Clayton, in Crown Point, NY questions use of Buckfast bees.
 
I, for one, am very skeptical about the Weavers' ability to keep their
strains free of African influence.  My understanding is that they are doing
this with their breeders by use of artificial insemination.  They are trying
to keep their queens for sale free of African influence by flooding the area
with Buckfast drones.  However, they are not able to eliminate the
Africanized bees now endemic to the area, and it seems to me that it is not
unlikely that some Africanized drones will mate with Buckfast queens.
 
However, there are now two breeders in Canada offering Buckfast and it is
legal to import them into the US.
 
All that said, I have used Buckfast in the past and have found them very
gentle, prolific, and excellent honey producers.  When Africanized bees were
found in Texas I changed to New World Carnolians and am very satisfied.
 
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