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Buckfast Queen Bee | Mated Buckfast Queen Bees For Sale

(12 customer reviews)

Buckfast Queen Bees

Bred and Raised in Northumberland UK.

Buckfast queens for sale are from our own VSH (varroa sensitive and hygienic) lines, bred and developed by us in Northumberland.

For full line information, origin and traits see our dedicated queen breeding page or browse the queen line table below in the full description.

Order Process

Select a delivery week and delivery day and preferred queen mother (for help choosing this see the main description with queen line information table in full descripton).

Queens are always sent Royal Mail Special Delivery, or can be collected by appointment.

Delivery Days

Thursday to Saturday available, simply select your desired delivery day and delivery week.

Discounts available on quantity for bee farmers (see quantity table for rates) 

For Terms and Conditions for Bee Orders and Cancellations please see the dedicated Ts and Cs page

*Pre-orders for 2025 Season Now Live* – Note early weeks do fill up quickly, so early ordering is recommeneded.

£49.00

Total amount saved:
Quantity Per Item Price
1-2 £49.00 £49.00
3-5 £49.00 £44.00
6-10 £49.00 £39.00
11-20 £49.00 £37.00
21-30 £49.00 £36.00
40-50 £49.00 £35.00
50+ £49.00 £34.00
Quantity Per Item Price
1-2 £49.00 £49.00
3-5 £49.00 £44.00
6-10 £49.00 £39.00
11-20 £49.00 £37.00
21-30 £49.00 £36.00
40-50 £49.00 £35.00
50+ £49.00 £34.00
Quantity Per Item Price
1-2 £49.00 £49.00
3-5 £49.00 £44.00
6-10 £49.00 £39.00
11-20 £49.00 £37.00
21-30 £49.00 £36.00
40-50 £49.00 £35.00
50+ £49.00 £34.00
Quantity Per Item Price
1-2 £49.00 £49.00
3-5 £49.00 £44.00
6-10 £49.00 £39.00
11-20 £49.00 £37.00
21-30 £49.00 £36.00
40-50 £49.00 £35.00
50+ £49.00 £34.00
(12 customer reviews)

Description

Buckfast Queen Bee | Mated Buckfast Queen Bees for Sale

Buckfast queens for sale are from our own VSH lines, bred and developed in Northumberland.

These queens are a result of years of development and breeding here in Northumberland, selecting from VSH (varroa sensitive and hygienic) queen mothers. We aim to provide buckfast queen bees for sale in the UK, addressing the shortage in quality home raised and bred queens, avoiding the need for imports that so many suppliers rely on. We are maintaining a good gene pool with our bees by on occasion swapping genetic material with other UK bee farmers, undertaking instrumental insemination for them, harvesting drone semen and breeding from the best stock that is available already in the UK.

Queen Mother / Drone Mother 2025 Line Information

Buckfast Queen Line Information 2025

 

 

 

We only use oxalic sublimation on these lines for varroa. There is no other intervention against varroa mites. Breeder queens show over over 95% VSH traits before being selected. Our primary focus is breeding better bees that are resistant to diseases and are easy to manage.

We are breeders and rearers of queens, not resellers like many queen retailers, all our queens are bred by us in the UK and do well in the conditions presented to them by the UK climate. Our primary aim is to address the shortage of quality home raised queens in the UK and provide buckfast queens for sale from our selected VSH (Varroa Sensitive and Hygienic) stock. We manage 700 mating nucs, supplying queens to both commercial beekeepers and small scale beekeepers.

Northumberland VSH Buckfast Queen Breeding

  • Bred from Queen Mothers showing Varroa Sensitive and Hygienic Traits (85% + VSH).
  • Calmness on the comb giving a good character to work with therefore suitable for beginners.
  • Low Swarming Tendancy, maintaining large colonies that are easy to work with.
  • Excellent honey gathering potential with breeders producing in excess of 100Kg of honey per year.

 

Importance of Varroa Sensitive and Hygienic Bees

Varroa is one of the single biggest threats beekeepers face. Responsible for transmitting viruses varroa left to it’s own devices will in most circumstances result in the death of the colony. Bees however are adapting, and in some colonies the varroa sensitive and hygienic trait can be observed.

These bees demonstrate the highest hygienic behaviour and are capable of disrupting the varroa mites lifecylce by uncapping infected cells.

Not only do these bees have hygienic behaviour, but they also have the usual Buckfast characteristics of being very docile, showing low swarming tendancy and excellent honey gathering potential.

As varroa becomes resistant to an increasing variety of mite treatments we have a responsibility as beekeepers to explore more natural treatment methods. At the forefront of natural methods is breeding bees which are able to naturally cope with varroa. Those bees showing VSH behaviour disrupt the lifecyle of the mites by uncapping infected cells, often they will also remove the infected larvae, but this is not always necessary as it is thought simply the disruption of the cell is sufficient to interfere with the metamorphosis of the mites and thus prevent mites reaching sexual maturity and therefore prevent the mites replicating in the cells.

