> its worth saying once more: this is standard animal husbandry. Nothing 
more. In all other fields of husbandry this happens systematically, as a 
matter of course. 

Beekeeping is not and never has been "standard animal husbandry": The unique mating system, high recombination rates, haploidy/diploidy, imprinting, etc. This is not like breeding rabbits in hutches. 

> Beekeepers never built a strong tradition of selection, 
because the they didn't need to - the wild population did that for them. Now 
we are too many, and too many of us are doing exactly the wrong kinds of 
things.

Beekeepers have been selecting suitable bees for centuries. What is changing is our understanding of how traits are linked genetically, which ones are malleable, which not, the role of environment. But finally, one must never forget that breeding, especially breeding bees, is not a GOAL, it's a process. It's the red queen race, trying to stay ahead of old pathogens that may be mutating faster than the bees, who system is not so readily modified -- and new pathogens, as well. You can't say, well we've got a good varroa resistant bee now, let's kick back. Because - bang - now we have N. ceranae or tropilaelaps or who knows what next.

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