Regarding the reputed resistance to varroa attributed to Buckfast bees,
I have to say woefully that it's just not so!  Acting on this rumor, I
requeened my hives (all six of 'em) last spring ('93) with Buckfast
queens.  I had a good season in '93, enjoying what I considered to be
some of the nicest bees I've ever had the pleasure to work and
harvesting an average of about 80 pounds of honey per hive.
 
I treated my hives with Apistan strips, which were in from roughly
Thanksgiving through Christmas (Nov 25 - Dec 25).  All hives made it
through the "winter from hell" (verified in late February), but two
have since died.  Both of the dead hives had dead varroa all over the
bottom board.  I don't know if the varroa died last fall/early winter
when I had the Apistan strips in or if the mites were the cause
of the hives' demise and fell to the bottom board after the bees died.
I don't imagine that the bees would have been able to clean the hives
very well, as it has been cold since I removed the Apistan strips.
One hive clearly starved, but the other hive had plenty of stores
remaining and had in fact started raising brood.  I want to check the
bottom boards of the remaining hives to see if they too have dead
mites, but it's been too cold to break the hives down.
 
In any event, I've got Buckfast bees and I've got varroa.  I don't
feel that the numbers are sufficient to conclude that the Buckfasts'
resistance to varroa is bunk, but I can say that one should keep up
one's guard for varroa even if they have Buckfast bees.  Perhaps I
would have lost all my hives with another strain of bee, who can
say?  However, a valid conclusion based on last year's experience is:
Varroa resistant does not mean varroa immune!