TRUISMS
- productive is genetic. Some colonies do make much more honey than others and do so with fewer bees in the box.
- hygiene is genetic. Some colonies keep a cleaner nest and as a result are generally much healthier
- appearance of mite tolerance/resistance traits are genetic in terms of prolific grooming (mite biters) and brood hygiene.
- defensive/aggressive behaviour is genetic. The colony can be calm on the combs, gentle, not a care; or highly defensive, runny drippy, flighty, etc.
- swarming tendency and intensity is genetic. A colony may be busting at the seams yet happy with it, another may multicast regardless of conditions.
Any and all combinations of above (and more) are possible in a diverse gene pool.
FOOLS MYTHS: (the deceptions)
- mean bees make more honey
- mean bees are cleaner hives
- mean bees are mite killers
Having had many colonies, and as a queen breeder the only credence given to these statements is when of all the possible combinations of genetic traits shake out some have been contaminated by the aggressive gene.
The intensity of each gene trait is like rolling a dice. What mix of traits manifests in the colony is like playing yahtzee, with each dice in the set being a different trait. Selection is much like that. Roll the set, keep what you want, remove and roll again the dice you dont want. Always have to count all the dice in the set. The challenge is to roll high numbers on some dice and low numbers of others .. if that analogy makes sense.
When you hit a mean hive, cull that dice set, go back to the source(s) to find where it came from so can take it out. Then roll again. What that means is remove the undesirable genetic source (the queen, her drones, and the source of her drone-mates). Move forward by putting in a better set (different queen from different lineage)
IMHO
Hope that helps!