Feisty F2 Buckfast Bees

[Jon.21]

I'm going to contact an OSR grower next week and will ask. Sure the farming industry would know moreh

Hi did you manage to contact the OSR grower ?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Hi did you manage to contact the OSR grower ?

Have his number but it dropped down the list of jobs. Will ring him and let you know.

 

[Newbeeneil]

Have his number but it dropped down the list of jobs. Will ring him and let you know.

Eric, I've just noticed your new avatar, have you dumped your beloved Volvo?

 

[ericbeaumont]

Eric, I've just noticed your new avatar, have you dumped your beloved Volvo?

Oh, Lord, that had to go when ULEZ fell on London.

What to do? Toyota Hilux was recommended but over £10k for a decent one and diesel is (and will be) punished in cities. Always wanted to try a Land Rover so scraped together £7.5k and got a Series 3 petrol LWB from a classic car website.

Originally a South African diesel pickup, it was converted to a petrol station wagon in SA and imported by a doctor who'd relocated to work in Southampton. He lived in a village and wife needed a car asap, so it had to go. His mistake was to tell me of his urgent need to sell, so I knocked him down by about £4k.

Few issues (inevitable) as the poor refit showed that corners had been cut: one memorable night on a freezing A12 the distributor internals blew up (bush mechanic fix failed). Great thing is that I can repair nearly everything myself.

It's always an engaging drive. Small boys tell me how much they like it and (weird) all-sorts take videos in traffic. Heard one young man say, while on his phone and crossing at the Dalston lights: I'm looking at a car from World War 3.

Load bay is half an inch too narrow to take two Nationals side-by-side, but I'll take off the riveted galv side rubbing strips to get the extra. Every week I empty and bleach it and chuck a few buckets of water in to rinse, and most goes out of the drain holes. Bit like a bath, really.

Has four windows and six vents (four in the safari roof) so carrying thirty nucs holds no fear of overheating. Ah, yes, there's no heater as it was exported to a hot country, but even in snow it's not really an issue.

Drawbacks: had to fit an expensive tracker & alarm and insurance is too high (no-one has touched it) and it is thirsty, but does the job I ask of it and is great fun.

Real benefit is that pre-1981 vehicles are ULEZ exempt. It's not a widespread way to get round the restriction, though I heard it said that London hospital car parks now have a scattering of consultants' expensive classic cars...

 

[oxnatbees]

Or you could just use local bees. The problem is that YOU are impoting exotic genes to the area. You realise you're making every colony in the area jumpy?

Just collected my 56th local swarm. Only one that ever gave me problems was the first, which crossed with the Buckfast hive I had then.

Luckily F3s don't exhibit the same enhanced aggression, it disappears as the bee genes stabilise towards the local norm.

Why are you using commercial bees? Do you move these hives to new forage regularly, so need maximum bees all the time? Locals need less feeding because they turn down laying when your area has forage breaks.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

there's no heater as it was exported to a hot country, but even in snow it's not really an issue

having had a SIII 109 station wagon (with safari roof) for a few years before changing to a more modern vehicle I can assure you that having a working heater makes little difference to the temperature of the vehicle.

 

[ericbeaumont]

makes little difference to the temperature of the vehicle

So true!

 

[Ian123]

Or you could just use local bees. The problem is that YOU are impoting exotic genes to the area. You realise you're making every colony in the area jumpy?

Just collected my 56th local swarm. Only one that ever gave me problems was the first, which crossed with the Buckfast hive I had then.

Luckily F3s don't exhibit the same enhanced aggression, it disappears as the bee genes stabilise towards the local norm.

Why are you using commercial bees? Do you move these hives to new forage regularly, so need maximum bees all the time? Locals need less feeding because they turn down laying when your area has forage breaks.

No he’s not making every colony jumpy!
56 swarms collected……lol I’ve not collected 1… do you have time to keep bees?
You’ve only had issues once…for god sake with possibly thousands of hives in an area they crossed with your single hive of buckfasts
As to stabilising to the local norm.. in many instances the local norm is rather average, I’ve seen instances the local norm could compete with Africanised colonies I’ve dealt with!!
Let’s face it the last local bee expert we heard of we can only assume went out and DNA tested his pre selected favourite colony that matched the special local eco typeHe found out they happened to be Carni’s….He couldn’t tell us the results though because there’s was a NDA in place.!….Did have plenty of time and print space to tell us about finding them in the first place.

What are Commercial bees?…. Do you mean well behaved bees from breeders selecting from hundreds of hives possibly thousands in breeding groups/associations….. Maybe the OP just wants some reliability above the local norm.
Good bees respond to the environment and that includes your so called exotics.