Virgin Buckfast Queen

The Virgin Buckfast Queen offers a cost-effective option for beekeepers with multiple colonies in need of queens. These un-mated queens can be directly released or introduced from a cage, and typically begin laying eggs within 10-21 days. Perfect for colonies no longer capable of producing queens, but with brood still present. Virgin Buckfast Queens should be installed promptly after arrival for optimal results.

Licensed and Inspected Commercial Apiary.

About the Buckfast Bee

Since the late seventies, the Danish Buckfast honeybee has been derived from original breeding material imported from Buckfast Abbey near Buckfastleigh in Devon, UK. 

Brother Adam was in charge of Buckfast Abbey’s bees from 1919 to 1992. He founded the Buckfast strain and introduced a method of queen breeding based upon the purity of stock, controlled mating, precise record-keeping, and judicious selection. 

Our Buckfast queens originate from Canadian and Danish Buckfast lineage. 

Buckfast Bee Characteristics:

– hardiness in a variety of climates
– excellent housekeeper (which some scientists think might be a factor in disease resistance)
– low swarming
– excellent foragers
– gentleness
– ease of handling
– superior resistance to disease
– overwinters well by reducing brood to conserve stores 

Queen Bee Shipping: 

ALL queens will be shipped to your local POST OFFICE (NOT YOUR HOME OR BUSINESS) via USPS EXPRESS MAIL HOLD AT FACILITY. To ensure HEALTHY and LIVE BEES you MUST PICK YOUR BEES UP AT THE POST OFFICE (so they do not sit in a hot/cold mailbox all day). You will be notified when the label prints and have the tracking number so you will know when to expect her. She will come in a queen cage, escorted by a few worker bees. This cage is designed to both keep her calm and cool in transit and to help slowly introduce her to your colony of bees. 

WE MUST HAVE YOUR PHONE NUMBER FOR THE POST OFFICE. 

Queen Introduction Instructions: 

The queen(s) that you will receive are in a combination shipping and introduction cage. There is no need to remove the worker bee attendants. This cage provides food (white sugar candy) during shipment which also acts as a “timed-release” barrier for your hive bees to eat through, allowing several days of pheromone adjustment. 

The hive to receive the queen must have no queen or queen cells already present. Ideally, the hive should be queen-less for at least 24 hours prior to introduction. Be sure to cut down any queen cells that may have developed. 

The cage should be placed in the middle of the brood nest (if no brood is present, place it in the middle of the cluster). Position the cage between two frames, so that the candy end points up and the screen is not blocked. Squeeze the frames around the cage to firmly suspend it, any damage to the comb will be repaired by the bees when the cage is removed. Make sure the hole at the candy end is not blocked. Note: If 10 frames are used, one frame may have to be removed to accommodate the cage. 

The bees in your colony will chew through the candy and release the queen within a few days. Carefully check after three days to ensure the queen has been released. The colony should be disturbed as little as possible for the next two weeks while the queen establishes her brood nest. 

US SALES ONLY.

All Virgin Queens are shipped unmarked.