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Date: | Wed, 20 Jan 1999 09:48:16 -0800 |
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My Texan Buckfast bees are GENTLE. I have had them for the past couple
of years. They Texan version of Buckfast has been along side a variety
of other bees. It seems they are very gentle, very productive and
healthy. We had a very warm January day here yesterday approaching 60
degrees (20C) and I checked on my main apiary. The Starlines are good,
the italians are ok but the 15 or so buckfast are outstanding.
I know that it is a long standing tradition to jump on a subject and
beat it into the ground, but I differ with the claims of mean buckfast.
I have found that when a Buckfast queen is replaced, the offspring is
usually aggressive. My very best colony last year was a buckfast which
had been superseded. The resultant queen was very nice looking. Her
colony produced five full (medium) honey supers. But wow, mean mean
mean. Yesterday I was reminded of their aggressiveness when I could
hardly see through my veil as they jumped on me. This year honey not
withstanding, I'm replacing that queen.
In conclusion, I like the buckfast bees. I like the Weavers service,
and help. The only real complaint is that they do not use the right
color on their queens. Last year was red. My queens were not. I like
the time savings by ordering marked queens. I would prefer the proper
color. But this is a very small problem with bees with which I've been
very happy.
Chris Michel
Michel Family Apiaries
Volant, Faciunt, Floremus
(They fly, They make WE prosper)
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