That's interesting. How can we find out more?
Remember I was a moderator on Bee-L right through the core of the small cell cult and had to 'mud wrestle' with Dee Lusby rather too often for my liking...so veteran of facing sideways moves.
Make an assertion.
It gets challenged and explanations or citations asked for.
Turn it round and instead of answering the question ask for proof from the questioner.
I want a citation for your claim that the UK is importing large number of (sic) unresistant queens.
For sure there are breeders available in the bargain basement if you want unimproved stock...but the REAL professionals supply the lions share that come in...and their JOB is to provide the market with GOOD stock. People can muddy the waters all they like with emotive rubbish about profits and greed as if doing a good job and making a profit were mutually exclusive. They are actually mutually essential in any sustainable model. UK trait...to consider that profit=greed=bad. If you want anyone to be around to give you supplies of any kind that a profit can be made is essential. Sustainable business gives a reasonable product and delivers a good product the customer finds to be fair value. Crap product (such as ill adapted queens) very quickly equates to no business.
For clarity however...from this side...*I* do not know where to find these studies...and if I did, as they have been paid for by a group of Buckfast breeders in Europe I would have to ask their permission to publish...which I do not know whether it would be forthcoming as this is a semi permanent work in progress. I know of one breeder alone who has poured over 100000 euros into it and I think there are at least 14 in the group. I was told of the results of three of Jolanta's breeder lines...two were excellent, one was good....but others were not sufficiently developed in hygiene to be of use to the programme in this narrow sense. However as beekeepers we work with a wide range of criteria and in our OWN programme a line does not get into use unless it tests well of the key desirable traits. Jolanta does her own testing but this is for 'in house' use as the method is just for our own guidance and would not be considered a suitable sample size or scientifically robust.
However...you can go to the websites of many of the breeders of Buckfast and Carnica over there and find they publish pedigrees, and also provide either testing data or links within their sites as to where it can be found. Go look...despite appearances I am a busy guy and here I am still at the office at gone 9pm on Sunday having been at work all day.
Interestingly the two leading lines that tested so well went on to have a good life in their breeding programme over there. The most popular was her J23, which they renumbered F25 over there to avoid confusion, was (in Italy) a fabulous honey getter with great brood and zero chalk. Last time I was over there I was told there were at least 3500 queens in colonies in Piemonte and Puglia carrying her genetics plus some in the south of France. Oddly she did not start out life as Buckfast...she was a queen from Aberdeenshire of carnica descent but about three generations on.
