> In truth I doubt if any queen breeders really know how daughters from one queen end up comparing to daughters of other queens.

Hi all
When I worked for a successful California bee breeder in the 1980s, I was impressed by the fact that we requeened all the production hives, which were used to produce bees for packages. The queens that were used were the same queens that were being mailed out, and shipped with packages. 

So the performance of those queens was definitely observable in real time. The main criteria were: solid laying pattern, fast buildup, bees were docile, golden color. All the production queens were replaced in spring on the assumption that a queen does her best work the first year. Downhill from there.

The main thing that bee breeders are looking for is consistency. Consistency greatly simplifies management. This may or may not be in conflict with nature, which generates diversity as a response to environmental challenges. Diversity means variation and potential improvement, but makes colonies differ from each other.

PLB

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