There has been some talk about Buckfast lately. It seems to me some 
don't understand what Buckfast really is. Br Adam was the inventor of 
a new way of breeding bees. He didn't look for the best pure strain or 
race, but instead searched for new combination of strains that would 
create a better bee for commercial use.

Buckfast is an ongoing project to improve bees by incorporation new 
strains and evaluate the result. Same as we do with most other food 
production. The proponents of a.m.m. are doing the opposite, trying to 
revert back to something lost 100 years ago. World has changed a lot 
since then. I think we need different bees today to cope with the ever 
increasing movement of bugs and diseases due to our travel and 
transports. Vi need the vitality crosses between strains/races can 
create. But I'm afraid Chris, Dave, Robert might have a different 
view... ;-)

Nobody becomes a prophet in his own country... Buckfast has changed 
beekeeping in large parts of Europe. We have had them here in Sweden 
more than 40 years. There is not one Buckfast line, but many slightly 
different, each adopted to the local conditions where the breeder works.

I had US beek with me about 10 years ago. That person had previous 
season worked for a large operation in Texas producing "Buckfast" 
queen. Those Buckfast queens had been mated to the same drones as the 
Italian queens.... And in one of the mating yards there had been a 
drone producing hive so "hot" they wouldn't go near it. When talking 
about US large scale produced queens we should be aware it might not 
be exactly what the label say...

-- 
Regards

P-O Gustafsson, Sweden
http://beeman.se

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