There's a beekeeper near my property/house; how do I know he or she
does not have Africanized bees?

> Recently, Florida's beekeepers have been given guidelines (called the Best Management Practices) that if practiced will ensure their bees to be European. If the beekeeper is following the BMPs, then he or she is not keeping Africanized bees, but if the BMPs are not being followed, there is no way to be sure. If you know a beekeeper, encourage him or her to comply with the BMPs.

BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES FOR MAINTAINING  EUROPEAN HONEY BEE COLONIES

1. This is a voluntary program designed to minimize the threat of
Africanized Honey Bees (AHB) in Florida and to dilute any feral AHB
populations that may become established in Florida as our gentle
managed colonies are our best line of defense against AHB.

2. Beekeepers participating in this program must sign a compliance
agreement with the Florida Department of Agriculture and Consumer
Services.

3. Beekeepers will maintain a valid registration with the Florida
Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services/Division of Plant
Industry (FDACS/DPI), and be current with any and all special
inspection fees.

4. A Florida apiary may be deemed as EHB (European Honey Bee) with a
minimum 10% random survey of colonies using the FABIS (Fast African
Bee Identification System) and/or the computer-assisted morphometric
procedure, ie. universal system for the detection of Africanized Honey
Bees (AHB) (USDA-ID), or other approved methods by FDACS on a yearly
basis or as requested.

5. Honey bee colony divisions or splits should be queened with
production queens or queen cells from EHB breeder queens following
Florida's Best Management Practices.

6. Florida beekeepers are discouraged from collecting swarms that
cannot be immediately re-queened from EHB queen producers.

7. Florida Beekeepers should practice good swarm prevention techniques
to prevent an abundance of virgin queens and their ready mating with
available AHB drones that carry the defensive trait.

8. Maintain all EHB colonies in a strong, healthy, populous condition
to discourage usurpation (take over) swarms of AHB.

9. Do not allow any weak or empty colonies to exist in an Apiary, as
they may be attractive to AHB swarms.

10. Recommend re-queening with European stock every six months unless
using marked or clipped queens and having in possession a bill of sale
from a EHB Queen Producer.

11. Immediately re-queen with a European Queen if previously installed
clipped or marked queen is found missing.

12. Maintain one European drone source colony (250 square inches of
drone comb) for every 10 colonies in order to reduce supercedure
queens mating with AHB drones.

13. To protect public safety and reduce beekeeping liability do not
site apiaries in proximity of tethered or confined animals, students,
the elderly, general public, drivers on public roadways, or visitors
where this may have a higher likelihood of occurring.

14. Treat all honey bees with respect.

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