Our bees
Why invest in a new Queen?
The queen bee, to a large extent, determines the qualities of the whole colony. If you are looking for bees with characteristics such as resilience, a low swarming tendency, ease of handling, resistance to disease and high honey production, it is worth investing in a premium queen in which these attributes can be found.
BHP Queens rear approximately 2000 queens each year in our woodland nursery apiary for customers across the UK. Many of our customers return year after year due to the innate characteristics of our queens.
Colonies raised from our queens have regularly been used in the media because of the excellent temperament of the bees and we frequently receive feedback about their prolific honey production.
Colonies raised from our queens have regularly been used in the media because of the excellent temperament of the bees and we frequently receive feedback about their prolific honey production.
BHP Queens compared to Other Queens
Pedigree Buckfast Breeding Stock
We are firm believers that our queens are the very best open-mated British-reared Buckfast queens available in the UK. We use only the most highly rated breeding stock from Keld Brandtrsup of Buckfast Denmark for both grafting and for the colonies supplying drones to our mating apiary. We actually use the same breeding queens that Keld has used himself in the previous year. All the queens used in our breeding programme are F0 island mated Buckfast queens guaranteeing both the maternal and paternal lines are known. We have records of the genetic lineage stretching back at least 5 generations for both our breeder queens and our drone mothers and can supply information on your queen's lineage if required.
2025 Breeder Queens
Pedigree Number |
BHP Breeder Name |
Breeder Year |
Breeder # |
Maternal Line |
KB 363 |
Fabiola |
2022 |
KB216 x KB190 |
|
KB 024 |
Guinevere |
2022 |
KB662 x KB284 |
|
KB 159 |
Helena |
2022 |
KB662x KB190 |
|
KB 351 |
Isabella |
2022 |
KB006 x KB284 |
|
KB 128 |
Jasmine |
2022 |
KB509 x KB284 |
|
Propensity to pass on positive genetic traits
All our queens have been selected based on the most desirable characteristics for bee keepers in North Western Europe. The colonies of our breeding queens and the colonies of their daughters have all been tested across a range of desirable criteria with only the very best queens selected to become our breeders. The chosen queens have not only displayed the desired attributes in their own colonies but also in the colonies of their daughters, demonstrating a propensity to pass on positive genetic traits. The characteristics taken into account when selecting the breeder queens are a low swarm tendency, good comb behaviour, low aggressiveness, high honey yield, hygienic behaviour and lack of nosema.
Isolated breeding site & drone saturation
We ensure our drone mothers are not related to our breeder queens to avoid any risk of in-breeding. Our mating apiary is a secluded site, with our three drone supplying apiaries being the only known hives within a three mile radius. From these three apiaries we have approximately fifty strong colonies within range, supplying the drone congregation area with a plentiful supply of drones throughout the season. Through the combination of operating in a secluded woodland location along with the proximity of our drone supplying apiary sites, we maximise the chance that our new queens will mate with drones of known parentage, maintaining a purity of breeding and ensuring the desired characteristics are passed to the next generation - Your bees!
History of the Buckfast Bee
Karl Kehrle (aka “Brother Adam”) was a Benedictine monk, beekeeper, authority on bee breeding, and developer of the Buckfast bee.
Due to health problems, he was sent by his devoutly Catholic mother at age 11 from Germany to Buckfast Abbey, where he joined the order (becoming Br. Adam). In 1915 he started his beekeeping activities. Two years prior, a parasite, Acarapis Woodi, that originated on The Isle of Wight had started to extend over the country devastating the majority of native bee colonies. In 1916 the parasite reached Buckfast Abbey killing two thirds of the colonies there. Only the A.m. Carnica and A.m. Ligustica survived.
Brother Adam travelled to find replacements for the lost colonies and through cross-breeding with the surviving strains he created the first Buckfast bee in 1917, a very productive bee resistant to the parasite. In September 1919 Brother Adam was put in charge of the abbey’s apiary. He soon installed his famous isolated breeding station in Dartmoor to allow him to extend his work on selected crossings. He continued his gradual improvement of the Buckfast Bee by analyzing and crossing bees from places all over Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. In recognition of his work he received several prizes, including the O.B.E. in 1973 and the German Verdienstkreutz in 1974.
On the 2nd of February 1992, aged 93, he resigned his post as beekeeper at the Abbey and lived a retired life at Buckfast Abbey becoming the oldest monk of the English Benedictine Congregation before his death on the 1st of September 1996.
At BHP Queens we are extremely fortunate to be connected to both Ged Marshall (British Honey Producers Ltd) and Keld Brandstrup (Buckfast Denmark) who have learned directly under Brother Adam and have used his principles to continue the production and development of amazing Buckfast Bees.
Due to health problems, he was sent by his devoutly Catholic mother at age 11 from Germany to Buckfast Abbey, where he joined the order (becoming Br. Adam). In 1915 he started his beekeeping activities. Two years prior, a parasite, Acarapis Woodi, that originated on The Isle of Wight had started to extend over the country devastating the majority of native bee colonies. In 1916 the parasite reached Buckfast Abbey killing two thirds of the colonies there. Only the A.m. Carnica and A.m. Ligustica survived.
Brother Adam travelled to find replacements for the lost colonies and through cross-breeding with the surviving strains he created the first Buckfast bee in 1917, a very productive bee resistant to the parasite. In September 1919 Brother Adam was put in charge of the abbey’s apiary. He soon installed his famous isolated breeding station in Dartmoor to allow him to extend his work on selected crossings. He continued his gradual improvement of the Buckfast Bee by analyzing and crossing bees from places all over Europe, the Near East, and North Africa. In recognition of his work he received several prizes, including the O.B.E. in 1973 and the German Verdienstkreutz in 1974.
On the 2nd of February 1992, aged 93, he resigned his post as beekeeper at the Abbey and lived a retired life at Buckfast Abbey becoming the oldest monk of the English Benedictine Congregation before his death on the 1st of September 1996.
At BHP Queens we are extremely fortunate to be connected to both Ged Marshall (British Honey Producers Ltd) and Keld Brandstrup (Buckfast Denmark) who have learned directly under Brother Adam and have used his principles to continue the production and development of amazing Buckfast Bees.
