Not sure where you get your Info but I can assure you the BIBBA people are as serious as it gets when it comes to breeding. And are quite successful.
Take a look at dave-cushman.net and search out their breeder selection record sheets. You might be surprised at a few things.
I didn't say the BIBBA people weren't serious - I said they were amateurs with an ecological agenda. They are people trying to turn the clock back. AMM are
not ideal for the UK - if they were, then the events of the 1920's wouldn't have happened - that was an example of Mother Nature trying to tell us something ...
I got my information from personal experience. About 10 years ago I was running AMM mongrels and had become completely fed up with needing to be fully booted and suited every time before opening a hive. I became aware of the interest being shown in AMM, and fell for the sales-pitch about how good they could be - and so I tried to order a Queen or two from BIBBA. No chance - that's how professional they are - no-one there was willing to sell me a Queen. Why not ? What were they hiding ?
So - I turned to Ireland (Eire) - only to find that no-one there would sell me a Queen either. Again - why not ? Is it that AMM breeders are afraid of anyone making comparisons ?
Eventually I happened upon the Scottish Beekeepers forum, where a guy in Northern Ireland was breeding AMM from stock sourced in the South. That guy had a very high reputation on the Scottish forum as a breeder, and so I bought 2 Queens from him, of two genetic lines, with every intention of breeding from them, in order to supply AMM queens within the UK, as no-one else at that time would do so. But - the colonies of
both of those Queens turned out to be evil personified - far worse than the AMM mongrels I already had. Yes - I'd bought-in to the AMM bull and had been taken hook, line and sinker. Never again. It took me several years to eradicate those genetics, and even now I still get the odd throw-back.
I don't know why Sue Cobey is messing around - genuine Old-World Carniolens can be sourced directly from Slovenia where they've been breeding them for centuries - I've bought some, and they are wonderful bees. I also have some Buckfast here (well - now, once-upon-a-time Buckfasts), and they are also very fine bees.
All I do when inspecting hives these days is throw a veil over my face - it's not really necessary, but rather more of a 'just in case' measure. I don't bother with the draw-string, but just leave it dangling - that's always enough.
Contrast that with a full bee-suit, wellington boots and gloves when AMM were here - and even then, the little sods would try to find a way in, past those protective measures.
If you like 'em, you can keep 'em - you're welcome to them. I learned my lesson the hard way.
LJ
Forgot to add - Dave Cushman ? - check out Roger Patterson's AMM Queen-rearing abnormalities. I've never seen any problems remotely like that. I wonder why.