Evaluation of economic traits in Buckfast bees in comparison with the hybrids of European Black bees and Caucasian bees

Abstract

Summary. The experiments were conducted in the years 2009–10 in the vicinity of Lublin (east Poland). A group of 10 colonies of pure Buckfast bees (bcf) were evaluated against 10 colonies of F1 hybrids European Black bee × Caucasian bee (mel × cau). The colonies were kept in Dadant Blatt hives. The winter hardiness of the bcf bees was similar to that of the mel × cau bees. The bcf colonies developed faster and had a lower swarming tendency in the spring. They were also definitely superior to mel × cau in honey production (honey supers). However, the groups did not differ in relation to their propensity to hoard honey in the brood chambers. The values of the parameters in the group of the Buckfast colonies were more balanced. Lower variability was identified in: the number of dead bees, the brood area in the second and third measurements, brood increase, colony strength and honey yield. The climatic and nectar flow conditions in the Lublin region (east Poland) are not an obstacle to the keeping of Buckfast bees.