Roy writes:
>You have to find the traits that you want. Guess what? You maybe finding
them one at a time in different colonies.

To make matters more complicated (just what we need, right?) there may be
different traits in the same colony, due to the fact that the workers may
have very different fathers. And when you try to raise queens from such a
colony, you don't know if the larvae you select are carrying the trait you
want...

It seems as if nature's plan for honey bees is to do everything to prevent
inbreeding (and most breeding schemes get dangerously close to this problem.
think of the weaknesses inherent in heavily selected animals).

There are distinct varieties of honey bee, like carniolans, cape bees, etc.,
but these formed naturally in large groups in relative isolation over many
thousands of years.

Attempts to speed up such a process invites inbreeding. But to not attempt
to breed the bees means relying on natural processes which seem to favor
outcrossing and reversion to a "mongrel" type.

pb

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