Performance Testing
Lexikon
Performance testing is the systematic assessment of bee colonies according to fixed traits over an entire season.
Performance testing is the systematic assessment of bee colonies according to fixed traits over an entire season. It is the basis of all breeding, because without recorded data there are no breeding values.
Tested above all are honey yield, gentleness, steadiness on the comb and swarming inertness, plus traits of varroa tolerance such as how infestation develops over the year and the removal of damaged brood. In recent years further traits have been added, including colony strength, spring development and winter hardiness.
To make the values comparable, a sibling group is tested, meaning several daughters of the same mother, at the same location, with the same management method and in the same year. Only this makes it possible to factor out the influence of the environment. Behavioral traits are assessed using a scoring scale that must be applied the same way by every assessor.
The recorded data is entered into the BeeBreed database, which feeds the breeding value estimation. Anyone who does not breed themselves still benefits from testing: anyone who consistently assesses their colonies by the same criteria over a season makes a considerably better decision, when requeening, about which queen stays and which goes.