At 01:47 AM 9/15/2005, you wrote: >My question is that if only a few of the many drones the queen mates >with are AHB, then are just some of the workers AHB? Can the presence in >a hive of some AHB workers cause other non AHB to also be aggressive? Is >there any research data on this? Yes,Yes and maybe. I suspect it's more anecdotal evidence than hard numbers. I can't point to any specific research done on this, but was told by Sue Cobey that a hive will be aggressive if only some of the workers are AHB. I had no reason to question her statement at the time, so I don't know what her source was on this. You could contact her directly by e-mail and ask if you want. I do know from several sources that queens are being produced in the south in areas where AHB are found and some at least partially africanized queens are being shipped. I have also had one customer that claimed he had purchased queens from the same producer in Texas for 11 years, but last year got 2 very aggressive queens. He did send samples out for testing and both hives tested fully Africanized. It's also been suggested that the reason why certain counties in texas are not quarantined while all adjacent counties (or at least 3 sides of the county) are quarantined has been is politics (ie. a queen/package producer operates from those counties). I don't know how much truth to this there is, and can't claim to know the geography of Texas and what natural features would keep AHB out of specific counties and not others, but I do find it strange to see such island or peninsula counties where AHB won't cross the borders, yet at least one of the peninsula counties at least is suitable for EHB queen production by a large producer. See http://agnews.tamu.edu/bees/quaran.htm for a map. > Every state needs to take responsibility for the beekeepers' problems > with AHB. Making legislators more aware of the problems then removes the > problems from the beekeeper and onto the legislators, because the > legislators can not just say "Well no one told me anything about this"! I can't speak for other states, but I know Ohio is ill equiped currently to handle the problem (and I suspect many others are in the same boat). The state budget has been cut and we are down to just two inspectors. Counties are expected to hire and pay for their own inspectors and their budgets have been cut as well. Some counties have gone without an inspector, and I know others have been under funded and simply inspect until the money runs out. Those willing to take the job have also been hard to find and I have been unimpressed with the experience of some of those hired (but at least those counties still have an inspector). I know in once case the state has given permission to sell nucs without inspection when the county inspector had retired and the remaining state inspectors couldn't get around to everyone. Last year only about half my hives were inspected at least according to the inspection reports I received by mail, and this year I don't believe my hives have been inspected yet at all. Plus, unless you sell bees, queens or move them in/out of the state, you can request not to be inspected (I'm sure this helps the budget, but defeats the purpose). I know what remains of the apiary section (of the department of agriculture) is doing all they can, but they are understaffed and under funded for the task. So the future of the program really rests on the legislature, and unless many of us speak up it will continue to have funding cut because no problem is perceived. -Tim -- No virus found in this outgoing message. Checked by AVG Anti-Virus. Version: 7.0.344 / Virus Database: 267.10.25/102 - Release Date: 9/14/2005 -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---