On 1 Apr 98 at 10:31, Ron Bogansky wrote:
> I have a question on Buckfast queens. I did a search in the
> archives and found many posts but none really answered my question.
> Does the Buckfast breed true? Assuming there are Buckfast drones
> will the daughters still be Buckfast, and if so how many generations
> (practical) will still be Buckfast?
My understanding is as follows.
Unless you have a closed mating or insemination of the first queen
by Buckfast drones any mating that follows will produce an F1 hybrid.
Especially if the drones available are from a different strain, ie.
Italian, carniolan etc. In it's self, not a bad thing, as often you
will get the best of both sides.
The problem arises at the second offspring, as you have seen they
can get nasty. It's very unpredictable, which is why it is not
advisable to breed from production queens, unless you can take the
time to select out the bad traits, then you become a breeder!!!
If you want to breed, buy breeder queens.
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