Buying mated Queens

[steve_e]

I need two queens and am thinking of buying mated queens which I've not done before. Could anyone let me know what the dis/advantages are of (edit - apparently shouldn't have linked to a site with four options, so the options were 'local', 'buckfast cross', 'New Zealand Queen' and 'Apis mellifera mellifera (AMM) Near Native Queen'). I'm particularly wondering what the difference between Buckfast and 'local' is likely to be and whether there is a reason to go for one rather than another.

 

[wightbees]

It could be a local Buckfast .

 

[kevrhcfag]

Just new so you have been doing this longer than us, but went through this recently when trying to do what to buy.

The general advice given was local bees suit the area, disadvantage being you don't really know what you are getting temprament etc. and whats mated with.

Buckfast got a good write up around temprament (which was a priority for us being public site), disease resistant and production so we decided on that route.

The Buckfast on that site is a cross so could be F1 or F2 don't know and same thing as "local" what the drones were.

At the end we decided on Buckfast and bought them off Hivemaker because of saturation of drones and buckfast lines where he is, couldn't be more pleased as bees are very quiet and growing very strong, I am sure there are others but thats why we went that way.

 

[steve_e]

Thanks Kevrhcfag, that's useful. What does F1 and F2 mean? Apologies if that's an ignorant question!

 

[kevrhcfag]

There are pure bred Buckfast (although its a mixture of all species by Brother Adam), they even have pedigrees and pure breeding queens are expensive and not that good for production so I have been told.

F1 is one step away i.e. pure Buckfast by others F2 are F1 mated again in same way so line further away again (2 steps). Thats my understanding and I may of picked it up wrongly so please don't take it as gospel. You could PM Hivemaker he is very helpful even if you don't buy anything as I think you will find most people will attest to.

 

[stilllearning]

hopefully added a photo of what i found today ?
doing a nuc and found the young queen which i had marked earlier in the season then further on found her mother both happily working away so put them together to take the photo.evidence or proof if you like that two queens can and do occupy the same hive.What breed are they....i have absoloutly no idea;do they produce honey ..yes;are they in your face..no. Thats good enough for me
as for what breed of queen to buy, i honestly think that its nye on impossible to guarantee what the traits are going to be so my advice would be to buy your queens off an experienced keeper someone who is recommended by several people