Zest Hive

[Little_John]

Well, they're actually Island mated queens rather than what I would call bog-standard:
.

What I meant was ... 'as opposed to breeding quality' (just checkout those prices ... !)
Maybe not a good choice of wording.

Just noticed on thornes that the Dartington assembled and empty is £375
Thats not cheap but comparing it to the cost of a WBC it probably is fair.

Maybe, but for that kind of money I don't think it's unreasonable to expect a hive made from cedar or similar, such as :
http://www.beesnblossoms.co.uk/shop/long-hive

I make my Long Hives from old planks, disused pallets etc., for around £10-15 - building them is a no-brainer - no need for plans, after all they're only simple boxes. I posted a thread about how to make 'em (based on any frame size) over on:
http://www.biobees.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=17255

Add some legs and cut-down supers, and you've got yourself a 'Dartington'.

LJ

[prakel]

I re-queen mainly in the late summer/autumn, but many of the queens required in the spring seem to be for making up nucs and doing splits.

This is where I think a lot of misunderstanding is creeping in with regards to the promotion of over-wintered queens. A lot of people are advocating them as replacements to imports when it might be best to be promoting the idea of re-queening later in the year and making increase the previous summer. If imports were stopped then people would simply have to adjust their expectations.

I know that a trawl through this forum will turn up posts by myself advocating selling over-wintered queens but that just shows by own lack of understanding in the past. Trying to fight imports with the promise of having our own early queens is, in my opinion, a disservice to everyone.

Maybe when he has the time Gavin could do some pruning on a couple of these threads and then re-organize the cut-offs into one new thread.

[prakel]

Maybe not a good choice of wording.

I did appreciate that, which is why I edited your name out of the quote even though it was obvious that it was from your post

[Little_John]

PS Have you seen these puppies … 'Selected breeder queens' http://www.buckfast.dk/en/order-now.html

So there I am - about an hour ago - staring at a shelf full of half-fat milk in Tesco's, about as far away from beekeeping as you can get ... and this thought comes into my head ...: "Selected breeder queens ?" .... but they're Buckfast !

"Selected Queens" I'd have no problem with - but "Selected Breeder Queens" ?

Buckfasts are hybrids which, by definition, will not breed true - so is this not something of a mis-description of, what are no doubt, some very fine examples of this (man-made) bee ?
LJ

[Adam]

Tesco's has that effect on people.

[gavin]

Buckfast is more like a strain that has a complex background but has settled out to a characteristic type which is more or less true breeding. Only the monks kept tinkering with it as it was always a work in progress.

A new hybrid produces offspring that are all over the place. Keep selecting for something consistent out of that mess and you end up with a stable new strain.

[fatshark]

Buckfast is more like a strain that ... is more or less true breeding.

I guess with an endorsement like that I'll not be buying any of those Buckfast breeder queens …