In regards to Hygienic behaviour, PLB quoted a scientific study which 
led him to conclude that it

"suggests that this trait has not been enhanced in Australia bees."

E.t. Ash then commented

"First you would need to know the original level of hygienic behavior 
and what might have been the natural or background level of hygienic to 
determine if any success or progress had been made. Secondly if there is 
no or little economic incentive to encourage folks to select for this 
characteristic then most folks will not place much effort into any 
ultimate and/or long term goal."

I would like to comment on this debate.

AFB is an endemic disease of bees in Australia, as it is in many other 
parts of the world.
Because of the paucity of reliable data on its real incidence levels 
here in the various states of this wide brown land, I can really only 
comment on my own personal experience here in Western Australia.

When I embarked on my commercial beekeeping journey some 40 years ago, 
the disease was rife. Quarantine Barrier Management was the method of 
choice in preventing its spread, (antibiotics were expensive and of 
limited availability, and indeed, around the mid 1980's, we introduced a 
total ban on the use of chemicals to treat bee diseases, and also to 
clear honey supers!).
Infected bees and hives were either burnt, irradiated, or sterilized by 
the hot wax dipping method. In any case, a real cost in terms of capital 
expense and lost production.

Despite  diligent efforts by the industry and the government inspectors 
to control it, the disease has never gone away. The best case scenario 
for most commercial operators has been to maintain a state whereby the 
disease never becomes a serious problem.

In my own case, I eventually reacted to this ongoing state of affairs by 
declaring it the No 1 enemy in my business SWOT analysis!
I have written before on BEE-L about how I tackled it, using the pin 
killed brood method to select those colonies displaying hygienic 
behaviour and instrumental insemination to amplify and spread those 
genes throughout my breeding and production stock. That worked 
remarkably well and totally eliminated the incidence of AFB in my outfit 
for the past 10 years.

So essentially I have done what E.t. Ash refers to. For me there was  an 
economic ( and convenience) incentive in which I was happy to invest 
effort to achieve.
I would suggest that that until this approach becomes the industry norm, 
this disease will always be a running sore for commercial beekeepers, 
and as PLB has noted, the trait will never become enhanced in Australian 
bees.

PeterD, in Western Australia where a new Hygienic Bee Breeding program 
was recently established by members of the Western Australian Beekeeping 
Association.




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