# Buckfast Abbey



## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

Cool. I am glad you were able to go. When I was a kid I used to know a preacher who was always raving about bees, and kept talking about this Brother Adam guy who he idolized and kept visiting. Back then I had no interest in bees.


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## orthoman (Feb 23, 2013)

Very interesting and awesome photographs. Thanks for sharing. I understand they still have beekeeping classes there. Do they still sell honey?


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Not sure they do have beekeeping classes, or produce honey. They have a large factory that produces mead. Perhaps Pete...beekuk on this list...can say for sure. 

I will say one thing.

Adam seems to have been written out. The new abbot ended Adam's bee work not long before Adam passed away. He died alone but for his old helper Peter Donovan...who passed recently. The apiary work was given to a dermatologist? from...I heard Egypt, and other countries...who really knew not much about keeping bees. So the bees died out, and the new beekeeper got his papers to practice in the UK. Adam's equipment was thrown in an old pig shed and his papers are stored in a vault. A brochure I found at the information booth on Bees at Buckfast Abbey didn't even mention Adam.

Some beekeepers from the area call the place Fastbuck Abbey. Think gift shop, cafeteria, and busses. If they want so to make money, why haven't they promoted the beekeeping history at the Abbey and the work Brother Adam did. Sad if you think about it.


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

Very, very, cool Michael, 

Sad to see the true history of the abby ignored or forgoten,,,,,Glad to hear that at least his

papers are being preserved,,,even if it's for moneymongers....

I notice his 4-way nuc has a recessed top, looks like he had 2 inner covers that covered

2 nuc chambers each...mating nuc only, not for supering.....Thanks again..

==McBee7==


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## REDWOOD (Feb 5, 2014)

orthoman said:


> Very interesting and awesome photographs. Thanks for sharing. I understand they still have beekeeping classes there. Do they still sell honey?


They still sell honey and run classes


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## beekuk (Dec 31, 2008)

McBee7 said:


> I notice his 4-way nuc has a recessed top, looks like he had 2 inner covers that covered
> 
> 2 nuc chambers each...mating nuc only, not for supering.....Thanks again..


 The mating boxes are four way during the active mating season, consisting of four frames in each section, and of course four queens... during winter two dividers are removed to leave two eight frame nucs, there is only one single cover for the lot, or when feeding one single rapid feeder, and the cover goes over this feeder, followed by the gabled roof.

They keep a few hives of bees for teaching new beekeepers, no more Buckfast bee breeding is done by the Abbey.

But the mating station is still being used to produce Buckfast queens.

Exellent pictures Michael.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

beekuk said:


> Exellent pictures Michael.


Thanks Pete. And do you want to know my favorite photo from that shoot?

My good friend walking in the footsteps of his predecessor at the Dartmoor Mating Station.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I have a tray full of slides of my visit in 1978. I should have then digitized if they are still any good. I might even have a plastic container of heather honey somewhere. And of course my signed copy of BeeKeeping at Buckfast Abbey.
When I came home from that trip my first wife had moved out and in with another man twice her age. Oh those were the good old days....


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

Thanks BeeKuk,

I wonder who carries on the breeding of the original strain or strains of the buckfast bees?

I know there is a danish (i think) company that sells buckfast queens abroad and state side.

Thanks again for the info 

==McBee7==


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## beekuk (Dec 31, 2008)

McBee7 said:


> I wonder who carries on the breeding of the original strain or strains of the buckfast bees?


There are many breeders of the Buckfast bee in Europe, only a few have some of the old line Buckfasts, i have some of them, this is a link to some of the breeders in Europe, but not all of them.http://perso.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/elver/
I use queens from some of these breeders...we often do swaps, plus i use the isolated Dartmoor mating station and another on Exmoor, breeding the Buckfast bee is an on going thing, using the methods taught by Brother Adam, you can read more about what is going on with the Buckfast bee in the link section of my site.


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

OD, look on the bright side - he's probably deceased now.:bus


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

What distinguishes a Buckfast queen from other queens? Is the line kept "Buckfastish" by a specific set of breeding criteria?


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## the doc (Mar 3, 2010)

Wow that is cool, once in a lifetime experience!


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## ycitybz (Jan 2, 2012)

beekuk said:


> The mating boxes are four way during the active mating season, consisting of four frames in each section, and of course four queens... during winter two dividers are removed to leave two eight frame nucs, there is only one single cover for the lot, or when feeding one single rapid feeder, and the cover goes over this feeder, followed by the gabled roof.
> 
> They keep a few hives of bees for teaching new beekeepers, no more Buckfast bee breeding is done by the Abbey.
> 
> ...


Would you happen to have plans to build the four-way mating boxes. I'm looking for the dimensions to build this exact box.


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

http://www.nytimes.com/1996/09/04/world/brother-adam-98-bee-breeder-who-developed-new-varieties.html

Take a look at this obituary.

