> I have been pondering this all week.  Still struggling. To understand why not?  Seems to me if queens with long term issues are routinely culled or ignored that those "short term" traits may be a problem  obviously it would be sort of random as you wouldn't see the long term issues.

Selection only works on heritable traits. You have to show that what you are looking for is a trait and that it is heritable. As opposed to some environmental, chance, or random variation. There are all sorts of variables in bee hives, no two are alike. 

Simply because a queen or a colony performs a certain way, there is no reason to suppose that queens raised from that colony will perform the same way (they have different fathers from their mother) nor to suppose a colony will be the same as its parent. Breeding involves selecting traits that can be enhanced. 

Disease resistance, honey production, pretty coloration; gains have been made here. But they evaporate quickly when the selective pressure is removed.

PLB

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