Buckfast breeder queen

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I have tried breed my own stock during decades, but it has colapsed several times into inbreeding. 15-18 hives is too small gang to succesfull breeding.

When I have bought queens from real queen breeders, and compared to mine, I have seen the difference to my apiary's genepool.

But that's nothing. It is difficult to keep interest in beekeeping, if it does not make surprises. It is basicly same chewing.

I have bought queens from big beekeepers, I have taken daughters from them, and those have crossed with earlier stock.

This is breeding too to my own needs. Essential is selecting.
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What I try too to select every year too, is good pastures.
 
Quite right....but, choosing a high performing breeder queen (2a) and a high performing drone gradmother (4a) doesn't always give a high performing queen (1a). That is why you have to put them through performance tests to make sure you actually get what theory says you should get (on average).
This is like saying a horse which is the offspring of two champions is itself a champion without ever having run a race. There are always variances.

Yep, theoretically almost imposible to be achieved just in one generation. That is why selecting the best indivuduals every generation and hoping the next will be better it is a neverending process. For the creation of Thoroughbred were used, every generation, only stallions wich were outstanding in the English horce races. This narrow breeding results in a too few foundation ancestors in the pedigree.
As for Buckfast, everybody can see in the pedigree that very few individuals were used throughout the years.

This is a standard way for animal and plant breeding from thousands of years, but somehow in beebreeding is still considered by many as too avand-grade.

It is now 2016, and how to breed, it is not a secret.

Exactly! And I can't believe how it is possible to still exist people on this Earth, who might try to hit the Sun with a bow and arrow!
And have no idea how I should react to a statements like "your foreign bees are interfering my breeding program"
 
And as far local adaptation is concerned and the old dispute wich bee is the "best", there is a very clear example:
In China, Japan, India etc. they have a native bee, which is immune to Nosema, Varroa, Tropilaelaps, Vespa mandarinia.... and YET everybody uses the vulnerable apis mellifera.
 
.... and yet, so few people do it.
Why?
Because it requires effort...a great deal of it....and its easier to talk about than do it

You cannot breed from 2 hives anything. That is why.
Effort does not help.

And you should move your good hives to good pastures and do not let them stand in same point without doing anything. Free experienced advice.

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And you should move your good hives to good pastures and do not let them stand in same point without doing anything. Free experienced advice.

:winner1st: but many are far too lazy to move their hives to different pastures.
 
And as far local adaptation is concerned and the old dispute wich bee is the "best", there is a very clear example:
In China, Japan, India etc. they have a native bee, which is immune to Nosema, Varroa, Tropilaelaps, Vespa mandarinia.... and YET everybody uses the vulnerable apis mellifera.

I looked the yields of Apis cerana from internet. It seems that 7 kg/year is normal yields/ hive per year.

What can mellifera do those areas. Mellifera is not able to live in tropic. That is why scutellata bees were imported to South America.

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You can very soon work it out for yourself, if you just make the effort and actually do it.
A general believe in our area seems to be 10-15 per apiary, thus I`m pretty close to the limit already :)
A chairman recommended 3-4 per square mile
I`m not fancy to set up an apiary with only 3 hives every mile or so, all land is private, too many landlords to deal with (if I grow fast :)
 
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I`m still in doubt how many hives per pasture. Great range is available, from 3 to 90(and it`s all from books, Finman)
:spy:

finman does not get 150 kg/hive, if he follows those book things. Finman uses his own brains.

90% of my pastures around me are such that I put the 0 hives
 
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finman does not get 150 kg/hive, if he follows those book things. Finman uses his own brains.

You are wasting your time trying to teach them, they have no brains at all.
And they are lazy.
 
While recommend to read books the others…That`s how he bits his competitors :spy:

I can estimate the yield, what bees bring into hives on each pastures.
Langstroth box 25 kg, medium box 15 kg.

Nowadays I look bees couple of days, what kind if loads they bring to hives. If I am not satisfied, I lift hives on sedan carry, and I search a new place.

Very important is that the pasture does not have already bees.
Then if they must fly 1 km to the flower fields, it is not my place.

But estimating pastures is the most difficult task in beekeeping. To me, sorry.
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Nowadays I look bees couple of days, what kind if loads they bring to hives..
Do you mean pollen loads?
Then if they must fly 1 km to the flower fields, it is not my place.
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Yep. Some even believe that 300m is too far away.
But we have no OSR ob beans or anything like that here in Sligo and around. Thus should rely on wild flowers only Ogh... eagh...Forgotten to mention...I should put it in a signature field... I hate sheeps and county council...wich is the same:D
 
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