And, thanks to everyone, especially Michael for the pictures, for the info on the apiary at Buckfast Apiary.

Maybe some day Brother Adam's papers can be compiled on a public website. Thank you Brother Adam!


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Fascinating obituary, thanks for the link.
I'm left, however, wondering about this.

"In one example of his travels in search of native strains of bees, a fellow apiarist carried the 90-year-old Brother Adam on a bamboo chair strapped to his back up Africa's highest mountain, 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro. ."

This really happened? Who was this fellow apiarist?


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## Dan the bee guy (Jun 18, 2015)

jim lyon said:


> Fascinating obituary, thanks for the link.
> I'm left, however, wondering about this.
> 
> "In one example of his travels in search of native strains of bees, a fellow apiarist carried the 90-year-old Brother Adam on a bamboo chair strapped to his back up Africa's highest mountain, 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro. ."
> ...


I watched a doc that someone put on YouTube shouldn't be hard to find.


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## Stephenpbird (May 22, 2011)

jim lyon said:


> "In one example of his travels in search of native strains of bees, a fellow apiarist carried the 90-year-old Brother Adam on a bamboo chair strapped to his back up Africa's highest mountain, 19,340-foot Mount Kilimanjaro. ."
> 
> This really happened? Who was this fellow apiarist?


The Monk and the Honeybee can be viewed on youtube. that will answer your questions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4j9tSneoL4

Lesley Bill wrote For the love of bees. In it she states that she accompanied Brother Adam as did Herr Fehrenbach and his daughter, M. van der See, Walter Davie and the Taylors of York films.


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

Stephenpbird said:


> The Monk and the Honeybee can be viewed on youtube. that will answer your questions.
> 
> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V4j9tSneoL4
> 
> Lesley Bill wrote For the love of bees. In it she states that she accompanied Brother Adam as did Herr Fehrenbach and his daughter, M. van der See, Walter Davie and the Taylors of York films.


This is an interesting video. I watched it recently. 

Here's a link to a bio on Brother Adam that I also found interesting. http://www.rweaver.com/adam.php


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Thank you for sharing , Michael. That's probably as close as I'll ever get to Buckfast Abbey. 

I'd love to have access to some of the European Buckfast lines. Almost everyone would benefit from an influx of new genetics. What is it going to take to ease the restriction on queen imports to the US? Surely someone in Washington could push the same fear-mongering tactics they used with Africanized bees to end imports in the first place? The current timing might be beneficial ( what with the decline & collapse of bees in the US ).

The Ferguson's manage by keeping the Danish queens for a year, at which time they can rear daughters & send them to the US. If I had the where-with-all, I'd form a similar collective in Canada & offer several of the EBL's (Euro Buckfast Lines) perhaps as well as a number of others.

Typical congressional decree - here's a new law, and here's the loophole...


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## jhinshaw (Aug 14, 2014)

Thank you so much for sharing! Like Colobee, that's probably as close as I'll ever get to Buckfast Abbey as well!


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## DavidP (May 27, 2009)

Never been to the abbey but have driven past it a few times and holidayed in the general area many times as its really a lovely part of the country.

What i don't quite understand about the place is their production of the so called Buckfast tonic wine, its 15% alcohol and more caffeine than a red bull. Its primarily sold in poor areas in the west of Scotland, primarily Glasgow and is a cheap available source of alcohol. There has been a lot of controversy about the abbey producing it. One study found that it had been mentioned in over 5,000 crime reports over a three year period as a factor and i don't think its a coincidence thats its labelled as the most violent region in the UK.

Doesn't seem terribly Christian thing to do to me although perfectly legal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Buckfast_Tonic_Wine


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

Richardson - Thank you for the links, esp the R Weaver link. That's the most vivid picture of the man I've read, as if one can "peek" into another bee breeder's mind is possible through his work. 

So fortunate for beekeepers that Karl was assigned to the apiary, that he lived so long, and that he wrote as he did.

Michael is right - they should offer a special "Bee Tour" of the Abbey and Dartmoor, and gear a class at Brother Adam's Buckfast breeding process. A susbstantial class size should fill each year. I'd love to set up the West Coast tour package, but I bet the East Coast will have more paying customers. Perhaps only one flight out of the U.S. every other year? It would be interesting to put together. 

Michael is likely too busy to host or teach the class, but still a beekeeper / breeder / historian would make a name for himself in such an endeavor. I'd think Weaver himself would be another great candidate.

Dare anyone print this thread and send it to the Abbot? I hope so.


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## beekuk (Dec 31, 2008)

kilocharlie said:


> Michael is right - they should offer a special "Bee Tour" of the Abbey and Dartmoor, and gear a class at Brother Adam's Buckfast breeding process.


They no longer do any bee breeding at the Abbey, haven't done for many years, and they no longer have anything to do with the Dartmoor mating station, but any beekeepers who wished to visit the mating station during the summer, give me a call, and they would be welcome.


