> It is very difficult to compare bee breeding to any other form of livestock breeding.

That is exactly the point I have been trying to make. Breeding bees is NOT like breeding plants or other animals. Certain traits have been magnified, such as pollen hoarding, or brood removal, but often at cost such as loss of brood viability (inbreeding). As another poster mentioned, they are essentially still wild animals. Why this is so is interesting, but it goes against the notion of "improved bees."

PLB

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