As a number of other contributors have explained the Buckfast Queen
is one developed by Brother Adam from Buckfast Abbey, Devon, UK.
 
While this is significant, what is more significant is that he has
been selecting breeding lines since the First World War and has
breeder stock records going back that far.   No one else  to my knowledge
has bred and kept records for this length of time.
 
He is well aware of the Mendelian Rules of inheritance and culls his
progeny to exclude all the traits he does not want.  Sometimes this
means a very heavy loss of potential stock and it starts when the
queens emerge.
 
What would be good and would suppliment Bro Adams work would be a
genetic map of his bees.  Each year he himself says the Bro Adam bee
is different but he is still selecting for the same traits, quiteness
on the comb, thrift with stores, good health characteristics and
ability to produce a surplus and not agressive.  It must be possible
to map these traits within DNA and help all bee breeders.
>>>       Keith JM Hooker       <<<
>>>  Technology Management Ltd  <<<
>>> WHITSTABLE Kent CT5 4ED UK  <<<