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

jim lyon said:


> This really happened? Who was this fellow apiarist?


From memory I really at least Erik Österlund from Sweden and Michael van der Zee from Holland. 

And for those wanting to get really good bees, I mean bees which you could not even dream of, please make serious efford, despite all difficulties, to get your hands on European buckfast bees. It can be a mind opening experience and change your beekeeping for good.


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## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Juhani, 

Unfortunately, most folks just don't seem to be interested in or want to believe that such bees still exist. It wasn't all that hard to get Danish Buckfast via the "Canadian sidestep" loophole. As I said I only wish there were a similar venue for all those other Euro-Buckfast lines. Even then there seems to be a skepticism or disbelief when positive results are offered up. 

So many folks have so many problems with their bees. I suppose it's only natural to begin accepting that "That's just the way it is".


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

Michael, does the division board in Brother Adam's 4-way nuc fit in a slot cut in the hive body? or is it movable? 

The reason I ask is because I seen an article about the operations at the Abbey apiary that movable division boards were used to close up the space in the box early in the season depending on the condition of the hive. I'm wondering if he did the same in his 4-way mating nucs.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

RichardsonTX said:


> Michael, does the division board in Brother Adam's 4-way nuc fit in a slot cut in the hive body? or is it movable?


I didn't notice if the division board was rabbeted into the box and central divider. I think not. Looks like it is free hanging. The frame spacers on the divider match the frame spacers on the frames...They're Hob Nails

http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff61/frenchhill/DSC_5040_zpsijl28irg.jpg


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

Michael Palmer said:


> I didn't notice if the division board was rabbeted into the box and central divider. I think not. Looks like it is free hanging. The frame spacers on the divider match the frame spacers on the frames...They're Hob Nails
> 
> http://i241.photobucket.com/albums/ff61/frenchhill/DSC_5040_zpsijl28irg.jpg


Cool! Thanks for the pic. I was planning on how to make my mini mating nucs and I wanted to mimic what Brother Adam has done as much as possible except use standard Langstroth deeps. 

At lunch today I watched the video again of Brother Adam that is a link on here and in part 4 his assistant is showing off one of their production hives and he moved the division board in that one. It looked a lot like the one in the mating nuc you took a picture of. 

Another thing I realized from the video was how large even the frames were in the 4-way mating nuc of Brother Adam's. It's because they are made from a larger hive body. They look huge compared to the one's I'll be using, sidewall to divider, like yours. Due to the size, his mating nucs were probably equal in volume to a typical nucleus hive. 

I hadn't really paid any attention to the frame spacers but I remember Brother Adam talking about them in his book. Their frame designs are interesting in the different way they are made. I wonder why they didn't use the Dadant style frames with built in spacing like we typically use. I noticed in the video that the German beekeepers used the same type of frame as Brother Adam. 

Here's more info I found on him. http://perso.fundp.ac.be/~jvandyck/homage/obitu/PJbiogr96en.html


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## beekuk (Dec 31, 2008)

Michael Palmer said:


> I didn't notice if the division board was rabbeted into the box and central divider. I think not.


Mike, they slide into a central slot, about a quarter inch deep on each side of the box.


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## Rolande (Aug 23, 2010)

beekuk said:


> Mike, they slide into a central slot, about a quarter inch deep on each side of the box.


Are the darkened edges which are apparent in MP's photo the result of applying vaseline/grease to assist removal?


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

beekuk said:


> Mike, they slide into a central slot, about a quarter inch deep on each side of the box.


Thanks Pete


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

How did the bees in Brother Adam's mating nucs get up into the feeder if he had mini covers over each of them?


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

The feeder had 2 corridors up to the feeder, each of these had 2 holes. All 4 nucs could be fed simultaneously.


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## RichardsonTX (Jul 3, 2011)

Juhani Lunden said:


> The feeder had 2 corridors up to the feeder, each of these had 2 holes. All 4 nucs could be fed simultaneously.


I knew about the corridors but how did the bees get past the small covers over each nuc so that they could get to the feeder? Or, did Brother Adam not have covers over each nuc and when the top feeder was removed the bees in all 4 mating nucs were exposed?


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## Juhani Lunden (Oct 3, 2013)

They were all exposed, when the feeder was removed.


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

The first photo is the feeder with 2 feeder blocks. There is a central divider across the box, and directly under the feeder/feed blocks. Each block has two holes for the bees to come up...one hole on either side of the central divider. In the second photo, you can see the holes in the block, and a channel carved into the block for a bee passage. When the tin cover is on the block, the bees coming up through the feed hole, and can't cross over to the other hole. They feed in the space between the block and the oversize tin cover. If the masonite divider that divides each half created by the central divider is removed, the 8 frame nuc created can feed from one hole on each block.


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