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History of Ferguson Apiaries
In 1967, Bill carried on the tradition of an Apiary established in 1880's. In early 1970's he became displeased with the quality of queens he was buying. He started raising his own queens and learning about the genetics and possibilities of better queens. 1988 was the last year he imported queens. At that point they were being purchased from New Zealand and Australia. These bees had a higher swarming rate, were more aggressive and not as hygienic. In early 1990's Bill brought in Buckfast Stock to the operation. The change was immediately noticeable and has never looked back. We continue to buy quality tested queens to maintain the integrity of the Buckfast lines that we have developed. This is a ongoing part of the bee breeding to maintain lines that we have.
· The bees were quiet & not aggressive!!
· They were gentle
· Smaller winter clusters
· Low tendency to swarm
· Trachea mite tolerance is good
· Hygienic tests have improved the quality dramatically since the first tests
Working along with other Buckfast breeders and the Ontario tec transfer team (bee girls) we have been able to maintain a high quality stock . We continue to test the queens and our breeding hives. Doing this we maintain the superior attributes expected by the beekeepers who appreciate the quality of our queens . The continual selection of breeder queens has caused the operation to maintain the desired results that was wanted. The luxury of having gentle bees to work with along with the other characteristics make beekeeping a enjoyable hobby or business. |
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