Category Archives: Africanized honey bees

When NOT to destroy a feral honey bee colony!

This was forwarded to me this morning.

Woman lights power pole on fire to get rid of beehive

VALLEJO, Calif. (United Press International) — Authorities in California said a 68-year-old woman was taken for a mental evaluation after she allegedly lit a power pole on fire to get rid of a beehive.

A Vallejo Fire Department spokesman said the woman used lighter fluid to ignite the power pole about a block from her Vallejo home. However, he said there were no reports of stings and the flames were quickly extinguished.

Police officers were apprehensive about exiting their vehicles to take the woman into custody.

“She thought they were killer bees,” a police lieutenant said. “The officers didn’t even stop. The bees were everywhere.”

(Since putting this up, have received a note from a beekeeper friend  – see comments -who said that Vallejo was pretty far north in California (” …close to Oakland and San. Francisco area..” and so more likely not Africanized Honey Bees).

Africanized honey bees identified in Tennessee Beekeeper’s hive

Tennessee State Apiarist Mike Studer has announced that honey bees in a hive belonging to an East Tennessee beekeeper have been positively identified as containing Africanized genetics. The hive belonged to a hobby beekeeper in Monroe County, Tennessee, which is located southwest of Knoxville. The hive has been “de-populated”, meaning that the bees in it have been destroyed. The subject of African/European hybridization in honey bees is extremely complex, and the details are rarely understood or reported clearly by the news media. These bees were described as being 17% Africanized honey bees (AHB), which I presume means that 17% of the genetics which vary from species to species in honey bees are of those of Africanized bees. The media articles quoted Studer as saying that bees are not considered Africanized unless they are 50% AHB. However, in my opinion, bees that are 17% are a cause for real concern. The only bees in Kentucky ever identified as having any Africanized genetics had Continue reading