>"In conclusion, the assessment of the hygienic behavior through FKB assays had previously been shown to be reliable to select for resistance against multiple brood diseases, such as American foulbrood and chalkbrood (Spivak & Reuter, 2001a Spivak, M., & Reuter, G.S. (2001a). Resistance to American foulbrood disease by honey bee colonies Apis mellifera bred for hygienic behavior. However ... we could not show any significant correlation of the outcome of the test with the infestation nor with the reproductive success of the mite."


There is also this earlier work by Danka that leans toward the same conclusion.  

>Honeybees, Apis mellifera, selected for the hygienic removal of freeze-killed brood (FKB), resist
several microbial diseases and have some resistance to Varroa destructor. Bees with Varroa-sensitive hygiene
(VSH) have good resistance to V. destructor. We determined whether the response to FKB could be used to
select for VSH by measuring the responses of different bees (VSH, FKB-selected, F1 VSH, and unselected
control) to combs with FKB and combs with mite-infested brood. All bee types completely removed much
FKB (77–88 %) within 24 h. The removal of mite-infested brood after 1 week was much more variable among
bee types (VSH, 66 %; F1 VSH, 51 %; FKB hygienic, 14 %; control, 3 %). There was some relationship
between 24-h manipulation of FKB cells (i.e., cell contents at least partially removed) and the removal of mite infested
brood, but this appears to have little practical relevance because of a large inherent variation.

>Varying congruence of hygienic responses to Varroa destructor and freeze-killed brood among different types of honeybees
RG Danka, JW Harris, JD Villa, GE Dodds - Apidologie, 2013 - Springer


Bill Hesbach
Cheshire CT

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