buckfast bees ???

pembroke · July 07, 2007, 07:55:14 PM

How many have this bee and how do you like them? Thanks for response. Pembroke

TwT · July 07, 2007, 08:15:28 PM

I have been trying to get some from Canada the last 2 years just to try, heard good things about them, would like to cross them with my ferals and see if I can get them to survive like my ferals do and at there honey collecting trait to my bee's if they are better, just always wanted to try them.....

danno1800 · July 08, 2007, 11:03:17 AM

We finally got 100 Buckfast queens legally down from Canada. The Canadian breeder REALLY had to jump through a LOT of legal hoops to do it. He basically had to drive them to the border, clear customs into the U.S., then overnight them to us from the U.S. They all arrived healthy & BEAUTIFUL! Big, long queens. We put them into 4 frame nucs and had no problems with acceptance from the New World Carniolans who released them into the nucs. I'm off to check my 12 today. It is GREAT to get some new genes into the very limited US gene pool. -Danno

TwT · July 08, 2007, 11:34:30 AM

Danno1800, who was your supplier??

Kirk-o · July 08, 2007, 11:43:24 AM

I just have ferals.I just catch swarms and easy cut outs.I got a Redish Brown Queen a Black Queen and Queens that look like Italians.The bees are browis with stripes and Italians and somw Grayish stripes.

Teh Feral Population is pretty diverse I think
kirk

BeeHopper · July 08, 2007, 12:38:19 PM

Quote from: pembroke on July 07, 2007, 07:55:14 PM
How many have this bee and how do you like them? Thanks for response. Pembroke

I had the Buckfasts last season ( not by choice ). Queens were huge, the workers docile, but they were not nearly as productive as the Italians I have this year. Also I have attempted to re-queen the 2 Buckfast colonies with Italians twice to no success. :-x I really cannot comment much more, but I had a positive experience with them as a new beek last year.

mark · July 08, 2007, 06:21:10 PM

so if you couldn't requeen you still have buckfasts or did you lose them? if you still have them how do they compare to the italians THIS year. i don't think you can really compare different races a year apart as there are too many variables. you need to compare them under the same conditions. have they superceded the queen theirselves? then you likely have a mix. been thinking about buckfasts myself.

BeeHopper · July 08, 2007, 07:56:03 PM

Quote from: mark on July 08, 2007, 06:21:10 PM
so if you couldn't requeen you still have buckfasts or did you lose them? if you still have them how do they compare to the italians THIS year. i don't think you can really compare different races a year apart as there are too many variables. you need to compare them under the same conditions. have they superceded the queen theirselves? then you likely have a mix. been thinking about buckfasts myself.

Last year, the Buckfast ( 3 lb. package ) hives took from April 06 to Sept 06 to fill both deeps, the Italians ( 3 lb.package ) hives in April have filled both deeps by the end of June. I believe drier weather this year was a factor in a better honey flow. The Buckfast hives are pretty much doomed, just drones are left. I am letting nature take its course.

Michael Bush · July 17, 2007, 08:41:24 PM

>How many have this bee and how do you like them?

I had them for 26 years. I loved them until the last year when they turned vicious.

danno1800 · July 18, 2007, 01:12:39 PM

TWT, our supplier was Bill Ferguson. He is planning to come to HAS 2008 in Huntington, WV next summer [July 10-12, 2008]. He said he would bring queens with him & arrive Friday evening to teach Saturday. That way, his queens would not be in cages too long before the buyers could take them back home & get them in hives or nucs.
I cannot say enough good things about this man and his Buckfast queens. They are much closer to what I had read & seen of the original Brother Adam stock than any others I've purchased inside the US. I'll let you know how they work out as I watch them develop & overwinter. -Danno