Buckfast Queen

[Greatbigchicken]

I have a one year old Buckfast queen in my Garden hive. Upon inspection today I found numerous queen cells so have started an AS.

Now, I've heard that second generation Buckfasts can be rather feisty and my current queen is laying very well. My question is should I replace my queen and hope the new queen is as lovely and quiet as the original or should I stick with my current queen??

What are your experiences with second generation Buckfasts?

 

[wightbees]

I would of thought that the 1yr old has lots of life left in her yet.
As for the second generation you dont know until you work them.I have second generation and they have settled down very nicely and seem to be out performing the first Queen but time will tell.

 

[drstitson]

won't have to worry about that until next year (unless superceeded) as your new queen(s) will be F1s (unless your BF queen is a cross).

 

[Tom Bick]

Keep your old queen you know what she produces in the way of bees and what they are like.

Also you must have built up a good working relationship by now, you know each others little ways

As for the new queen in your AS I have split a couple of Buckfast hives and the new queens have been as good as the original but that’s not to say it can be the other way.

I intend to split one of them again later this year just to see what happens.

 

[REDWOOD]

Buckfast virgin queens could mate with drones from your other hives

 

[Skyhook]

I have a one year old Buckfast queen in my Garden hive. Upon inspection today I found numerous queen cells so have started an AS.

Now, I've heard that second generation Buckfasts can be rather feisty and my current queen is laying very well. My question is should I replace my queen and hope the new queen is as lovely and quiet as the original or should I stick with my current queen??

What are your experiences with second generation Buckfasts?

Do nothing until the new queen is mated and laying. If you don't want to increase, you can then compare the 2 queens before offing one and combining.

 

[For want of a better word]

What do you mean by a BUCKFAST queen?

I have had second generation so called Carniolian colonies that have shown a bit of bad behavior perhaps your true blue Buckfast queens sporn has met with a drone of that ilk ?

What you want is some nice quiet New Zealand bees or even Hawaiians if you can find them.................




Salem bees from Salem Abbey bred by Brother Brown 100 years ago seem to have died out !!!

 

[Greatbigchicken]

Do nothing until the new queen is mated and laying. If you don't want to increase, you can then compare the 2 queens before offing one and combining.

That makes so much sense, why didn't I think of that?

 

[For want of a better word]

won't have to worry about that until next year (unless superceeded) as your new queen(s) will be F1s (unless your BF queen is a cross).

Probably a cross ... think about it !!!

 

[Hivemaker.]

What are your experiences with second generation Buckfasts?

Very good,and 3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th..and so on.

 

[drstitson]

"Probably a cross ... think about it !!!"

Not if obtained from an AIer or breeder with isolated mating apiary.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Very good,and 3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th..and so on.

You would say that wouldn't you!

 

[jallen]

my buckfast queen is from 2010 and going stroung

 

[the naked beekeeper]

Very good,and 3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th..and so on.

Poster should note hivemaker has the drone saturation of all of his Buckie colonies in his area. So much more likely to be the same strain.

Op, the only way is to see what the next queen is like.
Unless you want to continually want to re-introduce buckfast queens, then you will always be faced with this as you cannot control her mating. You will end up with a local bee, which if you continually select the best from, you will have the best bee for your area and it will be more sustainable.

 

[For want of a better word]

Poster should note hivemaker has the drone saturation of all of his Buckie colonies in his area. So much more likely to be the same strain.

Op, the only way is to see what the next queen is like.
Unless you want to continually want to re-introduce buckfast queens, then you will always be faced with this as you cannot control her mating. You will end up with a local bee, which if you continually select the best from, you will have the best bee for your area and it will be more sustainable.

 

[Skyhook]

Very good,and 3rd,4th,5th,6th,7th..and so on.

I'm not sure how isolated you are, but 'Exmoor' gives that impression- do your bees stand a better chance than most of mating with drones from your hives?

 

[For want of a better word]

I'm not sure how isolated you are, but 'Exmoor' gives that impression- do your bees stand a better chance than most of mating with drones from your hives?

Possibly as drones of different sub species tend to fly a different heights?
But I believe that Hivemaker uses Instrumental Insemination and therefore his strain or possibly a subspecies of Buckfast, is isolated artificially from "foreign" drones.

Only DNA analysis of bee could show how related any particular strain is to another... I would be surprised if any of the so named Buckfast bees would bear very much similarity in their DNA to the Brother Adam mongrels.... a subject for more study.

 

[Skyhook]

Only DNA analysis of bee could show how related any particular strain is to another... I would be surprised if any of the so named Buckfast bees would bear very much similarity in their DNA to the Brother Adam mongrels.... a subject for more study.

Not a fan then

 

[For want of a better word]

Not a fan then

Like any bee can be nice or horrid!

Having read Steve Taber's tome, Breeding Super Bees [Northern Bee Books ]
I realise that breeding within a species would not have been possible with the original Buckfast bee as developed by the monk at Buckfast Abby in Devon.
Too many generations and deviations from the line would have inevitably crept in to the type for it to be true... however if those deviations had not occurred the line as it was would have died out by now!
Constant interbreeding without "new" stock introduced causes many defects, as with dog breeders with a limited gene pool deformities get amplified.

Most of the bees around my own area are Buckfast like... for me I am going down the Cornish AMM route as the bees being selected for seem to have all the attributes the modern beekeeperer would like.

Buckfast Bees it seems are like Cheddar Cheese.......

But I will continue to keep my NewZealand bees in the orchard !

 

[Hivemaker.]

do your bees stand a better chance than most of mating with drones from your hives?

Yes,mainly because i make sure they do.