 

How we select for Hygienic Behaviour

Drone rearing colonies and queen mothers are seleted based on our usual criteria. That being: honey production, temperament, low swarming and disease resistance. We then go through further by culling an area of brood in these selected colonies. When the pupae is at the red eye stage, a selection of 100 cells are punctured, culing the pupae. Hygienic behaviour can be determined by the % of brood removed over 24-48 hours. Only those attaining 85% or more hygienic behaviour are selected for breeding.

We have used these queens in our own honey production operation and have extremely good feedback to give, with a lower varroa load, treatments being much more successful and overwintering / survivability is much increased.

 

How we raise queens

We graft in Queen Right cell starters and finishers, which stimulates the supercedure impulse for raising cells, which is known to produce a better well fed queen larvae than in a rushed stimulated queenless starter set up. Once the cells are sealed we transfer to an incubtor for the cells to hatch. This ensures that the temperature and humidty during development is exceptionally well controlled and the development of the queen is as near to perfect conditions as can be.

On the day of hatching, the virgin queen is introduced to a mating nuc (we use Apideas in preference). These apideas are situation in one of two queen rearing valleys we have depending on the breeding of the queen we are looking for. These valleys are populated with at least 20 drone rearing colonies to ensure the areas are flooded with our drones.

After 2-4 weeks the apideas are checked for successful mating. Once there is sealed brood the queens are then marked for being available to ship or use in our own colonies.

 

Availability

Mated Buckfast queen bees will be available from end of May through to September. Earlier weeks become booked very quickly so we advise if you are looking for a mated Buckfast Queen for Sale plan ahead and pre-order in good time.

Generally queens are caged on the same day as posting. A lot of producers will bank queens (ie cage for long periods of time in order to manage stock) we prefer to let queens lay fully up to the point of postage in this way you get a queen that hasn’t been off lay and is ready to get laying straight away.

Postage and Collection

  • Postage – Queens are only sent by Royal Mail Special Delivery as this is a guaranteed and insured service. It is too risky to send queens in the normal post by first class.
  • Collection -if wanting to collect, please select this option, but liase with us via e-mail or phone for a suitable collection time. We can usually supply queens for collection at quite short notice. But nonetheless arrangements need to be made to ensure your queens are available for collection at a given time as we are a working bee farm we need to ensure plans can be made for collection that fit into our beekeeping schedules.

Marking and Clipping Queens

  • Marking – Queens will be marked white in keeping with the year colour code. Occassionally if we are trialling new breeding lines these queens may be marked with a numbered disc or multiple colour which simply helps us with tracing their breeding lines and helps us to keep track of information about queens.
  • Clipping -Queens can also be selected to be clipped or not. The advantage of clipping is that you are less likely to loose a swarm as the old queen cannot fly from the hive, nonetheless it doesn’t take the risk of swarming away completely but signficantly reduces it.

How to Introduce a New Queen Bee

For a video on queen introduction and written guidelines see our Queen Introduction Guidelines Page

 

Terms and Conditions

  • Queens found dead on arrival –  a photo should be taken and sent via e-mail to sales@northumberlandhoney.co.uk on the day of arrival. The queen must then be returned to us in the original cage and packaging with the contents intact for examination.
  • Laying patterns and quality – all queens are checked before being sent, however rarely queens may become drone layers if mating with insufficient numbers of drones due to poor weather etc. Any queens that are reported to be drone layers should be reported to us within 21 days. If a queen is reported to be a drone layer we ask that the queen is returned to us alive for examination in a queen cage with attendents and fondant. Sent by royal mail special delivery. We will then assess the queen, checking the spermatheca and if found to be infertile within 21 days we will send a replacement. In the case of replacements of mated queens, the return postage cost will be borne by the customer, but the replacement queen will be provided free of charge . Queens will only be replaced once.
  • Queen Orders and Orders for bees/ nucleus colonies / package bees are made up of a 15% deposit / cancellation fee. In the event of a cancellation we incur extra costs in adminsitering the cancellation, re-stocking and the work already committed to producing the queen or bees. In the event of a cancellation of a queen or bees (overwintered nucleus colony / packages / summer nucleus colony) you will be refunded 85% of the purchase amount, with the remaining 15% non-returnable being the cancellation fee/ non returnable deposit. If you would like a breakdown of the costs associated with cancellation please ask and we will be happy to provide.

