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 I have a colony that had a Starline queen that was superseded sometime late last season.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