Hi Gang,
I have a question on Buckfast queens.  I did a search in the archives and
found many posts but none really answered my question.  Does the Buckfast
breed true?  Assuming there are Buckfast drones will the daughters still be
Buckfast, and if so how many generations (practical) will still be Buckfast?
 
 
I have a colony that had a Starline queen that was superseded sometime late
last season.  Other that I noticed that the marked queen was gone the colony
seemed OK.  I decided to let go through winter and probably requeen in the
spring.  I checked that colony this week and they were extremely aggressive,
especially compared to all the other colonies.  They followed me back to the
truck and would not give up.  I did not see the queen but there was plenty
of eggs and brood so she was there.  She may be a second or third generation
queen, but one things for sure, she's history.
 
I have never used Buckfast, but my daughter is in an agricultural class
where she and three other students will be starting colonies for a project.
 They ordered packages with Buckfast queens.  I am assuming that with all
the inexperienced handling they will be doing, a queen may be injured and
replaced.  I would not want these young beekeepers to come away with a bad
and "painful" experience because of an aggressive colony.  I do plan on
trying to help these students.
 
One humorous side note.  This ag project requires a student to raise an
animal for market.  When my daughter told me she chose bees I told her I
would give her whatever equipment she needed and we would make a split in
April.  I also told her I would start nucs for the other students.  She said
no that the teacher had order packages, but had suggested that my daughter
use one of my colonies.  She declined and said she wanted a package.  I
asked her why.  She said she told the teacher she wanted to do the same as
the other students, but she told me that when school is over they take them
home.  This way we get a "free" hive.
 
Why don't I think like that?  Maybe she should run the operation and I
should work for her, although she would probably make me take a pay cut.
 
Any information on the Buckfast question would be appreciated.
 
Ron Bogansky
Kutztown, PA