I'm hardly the expert on bee genetics, but it seems to be a rather fine line between mongralizing and hybridization.  I would suspect creating a hybrid would involve positive traits, yet the genetic base of any insect is so diverse, we have no idea what lurks beneath the obvious and observable.  
   
  A long time ago, I had a bunch of mean nasty bees from a nationally reputable queen breeder and package supplier.  They were horrible to work with and impervious to smoking.
   
  Thinking all the bees from this supplier were this way, I went with another company to order a specifically "gentle" queen with the hopes of requeening.  I paid big bucks for the one queen (shipping is outrageous), and when I placed the order, I killed off the old, mean queen to give the colony a period of queenlessness.
   
  The new queen showed up dead, even with overnight shipping.  After vainly trying to contact the shipper, and after more delays, the queenless colony made themselves a new queen.
   
  To my surprise, after she mated with the bees in my yard, some no doubt from the mean nasty hive, the colony settled down to be very gentle.
   
  I'm wondering if all this hybridization/mongralizing is nothing but a roll of the dice.
   
  Grant
  Jackson, MO
   

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