who see a good Buckfast stock being worked leave with food for thought. There is no problem maintaining Amm but it needs more effort in terms of controlled mating.
 
Totally agree Pbee.The Buckfast bee is back on these islands and the people who breed and keep them generally have experimented with other bees including the "native bee" and have found the Buckfast superior.The proper breeding material and queens can be obtained through people like Hivemaker who is I think doing a great thing in resurrecting the Dartmoor mating site and making authentic lines of Buckfast available.I may be one of the most northly Buckfast keepers in Ireland and if not would like to contact anybody who is further north I have obtained proper Buckfast stock and found them vastly superior in ever way in our rain soaked climate compared to anything I have kept in the last Twenty years.

:iagree::iagree::iagree:. I've made a better living since I changed to the Buckfast bee, lovely & easy to work with, low swarming and great honey getters. And I've tried them all: Buckfast winner1st:
 
Hi sorbus. I see that this is your first post , so I take it you are a newbe to beekeeping. By south leinster, I take it you mean wexford, Waterford, carlow , kilkenny area. AS far as I am aware all of leinster is the strong hold for our native bee apis mellifera mellifera, or our local brown bee. There is pockets of Buckfast splashed around the county in sligo, mayo, leitrim, cork and cavan, and maybe another few isolated spots around the country. Unfortunately when Buckfast queens mate out with native bees, the side effect is extreme aggression, to the extent that they are just about capable of bursting the tires on your car, and have reduced many a beekeeper to tears. You are 100% entitled to keep any bee you like, but my advice to you, is to find out from your local association what type of bees that your neighbors keep and go with that. To keep Buckfast pure, you will have to be constantly importing new queens or you will want to be in an very isolated part of the country with your nearest beekeeping neighbor over 10 miles away.
 
The "cause" for perfect strain and the "effect" of our meesing with nature. How the hell can we expect to replicate native stains in our existence when 4 million years of evolution has taken place. We're the ******** whom moved strains from their evolved location to where they are now, shame on us. Why can't we just leave things the way they are.

Busy Bee

Easy, tiger. This isn't the pesticides section.

Ask yourself when the last ice age was... :)
 
.
Buckfast is very native to Britain, because it has born there. Lets forget the guy Adam was from Germany.

Irish people are from Spain. I do not know have they got new blood since Ice Age from Vikings?

.
 
Unfortunately when Buckfast queens mate out with native bees, the side effect is extreme aggression, to the extent that they are just about capable of bursting the tires on your car, and have reduced many a beekeeper to tears.
So, the problem in this particular scenario is caused by the AMM in the equation and not the Buckfast.
 
So, the problem in this particular scenario is caused by the AMM in the equation and not the Buckfast.

Don't know how you worked out the simple maths on that. The whole of the leinster area is dominant with native /local bees and then you say that when you import foreigners into the area, then it's the locals that are the problem.
 
.
What other domestic animals are restricted in UK that they must be only native?

.
 
Its a good slap on the face for the Irish Black Bee breeders whom wish to have purer strains of native bees in Ireland...
"

They should use artificial insemination like Hivemaker uses when he want to keep off the Irish Native Blacks.


Accordin internet there is a Native Irish Black Bee in the picture.

To me it looks like Carniolan mongrel.

Apis-mellifera-mellifera.jpg



http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjw71/galleries/72157626456150461/

.
 
Last edited:
They should use artificial insemination like Hivemaker uses when he want to keep off the Irish Native Blacks.


Accordin internet there is a Native Irish Black Bee in the picture.

To me it looks like Carniolan mongrel.

Apis-mellifera-mellifera.jpg



http://www.flickr.com/photos/wjw71/galleries/72157626456150461/

.

The correct terminology in beekeeping is Instrumental insemination not artificial insemination. It’s a very specialised expensive piece of equipment and you are now saying that over 3 thousand beekeepers in Ireland should invest in this, so a handful can continuously bring in foreign imports. HUH !!!!

For once I sort of agree with you that the bee in the picture is a not a dark native bee, but I think it looks more like a Buckfast hybrid
 
The correct terminology in beekeeping is Instrumental insemination not artificial insemination. It’s a very specialised expensive piece of equipment and you are now saying that over 3 thousand beekeepers in Ireland should invest in this, so a handful can continuously bring in foreign imports. HUH !!!!

For once I sort of agree with you that the bee in the picture is a not a dark native bee, but I think it looks more like a Buckfast hybrid
I think it should be called artificial insemination as that is what it is AI and they called it that for years, it just that it's done with an instrument and not the drone himself. So I think you can call AI or II both the same:facts:
 

Latest posts

Back
Top