Hello, I made two splits this past summer and used swarm cells from My Buckfast hives. These hives are as gentle as all of My other Buckfast hives. I love the Buckfast bees, I currently have nine Buckfast hives and almost always can work these bees without smoke(only using smoke to get them out of the way when I put the boxes back together). Maybe Your Buckfast virgin queens mated with another race, that could cause the meanness. I don't think a race of bees should be pronounced "bad" because of a few incidents. All races of bees available for sale do well, it is mostly personal preference that determines what kind of bee You buy (except in extreme weather conditions).And while We are on the subject, awhile back someone said they were not going to buy Weavers' Buckfast bees because Weaver was in the area that currently has AHB. That is not true, The Texas Apiary Inspector Dr P.Jackson of Texas A&M, spoke at The Mass Beekeepers Meeting, and told Us that the AHB territory is nowhere near Weavers. Garry Libby Boston, USA [log in to unmask]