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Wed, 17 Oct 2007 14:51:08 +0200 |
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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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