Author: Jens

Dear fellow beekeepers,

Even though it is only the beginning of January and winter, with its snow and cold weather, is forcing us to take things a little easier, we have already started preparations for the new season.
The lines have been selected, the website and shop have been updated, and we have already set the shipping dates. This means that you can place your orders as usual and secure your Buckfast queen for early shipping.
The 2025/2026 winter newsletter (link available on our homepage) provides insights into our beekeeping philosophy and, of course, tips and information about this season’s lines.

I would particularly like to recommend our B1, which we will overwinter in limited numbers and ship from May onwards. For more information, see Lines.

On 18 May, we will start shipping overwintered queens.
8 June is our first shipping day for commercial queens. One or two weeks later, we will start shipping our breeding queens. You can find more detailed information under Lines.
We believe that this is an interesting pairing, particularly in terms of SMR behaviour and hygiene behaviour, and we have high hopes for it.

We are currently receiving a large number of orders. If you are interested in early queens, we recommend placing your order in our shop as soon as possible.

The bee hotline will be open again from May onwards. We would prefer to receive enquiries by email, as we can respond to these promptly.

With beekeeping regards, Jens Steinfeld

Mother of Drones 2026

B191KWS24mdi=
.24 – ilv.B75(BPF)22mdi mdi L113(KKI)23(1dr.c.):
.22 – B8562 (BPF)20 mdiB64(BPF)21mdi(1dr.c.):
.20 – B562(PJ)18sdi amm B18218(KK)18sdi (28 dr.v.)

Our drone mother for the 2026 breeding season was bred by Kaus Sick. He is the breeding chairman of the Schleswig-Holstein and Hamburg Beekeepers’ Association and has been involved in Varroa resistance breeding for many years. Like him, we also focus primarily on selection based on SMR and HYG characteristics. Due to the limited availability of nectar sources, selection based on yield performance is (currently) of secondary importance. Only when the ability to cope with the mite has been largely genetically stabilised will we return to breeding from multi-year, pre-tested queens.
From the B191(KWS) left to me in a trough, I was able to breed 250 queens by mid-June 2025. She was extremely gentle (6+) and, due to her ancestors, will largely possess the typical Buckfast characteristics. The repeated HYG test was 100%. The SMR value, which was determined by Dr Kaden and my partner, was 100%. A very good value. Incidentally, the line originally comes from Paul Jungels’ breeding programme.

breeding mother 2026

As in previous years, we will follow up on last year’s (2025) drone colonies B58(DB) with the best ones next year. This selection will take place after wintering. This selection bears my breeding signature. After selection, we will announce the exact line in March.

B? (BZF) =

.24-B58(DB)frkgB356(DB)
.23- B356(DB) frkg B12(DB)
.22-B13l(DB) ley B601 (TR)
.21. B67(BKS) hamh B365)
.20- B148(BKS) ins B17(SG):

As usual, you can obtain naturally mated commercial queens, queens mated at mating stations and, depending on the weather, selected queens from mid/late June from these breeding queens. The latter have been laying eggs for at least three weeks – these queens have seen their daughters.

 

National
Within Germany, we ship exclusively with DHL Express. Delivery usually takes place the next day by the end of the day. (Please note: DHL Express is NOT delivered by Deutsche Post but by a special delivery service)

International (Inside EU only):
We ship as DHL Paket Premium or Warenpost Premium. Both of course with tracking code.
We always dispatch our consignments on Mondays. The vast majority arrive within a few days. In exceptional cases, they may not arrive until the beginning of the following week.

Selected delivery times dhl paket premium:
Belgium: 2 working days
France: 2-3 working days
Italy 2-4 working days
Poland 2-3 working days
Romania: 3-4 working days
Hungary: 3-4 working days

Hello,

Like last year, we will be exporting Buckfast queens to the UK again this year.
They will then be sent on by express post within the UK.
The prices are the same as ours.

Business queens: EUR 39,-
Breeding queens: EUR 79,-
Selected breeding queens: EUR 139,-

plus shipping

We bring the first queens to the UK end of June
And we will try to bring a second batch end of August.

If you are interested, please send me an email with your address and the number of queens you would like to have.
And the desired date, please.
Our English partner will then contact you shortly.

With best regards, Jens Steinfeld

—

Marketing und Vertrieb
Sales and Marketing

Imkerei Dr. Peter Stöfen
Donnstr. 8
D-25704 Elpersbüttel

E-Mail:
info@buckfast-zucht.de

Telefon (In der Saison!), Mo.-Sa., 17.00-19.00 Uhr:
+49-(0)178 111 70 04

SMS (Bitte KEINWhatsApp, Danke)
+49-(0)178 111 70 04

Home

 

Dear fellow beekeepers,

when it comes to designing the costs for shipping, we are unfortunately dependent on the prices of the shipping companies. We will do our best to offer you the best deal. However, it is crucial for us that the queens arrive quickly and, above all, safely. Not all companies are equally well positioned in all countries. Unfortunately, we have to reserve the right to pass on price increases to you during the season by the shipping companies.

Prices per delivery:

(One delivery, up to 7 queens)

Inside Germany: DHL Express, EUR 22.00

Abroad: 
Delivery only within the EU. EUR 25,-
Shipping exclusively as “DHL Paket Premium” or “Warenpost International Premium”. Including Tracking.
3 – 5 working days.

Please note: The express shipping of queen bees by air freight with providers such as dhl Express, Fed Ex, ups etc. is (unfortunately) excluded by the applicable transport conditions. Because we send the queens destined for abroad on Monday, they usually arrive in the same week.

We therefore ask for your patience.