Tell me more about the Buckfast bee

[BKF Admin]

Nothing wrong with Buckies,I have a couple of hives of them,they are my best bees.

A certain forum moderator runs the mating station near
Buckfast abbey and uses insemination as well as open mating.

If you want 1st rate queens then buy from him.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Nothing wrong with Buckies,I have a couple of hives of them,they are my best bees.

A certain forum moderator runs the mating station near
Buckfast abbey and uses insemination as well as open mating.

If you want 1st rate queens then buy from him.

Hah! Couple of forum black marks scored above then!

 

[Arfermo]

My Buckfast bees bred with locals and remain docile. It's a matter of chance but don't assume agressive bees are an inevitable result.

I assume nothing but I do take notice of others experience and make my own decisions as to whether I really want/need to change to something that might or might not be better. In this case, as I have already said, I am sticking as I am. I'm too old to get involved in something new of that sort anyway.

 

[BKF Admin]

I have had crosses that have turned bad with my local mongrels,but I think you can get that with any strain.

I find them a joy to work with.

 

[REDWOOD]

I had a buckfast x best hive ever

 

[Nige.Coll]

from what i was told when i bought mine one hive was buckfast but now are more mongrels and the other hive i have is nearly pure buckfast.
there is a noticeable difference between the two hives.

they are both fine as far as behaviour goes but i have noticed that the purer strain like to have larger numbers in the colony and they have an ocd building brace comb and sticking everything together.
no idea how much honey they make as i have only owned them since august.
the mongrels are a little more pingy but nothing that's alarming.

the purer ones seem to ignore smoke which i find odd all smoking seems to do is make them assume the head down fanning position.
when inspecting them they were completely docile until they had no food coming in then they got a little defencive but less defencive than the other hive i have .

i cannot compare against any other breed as i have only owned these but i have found them easy to handle as a new beek. the only thing that is a little off putting is the numbers in the colony, doing my first solo inspection i did worry when the bees seemed to boil out of the brood box when lifting frames.

they were less defencive than the breed of bees that the lady i did my course with owned. she said her bees were a derbyshire strain but i cannot remember which .

 

[Roola]

I have 2 hives at present with very different tempraments. The second hive came as a split from the first which I then queened with a Buckfast rather than them making their own. The difference was striking late August! The original hive which were mongrols anyway became increasingly darker and with that super feisty to the extent that opening them up wasn't much of a pleasure (they were lovely in May), compared to this, the new colony are beautiful, just as hardworking as the mother hive (out just as much) yet when you open them up they are calm, docile and don't see stinging as a hobby! I've left the original queen be for the winter but i'm thinking i'll be requeening in Spring with another Buckfast!

 

[ultreen1]

My best hive is a buckfast queen from a breeder and has produced approx 95lb’s of honey this year and last. It is a big hive and for three years has shown no sign of swarming. But for some reason late spring early summer it can be a bit grumpy nothing to bad but careful inspections are the order of the day. I put the grumpy behaviour down to the big foraging force frustrated waiting for the flows to start and once they are busy they could not care less about me.

More or less same with my one buckfast colony.
It'll be interesting to see if her daughters, next year, show the same traits!

 

[theeggman]

Nothing wrong with Buckies,I have a couple of hives of them,they are my best bees.

A certain forum moderator runs the mating station near
Buckfast abbey and uses insemination as well as open mating.

If you want 1st rate queens then buy from him.

I purchased a nuc from the man in question in July (2013 everything was late). The Queen laid up BOTH sides of 2 14x12 frames fully, not an empty cell, within a couple of days and they have been foraging like there is no tomorrow, even today with a max. temp of 9 deg. I will have to check the store level to ensure that they are adding to the winter stores but they sure as hell are very active and docile. We always light a smoker but don't need to use it.

Pete.

Tim

 

[BKF Admin]

Last summer I had an inspection from the regional bee inspector.
I left him and his colleagues to inspect alone(The seasonal bee inspector was being assessed).

When we sat down to go through the paperwork he said he lit the smoker and they never used it once.

 

[Tom Bick]

A certain forum moderator runs the mating station near
Buckfast abbey and uses insemination as well as open mating.

If you want 1st rate queens then buy from him.

I was going to get a couple this year but the time slipped by so all been well I will be getting some next year.

You only ever hear good things about them.

 

[Headnavigator]

Nothing wrong with Buckies,I have a couple of hives of them,they are my best bees.

A certain forum moderator runs the mating station near
Buckfast abbey and uses insemination as well as open mating.

If you want 1st rate queens then buy from him.

Seconded.

 

[For want of a better word]

Nothing wrong with Buckies,I have a couple of hives of them,they are my best bees.

A certain forum moderator runs the mating station near
Buckfast abbey and uses insemination as well as open mating.

If you want 1st rate queens then buy from him.

but THE op LIVES FAR FAr away across the great pond

 

[Norfolk]

but THE op LIVES FAR FAr away across the great pond

If my memory serves me Brother Adam had a breeding station in Texas so they should be obtainable there or able to be put on a plane.

 

[Tom Bick]

Not a problem for a buckfast bee

 

[Stiffy]

The OP had already identified a supplier and was after information on the traits. I must say this has been a really good thread on Buckfast bees and a refreshing change.
S

 

[pargyle]

The OP had already identified a supplier and was after information on the traits. I must say this has been a really good thread on Buckfast bees and a refreshing change.
S

I understand Brother Adam had a wicked sense of humour and enjoyed playing practical jokes ... he would have probably appreciated this forum in all it's glory !

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Last summer I had an inspection from the regional bee inspector.
I left him and his colleagues to inspect alone(The seasonal bee inspector was being assessed).

When we sat down to go through the paperwork he said he lit the smoker and they never used it once.

I'm a newbie but I will admit I am not frightened of bees or of stings; they hurt just enough to stop me being cavalier.

And one of my first mistakes was I bought the wrong smoker; a tiddly Thorny thing, when I should have bought a big fat Dadant. It goes out all the time and-well-you can guess the rest.

My Buckies; I just have to be careful to reassemble really carefully so as not to squish.

<ADD>"Buckfast bees: the nicotine patch of beekeeping"</ADD>

 

[Elaine]

Our first bees were Buckfasts, from an Oxfordshire breeder. They are now well mixed with the locals, and we have not seen the 'aggressive' trait that people talk about.

 

[pargyle]

Our first bees were Buckfasts, from an Oxfordshire breeder. They are now well mixed with the locals, and we have not seen the 'aggressive' trait that people talk about.

Perhaps that's because you keep them warm and draught free ?