Hi All I have read with interest the quotes of gentle happy buckfasts, and uggly mean buckfasts. It seems the common thread is that the original queens produce good gentle colonies, but if they requeen they produce ugly bees. There is a very simple and easy explanation to this: The buckfast contains certain 'african' elements, mainly mountain bees, which can be ratty at times. African queens and african bees are superior genetically in that they grow faster and have better flight muscles due to better enzyme systems - ie if there are african drones around they will get the queens first. If a cell swarms, the african lines from which queens are reared will hatch first. It is just the same old africanized bee story. Keep well Garth Garth Cambray Camdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Grahamstown Apis mellifera capensis 6139 South Africa Time = Honey