On Sun, 24 Mar 1996, Rudolf E. Bahr wrote:
 
> Hello Doug,
>
> there is the "Community of Buckfast Beekeepers" (Gemeinschaft
> der Buckfastimker e.V., Germany) consisting of 700 members in Central
> Europe. There are extra groups in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Switzerland too.
>
> Among the members there are many professional beekeepers, because the
> ratio "bee work to own work" seems rather good to them. The buckfast colonies
> are big throughout the whole year, they even brood (and of course consume
> honey) in yield gaps. They are normally kept in 10 or 12 frame Dadant hives.
>
> If you are really interested, I'd like to highly recommend to read Brother
> Adam's books on management works and on breeding the honeybee. Sorry,
> until now I don't know the exact English titles. His books might be a little
> bit hard to read for beginners, because written in a rather compact way, but
> these two and a third one on his trips to look for best honey bees
> are deep sources of bee knowledge. In the third one, for instance, I found
> the hint on poisonous honey in Minor Asia. Very important are his hints
> to deal with diseases and practical queen breeding and rearing.
>
> Of course, I can tell you only about the "European" Buckfast bee. In the
> last days I read much on your 1922 law, which prohibits importation of
> queens and semen (eggs too?). How do you manage it in USA to breed
> genuine buckfast bees?
>
> Best regards,
> R.E.Bahr
>
> NISI APES FINIS
>
> On Fri, 22 Mar 1996, Doug McCulloch wrote:
>
> > Does anyone have any experience with the buckfast queen?  Are they as good
> > as they are claimed to be?  I would be interested in trying out a few, but
> > am not even sure if its allowed to bring them to Alberta from Ontario.  Who
> > is a good supplier?
> > Any input greatly appreciated.
> >
>  Hello  Some 15 to 20 years ago I did have some buckfast bees. They
were very productive and calm. They worked very well in western Wash
USA. I would start out new hobby beekeepers with them , because I thought
they were bullet proof. They did not need much attention and wintered
very well. The only negetive thing that I found for me was the use of
burr and brace comb. When they were ready for the winter , they had
everything glued and waxed very well.The problem was in spring to get in
and check the bees. It would take 30 minutes to an hour to clean things
up so I could remove the frames. For a couple of hives , no problem. For
40 hives it was too much work and then I had some carni's that were doing
very well , so I stayed with the carni's , but did tell the beginners to
use the buckfast.Brother Adam is a great man and beekeeper. The work that
went into the buckfast bee must be more than I can imagine. I have not
seen any buckfast bees in 10 years , you must have some good ones in Canada.
  One thing that I did notice about them in the fall. They did an
outstanding job gathering good pollen. They seem to store more pollen
than the other bees that I had at the time. Fall pollen is a big plus if
you want strong hives in the spring.
 Good Luck
  Roy