It is indeed sad to hear of Br. Adam's passing away.   He has left a great
legacy of work.  If any of you are interested in his endeavors with bee
breeding, the BBC video "The Monk & the Honey Bee" is wonderful and very
enlightening.  I borrowed the video from a friend, but I believe it is
advertised for sale in the mags.
 
I just happened to check my newest Buckfast colonies today; they were
established in late July with queens from the U.S. Buckfast breeder, B.
Weaver in Navasota TX.  Anyway, true to their typical behavior, they were
wonderfully docile, calm, busy, and most noticeably have not built any
annoying burr comb.  This is noticeable immediately. Their use of propolis
is scant, and you hardly need a hive tool to remove the frames.  These
colonies (12) have put away a super of surplus each already, and the combs
are very even and capped white.  In my experience they are pretty reluctant
to swarm compared to the local mongrels. These are just some of the
positive characteristics I have come to expect from Buckfasts, and they
sure are a pleasure to work with. Granted, there cannot be 100% controlled
mating down at Weaver's, but it seems clear that there are some excellent
genes being propagated in their Buckfast program, and the consistency is
remarkable.  I would encourage anyone to give them a try, especially if you
are looking for hardy stock which is tracheal mite resistant.
 
 I hope these bees will remain available to us in the years to come, and
that Buckfast Abbey will maintain the program there.  It would be great to
hear about other's experiences (UK, for instance) with the bees which were
developed by this truly great and inspirational master.         Thanks,
JWG