Hi All I do't want to sound silly here but I would think the easiest way of telling if a hive is africanised is to look at the cell size. Should be about 5mm for all african bees, whereas it varies for euuro bees but is usually a bit higher. Mine are about 4.3mm, which means that they dont draw the AHB foundation I buy too well so I use a ver small strip at the top of each frame. Onne can see the transition from the larger cells to the smaller cells as soon as they draw their own. So it would follow that a simple check for AHB would be to put a frame with only a strip of foundation in the middle of the brood nest annd see what the cell size is. AHB will be smaller, and noticeably so. I always cannot help marvelling at how few cells there are on a frame of EHB foundation. Another thing is that you may have Acacia cyclops/ Acacia longifolia flowering in your area. These flower in autumn and I have noticed my bees go ballistic when they are flowering becoming touchy irritable bees that will sting you for looking in their direction. Keep well Garth --- Garth Cambray Kamdini Apiaries 15 Park Road Apis melifera capensis Grahamstown 800mm annual precipitation 6139 Eastern Cape South Africa Phone 27-0461-311663 3rd year Biochemistry/Microbiology Rhodes University In general, generalisations are bad. Interests: Flii's and Bees.