Buckfast bee

The Buckfast bee is a breed race of the Western honey bee ( Apis mellifera) was bred by Karl Kehrle ( brother Adam ) in the English Buckfast Abbey from 1916.

Formation

In 1913, the European Dark Bee was (A. m. Mellifera), which was originally native to the British Isles, almost completely eradicated by a bee deaths. Was officially cause the trachea detected. Recent findings hold a virosis caused by this mite is likely. Brother Adam then began with the surviving colonies ( mixed race of dark bee and Italian bee A. m. Ligustica ) to breed a race that should be more resilient, hardworking and peaceful. To this end, he crossed brown leather Italian bees with drones the native dark bee.

When breeding his Buckfast bee, he departed from the conventional beekeeping. The chosen means of breeding method was based on the scientific reports of Ludwig Armbruster ( Bee-breeding, 1919 / application of scientific genetics in the breeding of farm animals ).

The result is a peaceful, lazy bees swarm race, the ( magazine prey in Dadant and Langstroth degree in a paired arrangement ) brings above-average returns in the use of modern farming practices. The successful beekeepers with the Buckfast bee is not bound by those specific prey species, such as their stance on the widely-used perch prey proves.

Breeding of the Buckfast bee

Conventional natural beekeeping bee races

The breeding of honey bees by the beekeeper ( apiarist ) usually takes place within a natural bee breed exclusively by pure breeding. This bee queens are always targeted mated with drones of the same race of bees and selected according to established, breed typical body features and characteristics (breeding objective). The natural bee breeds are distinguished by their color and by certain physical features (eg Flügelgeäder the front and rear wing ).

In contrast to conventional beekeeping sat brother Adam to achieve its breeding objectives and other breeding methods ( crossbreeding ), which occur only in the border areas of different habitats of two races of bees in nature.

Because of the complicated mating biology of the honey bee ( queen and drone mate in flight, where the queen can be mated up to 30 different drones ), the mating in controlled and protected areas, so-called citations. As queen and drone mating flight during each several kilometers to cover, land citations apply in relation to a specific pairing of selected queens and drones as unsafe. As safe citations special high mountain citations or island mating stations are at an appropriate distance to the mainland. The safest selective mating is done by artificial insemination of the queen.

The susceptibility of the honeybee for inbreeding, with the consequent negative effects on the breeding population is known to beekeepers. In pure breeding of the honeybee therefore many involved in the breeding colonies (broad breeding base ) are required to avoid inbreeding depression in the long term.

Brother Adam was convinced that the exclusive pure breeding of the honeybee would inevitably lead to inbreeding problems and a " genetic erosion " within the breed. A solution for this problem he found in the scientific work of Prof. Ludwig Armbruster. Here is a breeding method was demonstrated, which resulted in compliance with the laws of inheritance to a new, artificially erzüchteten bees breed ( breeding stock ), the Buckfast bee.

Dynamic growth process of the Buckfast bee

In addition to the use of other breeding methods to the determination of breed's typical physical features ( hair of the bee body, wing index) is in the Buckfast breeding, compared to the conventional beekeeping, omitted entirely. The Buckfast bee is defined only on their properties. Color differences and different physical characteristics are given breed related.

Developed by Brother Adam dynamic breeding process involves the possibility of unlimited continuation of breeding the Buckfast bee without loss of vitality in the colonies. Does this, the breeding process follows applicable also to the breeding of the honeybee inheritance laws to achieve a " erbfesten " breeding stock.

The dynamic growth process consists of three breeding methods:

• Pure breeding ( captive breeding )
• Crossbreeding (crossing the Buckfast bee with a natural, strange breed of bees )
• Combination breeding (parallel run testing breeding, often continued for several years)

Basis of Buckfast breeding is in pure breeding ( mating of Buckfast queens with Buckfast drones ) held Buckfast strain with different breeding lines (designated B1, B2, B3, etc., where " B" for Buckfast is and the number is the case number in which a certain queen bee with her ​​people sitting ).

Parallel to the Buckfast strain separate breed crosses ( crossbreeding ) are performed ( mating a select breed of the western honey bee with the Buckfast bee). So over the course of years selected races of bees were tested from all over the world and partially crossed into this newly created Buckfast: Cypriot bees, Carinthian bee ( A. m carnica. ) Südgriechische bee ( A. m (A. m cypria. ). cecopria ), Anatolian bee ( A. m. anatolica ), Macedonian bee ( A. m. macedonica ) from Athos and the Egyptian bee ( A. m. lamarckii ). Not all of these matings were permanently anchored in the Buckfast breeding, as was the A. m. carnica and the A. m. cypria excreted.

These crossbreeds are subsequently continued in combination breeding parallel and separately from the Buckfast strain. This is done over and over again a pairing with the breeding lines of the Buckfast strain or with other strains of combination breeding. Only after several years of testing and selection correspond to the combination breeding lines in their properties, they are incorporated into the Buckfast strain.

Breeding requires a most careful examination of the breeding results and an uncompromising selection of breeding animals. Once a loss of certain properties or a loss of vitality at a selected pure cultures Buckfast line is detected ( breeding line within the Buckfast strain ), is added by incorporating a guided in combination breeding parallel breeding line new blood and thus a property improvement.

Today

The Buckfast bee is available to beekeepers about the Buckfast state associations or Buckfast breeder in Germany. Even in professional journals queens are offered. Especially economically oriented Beekeeper ( vocational and employment Beekeepers) like to keep the Buckfast bee. The Buckfast bee is temporarily bred by the breeding directive given by Brother Adam worldwide.

In a large-scale investigation of the Ludwig- Maximilians- University of Munich DNA studies were compared to the biodiversity of 2440 Buckfast bees of different individual breeders with Carniolan and Ligusticabienen. Prof. Martin Förster had used 62 DNA markers and concludes:

" Simply summarized, this means that bees are too good to deplete in pure culture, because an increased genetic diversity protects the bees and our shared environment. "

The author Alison Benjamin warns in his book World without bees - How the death of a kind threatens our civilization:

" Genetically diverse peoples showed stable responses to changing environmental influences. The hypothesis that the same becomes better cope with illness, was confirmed by further studies. "

In Germany and Austria the attitude of the Buckfast bee a long time was not without controversy. In these two countries ( carnica A. m. ) Is now used by the hobbyist beekeepers predominantly another race of bees, the Carinthian bee kept and bred. The Carniolan was imported in the 20th century from Carinthia and Slovenia in the German-speaking world, where it replaced the native bee Apis mellifera mellifera. Some beekeepers have sought to protect in the introduction of Buckfast bees pure breeding of race. New scientific studies that have been conducted 2003-2013 worldwide, but clearly show that colonies with a queen who has mated with as many genetically different drones stand out with important properties, such as higher productivity, higher fitness, generally reduced morbidity and greater probability of survival.

Due to the special mating behavior of the honey bee is the real pure breeding as soon as different races of bees are present, may be possible only in specially protected areas ( citations ) or on artificial insemination of queens. Fortunately, occurs when today forcibly occurring Crossbreeding of both breeds excessive tendency to desire to sting on, such as those in the 1960s in the conversion of so-called Landrace ( still largely A. m. Mellifera) was observed on the Carniolan.