In minecraft forestry, using a beealyzer on a wild or bred bee allows me to see it's genes for things like lifespan, speed, fertility, etc. However, there is little documentation on what those genes mean, and the names are ambiguous.
What genes are possible to get for my bees, and what is the hierarchy of those traits?
e.g., Obviously bees with the lifespan trait "longer" won't die as quickly as "shorter", but will my bee with the "longer" gene live longer than the one with "long"? What about "enlongated"?
Best Answer
Bee traits and their possible values (taken from this link, this forum post, and this page on the Forestry wiki)
Species: determines products generated and base temperature/humidity levels (which are unchangeable), too many to list
Speed: Slowest, slower, slow, normal, fast, faster, fastest (requires Thaumic Bees/Gendustry to obtain)
Lifespan: Shortest, shorter, short, shortened, normal, elongated, long, longer, longest (requires ExtraBees to obtain)
Fertility: number of drone offspring that will be produced when the queen dies, between 1 and 4
Area: Area (XxYxZ) in which the bee will search for its flower and produce any effects, listed in the beealyzer, largest in vanilla forestry is 11x8x11 (ender bee), with Thaumic Bees and ExtraBees 15x13x15
Flower: what block type the bee requires to be within its area in order to produce anything, self-explanatory with the caveat that the 'nether' flower is netherwart.
Temperature tolerance: Levels up/down from the bee's natural temperature range that the bee will still operate in, best is both 3 with Thaumic Bees and Gendustry, both 2 without
Temprature levels are: Icy, Cold, Normal, Warm, Hot, Hellish (the Nether)
Humidity tolerance: functions in the same way as temperature tolerance but for humidity, best is both 3 with Gendustry(equals both 2), both 2 with Thaumic Bees, or both 1 with Forestry
Humidity levels are: Arid, Normal, Damp
Nocturnal: will function at night, yes/no
Flyer: will function when raining, yes/no
Cave dweller: will function without housing having line of sight to sky, yes/no
Effect: Too many to list, the negative ones are usually obvious, but be aware of the ender bee effect that causes lots of damage to the player. Wearing a full apiarist suit will negate all bee effects for the wearer.
Pollination: speed at which bees will cause different tree types to cross-pollinate and also generate additional flowers around hive, Slowest, Slower, Slow, Average, Fast, Faster, Fastest, Maximum (ExtraBees)