One of the highlights of my trip to Copenhagen for Apimondia 2025 was an excursion to Zealand, Denmark – the home of Buckfast Denmark. Here we met with Keld Brandstrup and Mogens Mundt, the principals of the company, to observe and discuss Buckfast Breeding in Denmark.

Keld Brandstrup is a prominent figure in the world of Buckfast bee breeding. Buckfast Denmark is known for its expertise in breeding and maintaining Buckfast bees, a hybrid breed known for its productivity and gentle nature. Brandstrup, along with his colleague Mogens Mundt, is dedicated to advancing the breeding and preservation of these bees. Their work has made them well-respected in the beekeeping community and their knowledge and experience in Buckfast breeding is highly valued.

Mr. Brandstrup led us in a discussion of the history of the Buckfast Bee and a quick course in basic Buckfast Breeding based on 40 years of experience. 

Island Mating

Denmark is surrounded by several small islands. This unique geography makes it an ideal location for isolated mating of queen bees. The government of Denmark has reserved specific islands as isolated mating stations and restricts the types of bees that can be brought to the islands. Buckfast Denmark transports their selected mating stocks to the island mating stations by boat. These selected colonies will provide the drones required for the specific crosses they are looking to acheive.

Once the selected drone colonies are in place, the mating nucs are made up. Buckfast Denmark uses the small Apidea mating nucs. Apidea nucs are manufactured in Switzerland. They are of very high quality making them popular with queen breeders in Europe. Bees are added to the mating nucs and a virgin queen is introduced. Each virgin queen is marked with a color code prior to introduction to ensure traceability.

The mating nucs are then left in a dark, cold room for 48 hours. When the nucs are ready they are transported by boat to the island mating stations. They are left on the island for about 18 days, after which they are checked for a laying queen. The nucs with laying queens are brought back to the mainland and allowed to continue to develop sealed brood. When the first new brood begins to emerge, the queens are harvested and shipped promptly to customers.

Random Mating

Buckfast Denmark raises random mated queens by starting with tested breeder queens. These breeder queens are then bred at an isolated mating area, where a mix of selected Buckfast drones is used to ensure vitality. The random mated queens are not suitable for the production of F-1s and further breeding, but they are suitable for production colonies.

The strict selection of breeder queens and drones ensures a high and reliable quality of the random mated queens provided by Buckfast Denmark. This process ensures that the random mated queens meet the necessary standards for vitality and quality.

Selection

Buckfast Denmark specializes in making specific crosses based on customer input and requirements. These crosses are the result of a judicious selection process to develop the genetic traits each customer requires.

Colonies are evaluated regularly for the following traits: swarm tendency, aggressiveness, and comb behaviour. Secondary criteria include: honey production, nosema resistance and hygienic behaviour. The colonies are graded on a scale from 1 (lowest) to five (highest).

It should be noted that it can take 10 – 12 years to develop a specific drone line. So it is important that stock selection is planned well in advance.

I learned many things from my visit to Buckfast Denmark. Most notably, that they have a very short season for queen rearing – lasting only 60 days. This makes planning and effeciency keys to their successful operation. Buckfast Denmark supplies Buckfast Queens to breeders throughout the world so they must maximize production in such a small time frame to meet demand.

I enjoyed meeting Keld Brandstrup and Mogens Mundt and feel like I could of stayed much longer to learn more about their methods of queen rearing. However, we had lunch reservations at the Danish Beekeepers Association and had to move on for the next tour group.

I hope to incorporate many of principles of Buckfast Breeding into my own operation raising Buckfast Queens in the USA. Thank-you to our kind hosts in Zealand, Denmark for a great tour!