Splitting Buckfast Colony - will they turn bad

[thorn]

Holds true for pretty much any linebred genetics once reproduced down a few generations.
If it wasn't so we'd all be queen breeders and so that industry never have got off the ground!

Bill

Yep, a limited gene pool is not a good thing.

 

[SWEET]

Just had a peak and the bees seem rather chilled, i'll watch the numbers and if they seem like a boost will gift some more bees the weekend.

Hoping the QC's have hatched by then.

 

[eltalia]

Yep, a limited gene pool is not a good thing.

No... yet some have no choice (belief) and so go about creating one.

Bill

 

[SWEET]

Checked the Nuc Sunday and no queen sadly but did spot one QC had hatched and the others had *melted* back into comb, assume destroyed.

As I was finishing up, bee's started entering the Nuc and a small group gathered around the entrance, thought this might be robbing so walked away rather sad.

Went back last night to check if they had indeed been robbed and spotted the queen running around the frames!, after doing some reading it appears I'd witnessed the entourage coming back with the queen after mating.

Great stuff, I'll leave them alone now.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Hope you don't intend the two frame nuc to raise the queen. High chance of being a scrub queen.

why?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yep, a limited gene pool is not a good thing.

Ande here's the proof................

No... yet some have no choice (belief) and so go about creating one.

Bill

 

[beeno]

Well, looked at the feral hive this morning and they have created a couple of queen cells (capped and nice and large), so instead of first idea i've taken a couple of frames + the queen cells and placed into a NUC leaving the old queen with the main hive, be interesting to see how it pans out.

Much better idea. Good luck.

 

[SWEET]

Quick look yesterday, bees bringing pollen in and eggs seen!, so fingers crossed. Gifted a few frames of bees from a strong hive (super frames), just to keep the wasp defences up.

 

[Bryang]

You do not say which area you live in... but apparently one forum member has informed us that all the bees in the North West of Yorkshire turn nasty if any open mating is allowed!

Chons da

Chons da

Same happens in my area with Buckfasts, the resulting offspring of their daughters are really aggressive...I have to requeen with bought in stock yearly... I never buy any Qs that have a touch of Buckfast in them...

 

[SWEET]

Queen doing really well, eggs + brood! and even did my first marking (with home-made crown of thorns)

 

[Millet]

Same happens in my area with Buckfasts, the resulting offspring of their daughters are really aggressive...I have to requeen with bought in stock yearly... I never buy any Qs that have a touch of Buckfast in them...

Really.. i sure am glad i do not have Welsh mongrel drones mating my F2's..

 

[Millet]

Wheres the Shark emojo when you need it.. Daboss

 

[Beefriendly]

Same happens in my area with Buckfasts, the resulting offspring of their daughters are really aggressive...I have to requeen with bought in stock yearly... I never buy any Qs that have a touch of Buckfast in them...[/QUOTE]

I'm perplexed.
If you never buy any Buckfast queens how do you know their offspring are aggressive?

 

[Millet]

Wheres the Shark emojo when you need it.. Daboss

Sorry posted in the wrong thread..if mods want to move it fair do's if not fair do's..

 

[Bryang]

Same happens in my area with Buckfasts, the resulting offspring of their daughters are really aggressive...I have to requeen with bought in stock yearly... I never buy any Qs that have a touch of Buckfast in them...[/QUOTE]

I'm perplexed.
If you never buy any Buckfast queens how do you know their offspring are aggressive?

I originally started beekeeping with Buckfast Qs....Liked them so much I tried to expand by rearing from that Buckfast Q.... Resulting colony was a real nightmare... Tried again with a Buckfast Q from Devon, same problem with the daughter Q... Thats why I now buy in Qs every year....If i rear a Q from ...say...Ricky Wilson's stock the resulting offspring are a bit fiesty but they dont try and kill you...There is a beek over in the Tonypandy area who likes aggressive bees because of the vandalism he suffered.He never inspects/opens his hives, just adds supers and takes them off....was told by a member of this forum that when he visited to check the hives he was offered a "pinch bar" to separate the boxes...

 

[Walrus]

My understanding that the genes mostly responsible for defensive behaviour come from the drones that mate with the queen. If you have nice drones in the area your queen will hopefully make gentle daughter queens; if not, watch out (regardless of what type of queen you have)

It's the luck of the draw

 

[Swarm]

My understanding that the genes mostly responsible for defensive behaviour come from the drones that mate with the queen. If you have nice drones in the area your queen will hopefully make gentle daughter queens; if not, watch out (regardless of what type of queen you have)

It's the luck of the draw

Unless neighbouring beeks are on the same wavelength, it's a lottery.

 

[SWEET]

About to re-queen what was a lovely colony. I'd maybe left an inspection a few days late early spring and spotted an open Q cell (won't make that mistake again), seems the nice queen legged it.. current seems to have mated with Satan.

After reading many threads on here, I'm going to move the hive 10 feet, stick an empty Nuc + frame (or the supers) in situ and leave it a bit, then go through the brood (fingers crossed far less evil flyers) and remove and replace the queen and return the hive to original position. I'll cover the plug for a few days and see how that goes.

Looking forward to it.

 

[SWEET]

Did a *test* inspection at 7pm yesterday just to check the aggression before the queen lands today, bees seemed chilled v last Sunday, so the plot thickens... it was either wasps winding them up (full entrance), stormy weather or my suit.

Opened hive with fresh/clean kit, was ultra slow and used gentle smoke, seemed OK.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Did a *test* inspection at 7pm yesterday just to check the aggression before the queen lands today, bees seemed chilled v last Sunday, so the plot thickens... it was either wasps winding them up (full entrance), stormy weather or my suit.

Opened hive with fresh/clean kit, was ultra slow and used gentle smoke, seemed OK.

Well you can make a nuc up for your new queen and you have another colony for next year
Win win