For full terms and conditions for bee purchases please see here

 

Additional information

Weight 0.01 kg
Dimensions 10 × 10 × 10 cm
Delivery or Collection Week

W/C 26th May 2025, W/C 2nd June 2025, W/C 9th June 2025, W/C 16th June 2025, W/C 23rd June 2025, W/C 30th June 2025, W/C 7th July 2025, W/C 14th July 2025, W/C 21st July 2025, W/C 28th July 2025, W/C 4th August 2025, W/C 11th August 2025, W/C 18th August 2025, W/C 25th August 2025, W/C 30th September 2024

Delivery Day

Thursday, Friday, Saturday

Queen Mother

NHC 100, DB 25

12 reviews for Buckfast Queen Bee | Mated Buckfast Queen Bees For Sale

  1. Steve P (verified owner)

    I ordered two Buckfast queens Sept 2021. Arrived quickly were extremely well packed and both queen and attendants in excellent condition . queen well marked. both queens accepted into pre-prepared 3 frame nucs and expanded rapidly. excellent bees and service.
    thank you. will order again

  2. cjtsearle (verified owner)

    Received my new queen in the best transport box I have ever had! She looks splendid and even the candy plug used is good quality . So impressed you can choose the characteristics you might favour in a queen bee. I think this shows the attention to detail I appreciate. I haven’t seen this elsewhere. I am hopeful she will do well.

  3. kerryballard1 (verified owner)

    Excellent service, bought a queen, really well packaged, arrived in excellent condition, readily accepted and off doing her thing. Excellent choice of traits, great communication, will definitely buy again.

  4. Andy Wood (verified owner)

    I ordered two Buckfast queens in May, they Arrived extremely well packed and both queen were introdused in the last week of May with the attendant still with the Queens. Both queens have been accepted into pre-prepared 3 frame nucs.I had a quick look today both Queens have layed up 3,14 x 12 frames ,excellent looking queens and service.
    thank you.I have & ordered 3 more Queens & will be ordering more later in the month

  5. Mark Beattie (verified owner)

    As always, great service and very friendly. I like the boxes they use, shows care for the bees, much better than the cheap jiffy envelopes others use. All Queens introduced without issues. A top class provider.

  6. George Bristow (verified owner)

    I had planned to replace my Buckfast queen at the end of August with an AMM queen and had placed an order with Luke. Unfortunately, my queen died and I needed to bring my order forward a month. The day after I had told Luke of my situation my new AMM queen arrived with her attendants. That was a week ago and the hive have accepted her and now settled down nicely. Many thanks Luke for all your help and advice. George

  7. Mike Lingard (verified owner)

    This has been my first year using NH Buckfast queens and I cannot recommend them highly enough. All my previous queens have been black and the few Buckfast I have purchased from other suppliers have not lasted a moment. I took my first queen through the winter as an experiment to see how she would do, she not only came through healthy and strong but was by far my most successful hive of the year. I have purchased another eight this year and I am looking forward to see how they go. All eight were accepted into the hives with no problem and they are so calm and nice to work. I will keep my black bees for now (mainly NH bloodstock) but the future looks interesting.

  8. Kevin Miles (verified owner)

    My Buckfast queen arrived by 1pm on the expected day looking safe and perky in the vented box. Last year I introduced a new queen to a very defensive hive and they killed her off, so this year I kept her in the cage for 48 hours before opening the tab. I will know in another week how she went.

  9. Christopher Jones (verified owner)

    I’ve bought several queens this year from other suppliers. By comparison, the Northumberland Honey queen arrived in a well protected box rather than a cardboard envelope and with many more attendants. Seven days after opening the tab, I was surprised to see she had already laid a huge amount of eggs. Again something I wasn’t used to seeing. I think all this goes to the quality of breeding and attention to detail at Northumberland Honey. Well done you guys. A very happy customer.

  10. Giles Jeffs (verified owner)

    I purchased an open mated Buckfast Queen in May and wow I wish I had more colonies headed up by your Queen’s genetics. The queen is so brilliant. The best colony I have . Calm and gentle to work with . Consistent laying and balanced brood and stores in an orderly manner. Productive and no swarm impulse . I have four other colonies and they are nothing if not strife , no comparison and a thorn in my side. I am so grateful for having purchased a Buckfast Queen from Northumberland Honey, and I have harvested some honey this week, which is wonderful. For anyone reading and if you are unsure then let me say that I have purchased mated queens from another supplier who basically resells imported cheap queens. Believe me, Luke and Suzie know their onions , well at least they know their bees. I highly recommend the breeding quality and I wouldn’t hesitate in buying mated queens from NHC again – in fact I am about to place another order for some splits I have made in readiness for next Spring.

  11. Mark Beattie (verified owner)

    This was my 3rd order this year fron Northumberland Honey. Have been excellent both in terms of the quality of the Queens as well as the service. A pleasure to deal with a great small company that really care.

  12. daniel.medelete7 (verified owner)

    Spot, on rang before hand to see if there were any mated queen’s in stock, and told that they’ve been 2 added on the day. Purchased before 2 pm and got it delivered the next day. Spot on packed and well looking queen. Bees has accepted her and she’s laying eggs a week after introduction. Spot on, thank you.

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