Community Chat

[Mindy D]

I just received my invoice from the bee removal company and it does provide an explanation of the entire procedure. It also states that “All feral honeybees in Florida are considered Africanized.” 

[Ms tyrion2]

The same is true in Arizona. 

The Africanized hybrid has been here since the early 90s and successfully interbred with native honeybees.  

[ValuSkr]

I guess "Africanized" = more aggressive toward humans.

[Maestra1]

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@Mindy D wrote:

I just received my invoice from the bee removal company and it does provide an explanation of the entire procedure. It also states that “All feral honeybees in Florida are considered Africanized.” 

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bummer.

[Mindy D]

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@ValuSkr wrote:

I guess "Africanized" = more aggressive toward humans.

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It means that the bees here in Florida that were European Honey bees ( There were no native honey bees in the New World, the European bees were brought over here, often called Western honey bees) have been mating for so many generations with Africanized bees that migrated here from South America that all wild bees should now be considered mixed. DNA testing could be performed to reveal any European bees without any mixed African ancestry, but in general , the bees in Florida are now considered of mixed ancestry. 

For more information on Africanized honey bees see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee

For more information on European, AKA Western honey bees see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Western_honey_bee

For more information about honey bees see

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Honey_bee

[Sweetbay magnolia]

Interesting.

I've been told that beekeepers are very protective of their hive and in particular the queen, in order to keep the strain they raise, pure.  The queens are very easy prey and rarely fly, but predators catch on very fast to the timing.

[GrailSeeker]

I thought the African bees had to have a warmer winter period than the European bees.  I thought the bees farther north in the U. S. were still European.  None of them seem to be doing too well.  Wild bees are not in abundance around here the way they used to be. 

[lovesrecess]

“Africanized”=charge three times as much to remove them.