Fera is a national and internationally recognised centre of excellence working across a number of areas, including, crop protection, sustainable agriculture, food and feed quality, chemical safety in the environment and plant and bee health. They provide science based evidence and advice to government agencies on the impact on bee diseases/pathogens and conducts studies into the potential effects of crop spraying. They manage around 150 colonies of bees and are true experts in apiculture producing some exceptional queen bees!
The Buckfast lines used in their breeding programme are sourced from Danish lines where the bees show the following traits:
Low propolis gathering
Minimal brace comb building
Excellent temperament
Low swarming tendency
High yield capability
Fera uses artificially inseminated F0 breeder queen colonies as larvae donors. They use a single starter/finisher colony rearing system which they have been using for over 30 years: they transfer the grafted larvae to these colonies where the cells are both started and finished, before finally being transferred to mini mating nucs or apideas for release and mating.
All the queens for sale through our association with Fera are 100% bred in the UK using UK breeder colonies. Every few years, Fera imports the very best F0 breeder queens from Denmark to keep the blood lines fresh and to improve selection qualities.
Our queens are proven to not only cope with UK weather but to excel and perform. They produce substantial honey crops, have a low swarming tendency and an excellent temperament.
If you have any queries, please drop us an email on sales@abelo.co.uk
