>  Aggressive hive, four years in, been aggressive from the start.  This colony has been a deliberate attempt to allow unlimited brood space as per Dee Lusby and to see if single hives have less problems with mites

OK.  I see. This hive is located by itself?

In my experience, lone hives outperform hives in yards with other local colonies by as much as 100% or more, depending on a number of factors.   Often solitary hives are given superior locations, with sun, shelter, etc. that is not feasible for a yard of 20 or more hives.

Unlimited brood nests have been the general rule up here in Alberta, but the mites do just as much damage as in more limited nests.  After all, the more brood, the more mites. generally.

Interestingly, you  may be inadvertently following Dee's formula in more ways than just the brood nest configuration though, if your bees turn out to have a significant AHB component and that could account for the survival thus far.

Some AHB has been found to be quite tolerant of varroa, and AHB is known for tending to be comparatively aggressive.  

We saw very little evidence of varroa in Ed and Dee's hives when we looked, but I doubt it had anything to do with the hive configuration which was pretty standard -- other than what seemed to us to be a shortage of feed by northern standards. 

The scarcity of varroa had to do with the fact that the bees promptly uncapped any cells with varroa in them, as Dee pointed out at the time.  

The fact that Tucson had been recently overrun by AHB -- even the Lab's yard had AHB -- and swarms were everywhere in town at the time tends to suggest that the Lusbees had a fair bit of AHB in them.  It was no secret that Lusbys collected the swarms to aid in restocking after their second big loss.

That said, an unrestricted brood nest is one way to maximize yield, although there are other ways that involve the exact opposite -- restricting the brood nest. 

As for keeping a mean hive, if it borders on vicious, I would be concerned about the risk of an accident.  There are also liability issues.  Aside from the feelings of shame and guilt most of us would experience if the hive attacked a person or animal, I doubt that insurance would cover any lawsuits if the hive has a known history and is kept where a person or animal could blunder into it, or be attacked at a distance.

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