----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Peter Detchon"


>I cannot let Medhat's comment"no honey no money" in relation to ranking
>Hygienic Behaviour so far behind honey production in breeding selection
>criteria, go by without a dissenting view. He is inferring that the
>selection of  bees that prioritise health rather than hoarding in their
>daily activities will affect honey production so badly that the economic
>viability of the outfit will suffer.
>
> Bullshit!(I'm an Aussie so I'm allowed to say that!)

Here methinks we have a problem with terminology.  What you have described
is the management of your outfit.  It is true that if one culls from a
population those which have low production, in your case diseased hives,
overall production will increase.  Normal management-remove the tail.

However in breeding one must breed for whatever you can put a dollar value
on.  Beekeepers are to this extent lucky, production is the only criterion.
Of course bee biology does not make it easy in practise.  Other industries
may have numerous criteria; size, flavour, shelf life, colour etc. as well
as quantity.  Complicated by individual management.

However, if there is a trait that one knows will limit production, such as
disease,  then it is important to establish if there is resistance in the
population one starts with.  Thereafter it is breeding for dollar value.

But whose dollar value?  Honey producers want honey.  But when they buy
their queens from their queen producer, they want colour.  They may agree in
the bar that 'there never was a good dog a bad colour'.  But in their next
breath winge that X's queens are mongrels, meaning not the colour they like,
even though they agree that they performed well.  But will not order from
that source again.

Careful breeding for production, whatever that may be, will eventually cull
undesirable traits.

Your mention of AFB, raises an interesting point.  In Australia as you said,
we destroy the infected hives.  So in effect we have not allowed any
selection for resistance to this disease.

Geoff Manning

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned 
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html