Open mated queen genetics

[Swarm]

Did you ? No my 5 year average is a bit higher than the maximum of the two figures for this spring but isn't entirely a reflection on the bees I keep since I wasted 4 years also running local swarms and a few pure black colonies. Probably worth mentioning that 5 year average includes my 2nd ever year beekeeping whilst adding about 25 colonies annually and has risen each year. No doubt that average would be higher had they all been Buckfast manages with the experience I've gained.
Ask me again in 5 yrs if you want an all Buckfast average ran by a fairly competent beekeeper.

Just going by what you told me in the snotty pm you sent but now you are trying to make excuses.

 

[Show me the honey]

Here we go again with all the usual Beefriendly trolling and bullying and kicking the player.

The "Cosies" were for WBC brood boxes that I picked up because I am a pleasant chap and the previous owner liked the cut of my jib.
I was going to overwinter ITALIAN bees in them.
However I have now found a new owner for them, as Jenkinsbrynmyer suggested sold some and did a swap for WRC National broods with a primary school that uses WBC hives as they are easier for 9 to 12 year olds to manage.

Chons da

Hi cheers. Just wondering why do you keep Italians at all? If you want to breed near native bees surely you don’t want them around?

 

[Finman]

Hi cheers. Just wondering why do you keep Italians at all? If you want to breed near native bees surely you don’t want them around?

You are right Showman.
Sounds fairytale to me.

 

[Beefriendly]

Hi cheers. Just wondering why do you keep Italians at all? If you want to breed near native bees surely you don’t want them around?

Easy...the local produce Eff all honey....have to have some productive strains of bees...... LOL

 

[Show me the honey]

Easy...the local produce Eff all honey....have to have some productive strains of bees...... LOL

Haha maybe for the commercial beekeepers! My locals produce more than enough. They are one reason I’ve stuck to 3 hives if I had to store/sell anymore honey it would become a chore!

 

[B+.]

They are one reason I’ve stuck to 3 hives if I had to store/sell anymore honey it would become a chore!

If only life were full of such chores....

 

[Show me the honey]

If only life were full of such chores....

Hahah ye it would be sweet chore. But maybe too much of a good thing! it’s a time issue for me work 45 hour weeks got kids (youngest 6 months) as a carpenter my better half wants me to build this fix that as do family and friend just not enough hours in the day! Not that I’d take any of it away just works me for at the moment

 

[For want of a better word]

Hi cheers. Just wondering why do you keep Italians at all? If you want to breed near native bees surely you don’t want them around?

I keep the two groups of bee apart, the topography of the area I live in is ideally suited to this.

The very nature of the Mediterranean bees ( Italian) is to brood early in the season... produce on a scale of brood suited to the climate from whence they came where masses of foragers are needed to benefit from nectar flows that end as soon as the hot summer dries up all the vegetation ( Fimbos?)

The native Amm I am successfully rearing start brood later and are just about hitting there peak around now as the lime, blackberry, sycamore etc com in with a huge nectar flow.

I need early brood to raise lots of dark queens ready for the main ( later than Italian) flood of mature Amm drones.

I have also been keeping Italians for around 30 years ... and they are good honey producers.... some of my Amm are a match for them!

Take no notice of Beefeendly he would not know a native bee from a bootlace! Like a snappy terrier, likes to make his presence felt!

Chons da

 

[B+.]

The native Amm I am successfully rearing start brood later and are just about hitting there peak around now as the lime, blackberry, sycamore etc com in with a huge nectar flow.

I need early brood to raise lots of dark queens ready for the main ( later than Italian) flood of mature Amm drones.

You are making Beefriendlys point for him. You surely, have to acknowledge that there is a place for other races in this country and, having done so, should now acknowledge that the Amm-only stance is a mistake

 

[Beefriendly]

Wish you hadn't quoted the would be Cornish troll B+......it's been a pleasant week or so without reading his mindless wittering. No doubt he has said many pleasant positive things about me LOL....

But you are again exposing his, shall we say, inconsistencies.
Raising queens before drones are about is lunacy of the Nth degree and also illustrates the extreme lack of fecundity in the local bees that they only start producing drone early summer.... I'm currently upgrading this years mated queens from their Nucs into full hives.
His admission that his local bees cannot be used to produce their own queens is another nail in the coffin as they simply are not viable without assistance from imported Italian queens...
You couldn't make this stuff up

 

[madasafish]

Haha maybe for the commercial beekeepers! My locals produce more than enough. They are one reason I’ve stuck to 3 hives if I had to store/sell anymore honey it would become a chore!

Your "Number of Hives" displayed under your avatar says 211! Not 3..

 

[Show me the honey]

Your "Number of Hives" displayed under your avatar says 211! Not 3..

They are !! Not ones 1s but cheers for pointing that out I’ll update it