Great response from Trish!

> We hope to find a simple way of standardization that can be done
realistically in the field by someone without a science background.
One can realistically only select *strongly* for a single trait.  But you
can apply a weaker selective pressure for several traits.
Since you have listed 5 traits to select for, if you were to select from
the top 50% of the breeding population for each of the 5 traits
independently, you'd wind up being able to breed from 3% of your breeding
population.  Simple math 0.5 to the 5th.

The above means that for Joe BeeBreeder, simply look for the colonies that
perform above average for each yard for all 5 traits.

And I wouldn't necessarily select for hygienic behavior, unless AFB or
chalkbrood were major problems--instead, I'd select for minimal varroa
counts.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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