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The Apiaries

Most of the Buckfast apiaries are occupied by 20 colonies. There are always 2 colonies on a 4-footed pedestal and 2 pedestals per group of four. Each colony, at an ideal working height, has an entrance directed in a different direction. This system greatly reduces the risk of the field bees drifting, which is a prerequisite for a perfect performance test (according to Brother Adam, this applies to all races of bees, including the Carnica, of which he tested 68 breeding lines in the course of time). The flying direction does not affect the yield, as has often been supposed, but the micro-climate of the apiary certainly does. Brother Adam always considered a sheltered location very important. Each colony has its own landing ramp, by which the field bees can also reach the hive on foot, a very useful facility in the damp and windy climate of South-West England, which saves the lives of numerous field bees.

Many of the outer apiaries are equipped with a hut. Here, parts of the beehives, but especially the supers, feeders, etc., are kept away from the bees. In this way the transport problems of an apiary with many outer apiaries are minimized. All the apiaries are meticulously tidy and clean -- as are the colonies.

Hygiene was always extremely important in Brother Adam's apiaries. The floorboards are cleaned each year and the brood boxes and frames are cleaned and disinfected every 4 years.

The home apiary, occupied by 40 colonies (i.e. 10 groups of 4) is especially beautiful. In the center you have a beautifully equipped bee house for the nuclei with the breeder queens of the respective season, the "pearls" of the yield colonies of the previous year. There is a huge, man-made incubator for about 1200 queen cells. Brother Adam was also an exceptionally gifted D.I.Y. expert. This incubator is only used for special breeds. Brother Adam let his queens hatch almost exclusively in the nuclei (but more of that later). The bee house is mainly used for carrying out the extensive preparations for breeding, as an insemination laboratory and for picking.

Brother Adam was also an enthusiastic flower breeder in his early years, and in those days enormous flower beds decorated the whole home apiary. Later he had to give up this hobby. The 40 yield colonies also serve as nursing colonies for the approximately 600 young queens that are bred in June.

Flow Conditions

The climate in South-West England is extremely damp. In this area snowy winters