Article by:
Brendhan Horne
Owner
Bee Barf Apiaries
I am going to interject here with some information and some opinion.
Africanized bees were said to have moved into the US through Texas around 1990.
That is the year that we consider the AHB (Africanized Honey Bee) to have moved into the US.
http://www.ars.usda.gov/Research/docs.htm?docid=11059&page=6
However the Dept of Ag had picked up AHB in swarm traps near the ports of Tampa in the 80s. And AHB queens from South America were being sold here in the 60s and 70s. Those dates are not considered official.
The AHB is here because in the 50's experiments in South America to help find a bee that would be able to handle warmer and more humid climates was needed. This detail is important.
Beekeepers have been domesticating bees for centuries (actually much longer). These bees however are use to a more temperate climate. They also expect a winter when they will be able to cluster. Thousands of years and selective breeding help bring about a slightly more docile bee that we use to pollinate and produce honey. These bees are great.......for the the northern climates.
They suck down here.
The heat and the humidity along with the lack of a true winter is not conducive to bees from the north.
The experiments in South America were done by taking a bee from Africa which loved warmer climates didn't a winter but had an attitude problem and breed it with a bees from up north to produce a honey making bee that like warmer climates.
The experiments worked but the bees also escaped. However the attitude did not get washed away completely. So they tend to be more defensive of their nests. That does not mean if you look at one funny you are going to have an issue but it is not a good idea to disturb the nest if you don't know what you are doing.
However that advice is good in dealing with any bee hive. Because the EHB (European Honey Bee) which is what we have been cultivating while a bit more docile will go ballistic also if disturbed in improper manner.
So what is the rub with AHB then if both of them can be harmful? Any bee hive including bumblee bees will defend their nest.
Here is where I go off on opinion.
The threat posed by AHB is the result of knee jerk over reaction couple with a lack of understanding contributing to fear and most importantly. The ability to get funding based on those fears. There is a lot of money in scary stuff.
To date there have been 24 death from AHB in the whole US. The last one was here in Florida by a man who ripped open the side of a trailer to remove the bee hive. He did this despite knowing he was allergic to bees. He received about 100 stings and while that is unpleasant if you are not allergic that is not fatal. Usually depending on health issue the average number to be fatal to a person is approximately 1000 stings. If you are allergic one sting can be fatal. Since the venom is no different between AHB and EHB an allergic reaction is just that. The stats on how many people die from EHB due to allergy is actually much higher on an annual basis then the total cumulative time since AHB have arrived.
http://www.beevenom.com/Beevenomallergy.htm
In Florida alone in the past 10 years 76 people died from lightning strikes.
So then why does the news, animal planet and the discovery channel put forth these shows describing the danger of AHBs. Simple, it is good for ratings. Ratings equal money.
So why does the Dept of Ag put forth all these things on Killer Bees. Because they get grants to fund things based in part on this fear.
Now lets give them a bit of credit is it completely unfounded? No, dealing with mean bees is no fun. Let's get to part 2 of the issue.
Remember we have been doing selective breeding of bees for a long time. Here in the US we have been doing it since Jamestown. The problem here in the US after years of breeding and years of land development changes in farming ways and means. And the decline of beekeeping in large part due to sugar and corn becoming the sweeteners of choice. We now have bees that are the equivalent on the banjo player in the movie Deliverance. Our domestic stock is basically inbreed. This contributes to a weakness of the bee.
We also use pesticides and chemicals to treat bees and hives against pests and diseases, None of which is wrong per say but the misuse of those items has now also contributed to a weak immune system. So basically a domestic EHB has a lot of issues.
Along comes the AHB. it has lots of genetic diversity, a strong immune system, and propensity to breed more often. In science circle this bee is refereed to as biologically superior. It also has a slight tendency to be more protective of it's home. So if you handle it wrong it might not be as forgiving of a mishandling as it's deficient cousin the EHB. AHB breed better faster stronger bees.
So they are taking over.
Does that mean we are doomed? Hardly. Actually the experiment in South America that started in the 50s continues now on a more natural course. Most of the bees here in Florida tend to be hybrids. That hybrid bee has turned out to be an awesome bee.
In South America you can't give EHB to beekeepers now. They consider them weak and feeble. The coffee most of us drink is due to pollination of the hybrid AHB. Still a bit on the spunky side but it pollinates incredibly well. A deficency in AHB was it's supposed lack of honey production. Which was rumored to not be as high as EHB. That is no longer the case and AHB now actually rival EHB in that area.
No one is going to say please go up and play with an AHB hive but they are also not going to say the same thing about an EHB hive.
Now for some more fun facts.
You cannot tell the difference between AHB and EHB by looking at them. It takes testing in a lab. Testing that can take weeks to get the results of. Anyone who says they are AHB based on looks alone is lying.
Since most of the hives are hybrid how do we determine if a hive is AHB? When they test if more then 50% of the sample show strong characteristics of AHB then the hive is considered Africanized.
The testing method is usually done by testing wing and other samples. These tests are somewhat accurate but they are not DNA tests which cost more and take longer.
Mother nature comes into play here a bit also. Queens tend to breed with multiple drones. We will use 10 drones for our example here. If the queen mates with 10 drones and of that 3 are AHB that means seven are EHB. The odds you would think are 30% AHB. Not quite. If she takes all her sperm from and AHB drone for a few days with 45 days you may have a hive that tests positive for AHB with a close to 90% rating. Come back again in 90 days and You may have close to 10% rating. This is because workers which are used to make the sample have a lifespan of 45 days on average. So the factor changes. Another factor would be how much AHB traits does the queen have. If she is 50/50 that can alter that. She could be 10/90 which would also be a factor. On average no bee in Florida is considered less then 10% dna AHB. That is like me saying you might have some irish in your blood line because your great great grandfather come over from Ireland in the 1860s but married an Italian and her kids married Italians. It could also be flipped the other way.
So what do we know? AHB are here in Florida. They are here to stay. Are they as bad a we hear? No. Does that mean we should disregard everything we hear? No, but don't over react to it. Most of the time the hype isn't the reality. If a hive is nice, great if a hive is bad that sucks. When the kids are bad in hives we blame the parents. Bad hives get the queens replaced. Good hives get nice places on the bee farm and get make honey.
Don't throw sticks or rocks at hives. If a hive is somewhere. Leave it alone. Don't mess with it. An average hive has anywhere from 50,000-80,000 bees once it has gotten up to par. If they are in a tree and you cut down the tree, they won't be happy. If they are under a trailer and you run the lawn mower next to it, they won't be happy. And it won't matter if they are AHB or EHB.
Also note the fear has contributed to ignorance of the actual threat of a bee sting. People will claim to be allergic who are not.
You are only allergic if you have a systemic reaction. A localized reaction which is painful includes swelling to the point you may look like a cabbage patch doll is not an allergic reaction. It sucks, it hurts but it is not an allergic reaction. It has gotten to the point where I take it with a grain of salt when someone tells me they are allergic and I ask where is their epi pen and they say I don't have one. That is because they aren't allergic.
This has been a long diatribe. It contain enough information to make someone just a little better informed and hopefully a lot less worried.
Sincerely,
Brendhan Horne
Owner
