really good queen

slacker361 · May 06, 2011, 05:23:04 PM

Ok my first hive is a buckfast hive, the queen is just outstanding.. she lays so many eggs in a nice tight pattern i really like the buck fast bee.

the two new hives I have gotten are cordovan bees, and I must say , so far I am not impressed. They seem to need to take classes on how to build comb properly, comb everywhere and just anywhere.

so i am not sure what I want to do... let them go and and see what happens with he new hives or replace the queens with buckfast queens.. and make the new hive buckfast..

what do you experienced beeks think

Finski · May 07, 2011, 01:01:37 AM

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Inside strain or stocks there are great variation, what queens are. When I have Italians, they are from edge to edge.

Individual hives may be what ever. Splended hives are often hybrids like italian x carniolan.

greenbtree · May 07, 2011, 01:59:26 AM

You could make a split off your buckfast hive and when they make queen cells requeen the other hives with them. Depending on how big your buckfast hive is. Or just buy some buckfast queens from the same source as your other hive if possible.

JC

joebrown · May 07, 2011, 02:09:02 AM

I was told about 2 years ago that Buckfast were a good overwintering bee but not a big honey producer like an Italian. Anyone have an opinion on that!?!?!

Michael Bush · May 07, 2011, 12:07:44 PM

I had Buckfasts most of the time from 1974 until 2001. They produced well. Sometimes they produced bumper crops. They wintered slightly smaller than Italians, but not as small as the Carniolans.

slacker361 · May 07, 2011, 02:26:04 PM

Michael what made you switch from buckfast?

joebrown · May 07, 2011, 11:26:03 PM

Quote from: Michael Bush on May 07, 2011, 12:07:44 PM
I had Buckfasts most of the time from 1974 until 2001. They produced well. Sometimes they produced bumper crops. They wintered slightly smaller than Italians, but not as small as the Carniolans.

Just when I think I am getting a little experience under my belt, someone comes around and tells me they used a buckfast in 1974. HAHA No offense, but I was not born until 1985.

Brian D. Bray · May 07, 2011, 11:44:52 PM

Don't feel bad. We had a report that one of the premier lady entomologist (Jennifer Berry I believe) was a new bee into the United States from the Caucus area of Russia. This would be the Black Sea area. This is probably the same bee we called Caucasians back in the 50's and quickly lost favor due to failure to build up significant numbers, lots of burr comb (I've since changed my mind on burr comb), and little harvest. They worked best in an 8 frame hive and you could actually get a medium super or 2 of honey off them if good pastures were available. They also had the tendency to run heavy on pollen in the supers.

Back then I was not overly impressed with them compared to the Italian.

But at this point I'm all for bringing addition genetics into the bee industry, it just may help more than it hurts.