On Sun, 3 Mar 1996, my name is Dean M. Breaux wrote:
 
> It would seem that with hygenic bees uncapping cells infested with varroa,
> that this might be one way we could combat this pest. Along those lines it
> has been said that hygenic bees are mean or bad tempered if anyone has any
> information on this I would like to hear it.
>
> Do you feel that the hyg. bees are more defensive than non hyg.
>
> The only reason for my concern is all of the literature and personal
> communication from others that Hyg. Bees are mean.
>
> What is your opinion?
>
> What percentage of bees in a hive need to be Hyg. to show the hyg. behavior
> in the hive?
>
> If can you give me some kind of Idea or experiment to run to determine this?
 
  Hello Dean,
   In januarys 1996 issue of the American   bee journal .They did
address  HYG and defenive behavior . They stated that Rothenbuhler
dememonstrated over 30 years ago that HYG and stinging behavior are not
linked and depend upon different genetic bases. Then Gilliam and Taber
went on to say that theyhave not observed any genetic linkage between HYG
and aggressiveness or honey production. They screened over 500 hives in
there test in Chile.
 I have not seen HYG bees stand out with stinging behavior. I only do 80
hives. I will tell you that observations on bees needs the same
enviormental conditions or your looking at different genes. Our
researchers have to take many things into account , if the data is going
to be worth anything.
  Back in 1970 , I had a hive of bees in 5 deep boxs. It was april and
apples were in bloom. This hive was full of bees and brood. Old Charlie (
80 +) was our state inspecter. 50 years in beekeeping. I told him on the
phone where my bees were at the time he would be inspecting them. I
knew the bees were aggressive and planned to requeen them, but they were
bringing the honey by buckets.Charlie gave me a call after he checked my
bees. He said that he has never seen that aggressive of a hive in his
life. They chased him 100 yards aways from the hive. I knew they were bad
, but I was only putting a box on top ,one at a time.I went out to see if
I could find the Queen. The truth is, when I took the to off the lights
went out on my vail. It was like getting shot with a shotgun. I had to
divide the hive into 5 hives ( one box each ) so I could find the
queen.That hive had honey all over the place. I thought at that time the
book were all wrong. Mean bees make more honey and I had the proof before
me. You add 20 plus years to that and I have seen very mild bees put up
even more honey.
 I know that we have people that just read Bee-L , because they like bees
or have a couple of hives. We all have an intrest in bees and every one
of us has a different mental processing plant sitting on our shoulders.
Everyone learns by doing something with the bees. You don't need to have
bees for a long time to be a good beekeeper.Hint : keep a little diary on
what you observe and do with the bees. Read and ask questions. There are
NO stupid questions. We need everyone understanding how bad Varroa is and
that our researchers need $$$ to get us a long term fix to this mite.
Chemicals are counter to honey. We have to use them with caution , we do
not need honey out in the market place with chemicals in it.
  55,000 mile of flight to produce one pound of honey is a lot of work by
the bees.Why take a chance to screw up all of that work with chemicals.
 We do need more research , 30 year old data could be wrong.We have new
tools in genetics.We need good phenotype observations so the data means
something to us and we will be able to improve our bee stock.
 Bee Happy
 Roy