# Africanized Bees: How to tell ?



## bluegrass (Aug 30, 2006)

sending a sample to the lab is the is the only way to tell.....this time of year with stores to protect and the large numbers of bees in a hive, I expect them to be more aggressive than usual. I have heard that with africanized that if you make loud noises within like 50 ft of their hive they will come out to defend it. I expect that within a few years with all the packages comming out of the south that most bees will have some african in them.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

Does it matter? If they are really hot, requeen. If they are not then don't. Did you want to keep them if they are just vicious EHB?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm


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## Samuel (Jul 12, 2007)

*Thank You !*

Thanks Guys, We did walk up pretty close to the hive (8-10 feet) before we started smoking the hive just observing and they didn’t bother us. We did make a little noise when we were close because we have BIG rattlesnakes here and we didn’t want any surprises.  One thing we didn’t do which was pretty stupid now that I think about it was find our queen with a green dot, we just got a bit scared I have to admit. 
If our queen is still present, are we ok? Is it ok to keep going if we don’t find her?

Thanks so much!
Samuel


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## Panhandle Bee man (Oct 22, 2003)

I don't think that it is really the question. The only question you have to answer is "Do I want a hive this aggessive, and can I take care of a hive this aggressive"? If either one is no, then requeen.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

I have some Weaver All Stars from 10/06 that also started vicious, but calmed down after they superceded.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

may I assume the all stars are bweavers?

first question is: how has the weather in midland been over the past few days. at this location (college station) the overcast skies and rain has limited the girls flight and they are meaner than snakes. even a slight bump on a hive will have the rolling out the front door in waves.

secondly I also suspect that varroa investation which should peak at this time of year also makes the girls a bit nervous (this is a personal hypothesis and definitely is not scienfically confirmed).

if the bees remain extremely defensive when the weather clears I would likely forward a sample (collect 50 bees in a sandwich bag that you have killed with alcohol) to the bee lab here at the riverside campus (you county extension agent should forward the sample for you). the sample typically requires 7 to 10 working days to be analysized.


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## dickm (May 19, 2002)

Unless things have changed, the data that you get back from the lab may not mean much. A few years ago they told me there was a 13% chance my bees were africanized. All I knew was that there was a 100% chance of being stung if I got out of the car without putting my suit on. If you requeen it takes 6 weeks until you get new bees foraging. I did take a whole bunch of capped brood and made a split with a new queen and they never got mean. I finally had to kill the origional hive to avoid someone getting hurt.

dickm


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>If our queen is still present, are we ok?

Will it make them any nicer if she is?

> Is it ok to keep going if we don’t find her?

Keep going where?

If it's mean, I would do this:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesrequeeninghot.htm


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## berkshire bee (Jan 28, 2007)

dickm said:


> If you requeen it takes 6 weeks until you get new bees foraging.
> 
> But, if you currently have a laying queen, you should have brood in all stages of development so you won't lose six weeks of foraging time, only the amount of time it takes from new queen introduction till she starts laying. The hive will still be hot for a while. I like my nice Italian girls. They are gentle and productive. I can mow up to the electric fence and weed whack right arounf the hive stands and they go about their business. Yes, I'm knocking on wood and I ain't looking fer no fight about what kid of bees are the best. I'm a sucker for an accent, whether it be Italian, Irish or Southern.


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## BULLSEYE BILL (Oct 2, 2002)

Samuel said:


> How I can I tell if my hive has gone African? Today we smoked (maybe not enough) the hive and removed the top feeder, honey super and queen excluder to check the top brood box and boy were they were aggressive! In fact I was some 30 feet away afterwards and there were still a number of them on my suite. We finally pulled away in the truck (suits still one) before we felt comfortable. Afterwards we had a bunch on the stingers in our gloves and a few in the suits. The brood box had honey as well as the super. These are the All-Star Bees from weaver.
> Are we in trouble? Any help would be appreciated!
> 
> Samuel


They don't sound africanized to me, they sound like normal bees to me. I would say that 5% of mine are just like that. I work them last.

If they were africanized they would follow you a half mile away.


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## RonS (Dec 28, 2004)

*One Method*

http://hosted.ap.org/dynamic/stories/T/TX_BEE_ATTACK_TXOL-?SITE=TXSAE&SECTION=STATE&TEMPLATE=DEFAULT

Read this story and hope that you never experience it.


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## Walliebee (Nov 17, 2006)

Here's how the researchers in Mexico test africanized hives.

cited from:

Genetic Correlations Among Honey Bee (Hymenoptera: Apidae) Behavioral Characteristics and Wing Length

Ernesto Guzman-NovoaA, Greg J. HuntB, Robert E. Page Jr.C, M. Kim FondrkC 



We used a “traditional” behavioral assay to test the stinging behavior of the experimental colonies (Guzmán-Novoa et al. 1999b). The assay consisted of a black suede leather patch (10 by 8 cm) suspended on a piece of white wood (0.7 by 0.5 by 100 cm) which we call a “flag.” To provide a stimulus to trigger the defensive behavior of colonies, the flag was rhythmically elevated (4 cm) and lowered (4 cm), two swings per second, 5–10 cm in front of the entrance of each hive. The time for the first bee to sting the patch was recorded, then bees were permitted to continue stinging the patch for a period of 60 s after the first sting. If no stings occurred within two minutes, the test was discontinued for that colony. After each trial, leather patches were packed and sealed in marked plastic bags, for subsequent sting counts. All colonies in each apiary were simultaneously tested to minimize behavioral interference between colonies, for example, bees of one colony stinging the patches of other nearby colonies.


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