You pose the question that we all wonder when is hot - africanized.. Where I live Africanized genetics are a fact of life in the feral bee world. One of our local beekeepers has summarized the studies they participated in concerning our feral bee genetics. It is amazing our bee genetics are almost as diverse as our human population!. I rate Honey bee defensiveness or their Hot tendency-defensive behaviors on a scale of 1-10, With1 being mild Italian type behaviors to 10 being all out scary. I have some hive that were very defensive when they were extracted, maybe a 7-8 which is equal to a few thousand angry bees flinging themselves at your veil and stinging gloves multiple times and following you several hundred feet while under prolonged attack, Yes this is risky and equipment is everything so is efficiency. Getter done but be smooth and deliberate. Ignore your fear and stay on task, repeat equipment is everthing. I work to minimize stings with protective gear and work to be efficient to avoid excessive trauma to the hive. Once their captured and hived and acclimated to their new environment and building comb, I like to re queen, and if necessary divide and conquer. Some really hot hives are better suited to re queening after being extracted with their comb and brood. I use survivor queens and with our local genetics they are about a 3-5 on my Hot scale, frankly a little hotter than ideal but they are well suited for or semi arid environment. I am now taking my Best hives in term of comb building and filling capacity and gentile behavior for my replacement virgin queens. Hopefully the bees will maintain their sustainability and production while keeping their defensive behaviors in check.
Topic: Hello from New Mexico (Read 2224 times)