Several people have criticized me for suggesting that breeders select for color, as if this were not being done. It is being done, of course. Here is an official publication from NSW, co-authored by Dr. Doug Somerville:

"Whether your goal is to rear a few queen bees or thousands, this manual provides the basic knowledge and instruction to get you started and can be applied to beekeeping operations ranging from several thousand colonies to one or two."

Colour is an important marketable trait when producing queens for sale.

It should be noted that it does not indicate other beneficial characteristics that can be selected for and bred into any stock of honey bee regardless of colour. That said, many beekeepers gain a lot of satisfaction from observing and working a colony of bees that is uniform in color.

All honey bees in Australia are likely to be hybrids of the originally imported subspecies Italian, Carniolan, and Causcasian. If queen bees are marketed as golden Italians or the darker Carniolan or Caucasians they must be true to colour type to be marketable as such. 

Elizabeth Frost and Doug Somerville. (2016) Queen bee breeding, NSW Department of Primary Industries.

¶

Here is an actual advertisement of bees for sale in New York State:

2018 Mighty Bee Nucs
Our 2018 Honey Bee Offerings: 

Golden Italian - Our Golden Italians are Cordovans - Gentle, very prolific, incredible honey producers  maintaining strong, populous,  winter clusters  making solid winter hives and large spring hives the 2nd season!  We introduced this new stock in 2003 and these beautiful light golden honey bees stole our hearts with their gentle manner.  These bright Yellow "Sunshine" queens often lay out 8-10 full frames of brood.  These "girls" are a great choice for beginning beekeepers and for bees kept in more populated areas.

http://www.natureswayfarm.com/mightybee-nucs.html

¶

This is from an article in Bee World:

PlANA BROTHERS


This famous queen-rearing station was started by Gaetano Piana three generations ago. It is on the side of a small sunny valley at Castel S. Pietro (Bologna), whose soil - apparently a red earth - is very rich in iron and contains a good deal of lime. Fruit cultivation occupied both sides of the valley and was apparently under separate management ; only four workmen are employed specially for the bees.
 
Golden Italians are bred for export, because of the foreign demand for them, but Signor Piana holds that the leather-coloured, which are the original Apis mellifera ligustica, are far better. Both types were displayed in observation frames. 

D. V. Burch (1958) Visit of the XVII International Beekeeping Congress to Apiaries Near Bologna, Bee World, 39:12, 315-317, DOI: 10.1080/0005772X.1958.11095085 

¶

From Frank Pellett, Practical Queen Rearing:

The Italian has been bred in America on such an extensive scale that various strains have been developed. The so-called three banded or leather colored Italians are probably more nearly typical than the goldens or five banded Italians. The Italian bee from northern Italy has three yellow bands, with pronounced bands of whitish or grey hair on each of the segments except the first and the last. It is a mild tempered bee, usually being gentle and quiet under manipulation. 

It is a prolific race, and stands extremes of temperature very well. It winters well and is not adversely affected by the heat of the dry summers of the central west. The beekeeper who does not care to experiment will do well to stick to the Italians, at least until other races have been given more extended tests than have so far been given. While there are a few warm advocates of Caucasians and Carniolans, by far the greater number of practical beekeepers contend that the Italians are the best race. It is only fair to state, however, that no other race has been given the same opportunity to demonstrate its good points, and it is altogether probable that some other race may yet prove best adapted for certain climatic conditions.

THE GOLDENS, are the result of special breeding by selecting the queens whose progeny show the brightest color. It is thought that some strains of goldens are somewhat mixed with the Cyprians, from which ancestry came the bright color. Some breeders have paid so much attention to selecting the brightest colored individuals, regardless of other traits, that some strains are unduly cross, are poor honey gatherers and are not considered hardy. On the other hand there are strains which have been selected with due care to retain other desirable traits along with the bright color, which are gentle and productive.

Pellett, F. C. (1918). Practical queen rearing. American bee journal.

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