I said:
I am afraid that the qualities obtained by breeding bees need to be
maintained and cannot be expected to be self-propagating. I think there is a
tendency to revert to generic types.

Dave:
Your statement above is only true if you do not take enough care in
selection or work with poor starting material.

reply:
I don't see how it can hinge on selection if you are only selecting one side
(the queen) and letting them mate with the neighborhood drones. That would
be like trying to raise collies by letting a pure bred female out at night.
In a very short time you would no longer have collies. They might be good
dogs, but they would not be a "breed".

Dave:
A breed or strain of bees that needs to be propagated by artificial means
(and F1 hybrid for example), may well be very good from a commercial point
of view ($$$ for the breeder), but unpredictable effects of further crosses
is of no service to the rest of the population. Maybe that does not matter
because the $$$ have been spent?

reply:
I do not raise queens to sell, so I am not presenting the view point of
someone who is making money from bees. I want good bees for myself and if I
thought I could make them by selecting only queens, I would. I bought a very
gentle carniolan strain, raised queens from it and let them mate with the
neighborhood bees. The result was bees mean as hornets.

pb

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