Earlier I posted two announcements about an Africanized bee attack in Orange County that occurred this past weekend. Keith Malone asked: "Did the information include what means or how the colony was tested [for AHB]?" Zachary Huang then wondered: "A record yield for an African bee colony? That is pretty impressive, 500 lbs from one colony." Keith countered: "Which is why I questioned the testing method of determining the lineage of the colony." Tim Vaughan joined in: "In South Africa occasionally you'd find huge amounts of honey in feral hives, as they store it up over a period of years. It would be easier in that area of California where nectar is available all year. I just wonder how many swarms and micro swarms that hive sent out. I wonder also if there were several hives next to each other, or whether the number of bees was exaggerated." Aaron Morris passed on a question from Jerry Hayes: "What tests confirmed the AHB status?" I hope everyone realizes that newspaper accounts give little or no technical information about such events, so I can only surmise what might have taken place -- with a copy to Eric Mussen, State Apiculturist, who might have some input. When any severe stinging incident occurs in the state, bee samples are normally provided to the County Agriculture Commissioner's office, where they are then forward to the state testing laboratory. I do not know what tests they run but am fairly confident such tests include DNA analysis. Tim Vaughan's point about the possibility of multiple colonies in the apartment building strikes me as being right on point. The newspaper account did not reveal any information about how the bee colonies were extracted from the building, but I much earlier had reported in the AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL the fact that we estimated eight feral colonies living in a two-story house here in Santa Barbara. You can find that account at: http://www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/abjsep1999.htm As it turned out, 14 colonies actually existed in the walls of that house and had survived the varroa mite invasion in our area. I hope the above account proves useful (though not necessarily satisfying). (As an aside, Tom Seeley just published an article in the July issue of BEE CULTURE that covers the same subject that I had published back in 1999.) Adrian -- Adrian M. Wenner (805) 963-8508 (home office phone) 967 Garcia Road [log in to unmask] Santa Barbara, CA 93103 www.beesource.com/pov/wenner/index.htm ************************************************************* * The most formidable weapon against errors of any kind * is reason. * Thomas Paine, 1794 ************************************************************* :::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::: -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/BEE-L for rules, FAQ and other info --- ::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::::