Buckfast Bees

Registered Buckfast breeders since 1990 Buckfast Queens & Stock

Buckfast Bees originated in England.

In 1919, Brother Adam took over the task of breeding bees at Buckfast Abby. Brother Adam was working to make a strain of bee that was disease-resistant, a good honey producer and gentle. The key words in breeding Buckfast Bees is drone control.

Brother Adam made extensive journeys around the world collect breeding stock that matched his target bee characteristics. His efforts focused mainly on countries with distinct races of bees. A race of bees is akin to a breed of dogs. They have names like Italians, Russian, Cordovan or Buckfast. 

He travelled to isolated rural areas in the countries he visited to discover pure native strains. He even travelled as far as the Sahara Desert!

After many years of work, the result at the Dartmoor, England breeding station was the Buckfast Bee.

Brother Adam retired in 1988 at the age of 93. In 1996, he died in his 99th year.

NUCS  consist of 1 Buckfast queen one frame with honey 2 frames of brood and a foundation.  You should be able to get an average crop off this unit if well managed.  You have a choice of early last seasons queens or the present year queen.  It is just 2-3 weeks later.  2023 price is $330.00 pickup only. Prices subject to change

QUEENS  All our queens are from Buckfast stock.  We import Buckfast stock each year to keep the lines pure.  You have a choice of open mated from tested stock or open mated F1 from Danish stock.

Pick up. We will give a discount of up to $5.00 a queen to a maximum of $100.00

1-10 $60.00

11-49 $55.00

50-99 $50.00

100 plus $45.00

Inquire about dealer pricing.

Prices subject to change.

Buckfast breeding:
We use only Buckfast stock. We have hygienic test made in the spring and raise queens from the winter survivors. We evaluate for gentleness and egg laying ability of the queen mother. We are in an isolated location with only Buckfast stock. If you try raising queens from the purchased queens you need to be mindful, as shown by Purdue University and University of Guelph, that the cross or aggressive gene comes from the drone lines. Your success in breeding will depend on the drones that are present in a five mile radius of your mating yard.

Genetics Testing

Order Buckfast bees now.