Buckfast bee

These are the basic qualities of economic importance and form the primary aim in breeding:

• Industry – a boundless capacity for (foraging) work is doubtless the foremost requirement.
• Fecundity – the queen at a certain point (relative to the nectar flow) must be able to fill at least eight or nine Dadant combs with brood.
• Resistance to disease – is absolutely indispensable and essential to successful beekeeping.
• Disinclination to swarm – an indispensable prerequisite in modern beekeeping.[10]

These are of great importance as each contributes its respective share to an intensification of the honey gathering ability of the colony:

• Longevity – prolongation of the lifespan of the bee will denote a corresponding increase in the effective foraging force and capacity of a colony.
• Wing-power – the ability to forage further can prove a material factor in the performance of a colony.
• Keen sense of smell – without this a colony would not forage further, so it is closely linked with wing-power.
• Instinct of defense – this is the most effective remedy against robbing (it is not to be confused with aggression against the beekeeper).
• Hardiness and wintering ability – the ability to winter on stores of inferior quality for long periods without a cleansing flight.
• Spring development – must not occur prematurely and without the need for artificial stimulation.
• Thrift or frugality – a quality closely connected with the seasonal development of colonies.
• Instinct of self provisioning – seasonally appropriate brood chamber storage for overwintering.
• Comb building – a keenness to build comb seems to increase the zest for every form of activity of economic value.
• Gathering of pollen – not to be confused with the collecting of nectar; good quality pollen positively affects longevity.[11]

These qualities help to reduce to a minimum the time and effort involved in the seasonal care and attention demanded to ensure maximum production results per colony:

• Good temper – non-aggression is a quality desired by all beekeepers. Aggression is a trait common in the M Lineage, such as the A. m. mellifera, but docility is a characteristic of the C Lineage, such as the A. m. ligustica, which the Buckfast bee is most closely related to.[12]
• Calm behavior - bees that stay calm when they are manipulated (inspected) will greatly facilitate the work of beekeeping.
• Disinclination to propolize – excess propolis can increase the work of the beekeeper.
• Freedom from brace comb – the presence of brace comb renders the inspection and manipulation of combs not only a difficult and arduous task, but may also cause the death of the queen.
• The art of making attractive cappings – good cappings are of special importance where sections are produced, a trait which seems tied up with and dependent on many factors.
• Keen sense of orientation – helps to ensure that the bees return to their own hive, thereby avoiding the many drawbacks and risks drifting entails, and an undue loss of queens returning from their mating flights.[13]

Brother Adam, in comparing the Buckfast bee to the A. m. ligustica, (which the Buckfast bee is directly descended from and most closely related to[14]) observed that it was more industrious, more thrifty, less disposed to swarm and more resistant to disease especially Acarine (tracheal mites). Compared to most subspecies of bees the Buckfast bee collects less propolis, keeps restful in winter, but builds up rapidly at the appropriate time in spring time (in England / northern Europe) and maintains a maximum effective colony strength throughout the summer, enabling full advantage of the honey flow to be taken whenever it sets in. As for temper, the Buckfast bee is unusually docile and will tolerate handling in unfavourable weather. A pure Buckfast bee will swarm, but it is little disposed to do so and, of course, it has a good reputation of an unusual honey-gathering ability.[15]

In a scientific study in Poland from 2009 to 2010, in which the economic traits of pure Buckfast bees and a hybrid cross of A. m. mellifera and A. m. caucasia were compared, the Buckfast bee was shown to have a larger brood area, greater increase and strength in the build-up to spring, also on the last inspection of the year the Buckfast colonies were observed to be stronger as well. The honey extracted during spring and summer was larger from the Buckfast hives, with the overall honey extracted being 34.45% greater, with less variation between hives when compared to the A. m. mellifera x caucasia (NB: the crossing of two bee subspecies would have resulted in heterosis, meaning the A. m. mellifera x caucasia would have obtained better results than if the study had only used a pure subspecies, such as the A. m. mellifera or the A. m. caucasia).[16]

In a similar scientific study, also in Poland, but in field and laboratory conditions, the foraging and hoarding abilities of three colonies were compared, 1) pure Buckfast, 2) a hybrid A. m. mellifera (from Norway) x A. m. caucasia and 3) a hybrid A. m. caucasia x A. m. carnica. The Buckfast colony collected 2.1% less syrup than the A. m. caucasia x carnica, but stored 24.8% more in stores, showing a greater efficiency in processing and less consumption of the syrup collected. The Buckfasts collected and stored 38.2% more syrup than the A. m. mellifera x caucasia.[17]

Even though the pure Buckfast bee has a claim to an unusual honey-gathering ability, returns can be maximized through hybrid vigor (heterosis) by crossing pure Buckfast, usually on the paternal side, with other subspecies. However, not all crosses will produce desirable qualities according to Brother Adam, often the swarming tendency is increased so much that it affects the honey yield. The following crosses were found to provide excellent results without increasing the swarming instinct: A. m. anatoliaca queen x Buckfast drones; Buckfast queen x A. m. carnica or A. m. cecropia drones; A. m. cecropia queen x Buckfast or A. m. carnica drones. But the following was found to maximize the swarming instinct: A. m. mellifera or A. m. intermissa or A. m. carnica queens x Buckfast drones.[18]

In a study conducted by Oddie, Dahle and Neumann a Norwegian originally buckfast strain was discovered to be varroa resistant.[19] In Finland (Lundén Apiaries) and Sweden (Österlund Apiaries) there are buckfast strains confirmed to be varroa resistant by other breeders.[20]

A breeding project was begun in the Netherlands in 2014 by Stichting Arista Bee Research, with the goal of producing a Varroa-resistant bee, by using Single Drone Insemination to enhance the Varroa Sensitive Hygiene (VSH) behavior. By importing semen in 2013 from VSH colonies in the U.S., they worked with Buckfast beekeepers from Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, France and the Netherlands and were able to produce colonies that were completely Varroa-resistant without the use of any treatments. Although the genetic base of this Buckfast VSH strain is very narrow, as selection has only been limited to this trait and no resources have been available yet to structurally integrate it into the broader population, it has shown that VSH behavior is present in European high quality Buckfast breeding stock and can be brought to high percentages, the next step in the breeding program will be to further select toward 100% VSH in the entire EU breeding stock.[21] In 2018 it was announced that varroa resistant Buckfast bees (daughters of VSH open mated Queens) would be made available for sale in 2019.[22]