Hi all bee-lovers,
 
Aaron wrote ...
 
>The Buckfast bee was the result of the lifelong quest for the "perfect
>bee" by Brother Adam (Karl Kehrle) who was a monk at the BUCKFAST Abbey
>in England.
 
In addition, you can see the development of this bee on the Web site: One
life - One bee : on the URL
http://www.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/biogen.html in English.  For the
other languages see on the URL
http://www.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage.html, choose the yours and go to
the biography.
 
     It is remarkable to note that the stock "ligustica" is introduced into
the Buckfast Bee "only" before 1920 (twenty) and that never after that, in
spite of many tests, this ligustica was "never again" introduced into this
bee.
 
It is also necessary to be conscious that the Buckfast Bee is not a race
which the stockbreeders preserve as in a museum but a bee which evolves
according to the crossings and combinations realized year after year by the
big breeders and in particular in Denmark (Keld Brandstrup), at the
Buckfast Abbey, in Germany and in Luxembourg (Paul Jungels).
 
It is true that the first crossing of a B.Bee with some other races gives a
significant heterosis to the level of aggressiveness. I obtained colonies
thus really worth visiting. That generally arrives after the departure of a
swarm or at the time of a natural or accidental supersedure.
 
One could not advise too much with bee-keepers who do not want to too much
invest themselves in work of breeding not to take in their hives a stocks
of bees different from the other bee-keepers of the neighbour. In addition,
it is careful after an unspecified supersedure, to test rapidly the
character of the offspring of the new queen.
 
Hope this helps.
 
Sincerely
Jean-Marie Van Dyck <[log in to unmask]>
 
snail mail: B.P. 102
B-5000 Namur  (Belgique)
 
 
Lat.Long.: N:50.30' E:04.56'  -  Alt.: 200 m  -  North Sea: 200 km
 
Bee-keeper for 1953
Buckfaster for 1982
14 Dadant-12 production hives
30-40 nuclei with new queens, breeders and retired good queens