My experience indicates this. My first queen came from a different
source than the 20 packages installed the second year of keeping bees.
Second source colonies all showed a much greater amount of propolis than
the first colony, although they, too, varied amongst themselves in this
respect. The first queen's daughter, granddaughter, etc. each showed
increasing propensity for propolis until, now, the great-great
grandaughters' colony shows fully as much propolis as any of the second
source queens.

[log in to unmask] wrote:
>
> There seems to be a genetic component in the propensity to collect propolis.
> I have one hive in an apiary of 5 that is collecting far more than all the
> rest put together with no apparent reason.
>
> Chris Slade