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 <<<