On Nov 18, 2013, at 8:36 AM, James Fischer wrote
> Most "too large" groups work out a way to split into more manageable pieces.
> 
This group has found new mentorship under the non-profit called "Honeylove.org". However the new umbrella has a different mission: Backwards Beekeepers was meant to be a neighborhood discussion group and the originators never wanted the massive numbers and all the management that went with it. They also did not want that name attached to anything else. Hence the group dissolved. 

> Yeah, AHB swarms are often said to be "deceptively docile" until they are
> given a nice home to defend.  :)

It appears that you believe that all feral stock in Los Angeles is "AHB", as in, those bees that kill horses and dogs? This is a misconception held and promoted by many in the east and Midwest who have no first hand experience with ferals. Like Eric Mussen, who has never once been the keeper of a feral hive, the anecdotal stories are numerous as they are specious. 

> Given that LA County has been described for some time as "completely
> Africanized" by multiple responsible authorities

Yes our genetic pool has some Africanization. But if our bees were really as these "authorities" report, why are we not hearing stories every day about people getting chased and injured by swarms of raging AHBs?  Because, unlike what Mussen et al believe, the reality is that the hybridization of Southern California stock has caused increased vigor, and the mean bees that nobody wants have been exterminated. Their genes don't have a chance. 

> The Backwards Beekeepers' Official Position Statement (circa 2010):

There was never anything official about the BBK. Except that it was officially Unofficial. 

> Here is what the LA Times said this summer (2013) about AHB:
> http://articles.latimes.com/2013/aug/07/nation/la-na-nn-killer-bee-season-ho
> uston-20130807

If you had taken the time to read this article you would have seen this: "it's nearly impossible to put a number on the deaths. It's minuscule. The Centers for Disease Control doesn't even find enough to make a separate category" for killer-bee related deaths.  

I am not trying to say there is no danger from stings with ferals in Southern California. But there is huge difference between bees that can be worked calmly with a suit on, versus a tee shirt, and versus the impossibility of working AHBs. With fully Africanized bees, even a full bee suit is not enough to protect you. Obviously nobody wants a yard full of that. 

Wearing protective clothing to work feral bees is a small price to pay for a stock that is hardy and locally adapted. Their survival rates seem to be difficult to believe for many writers on this list. But they are here to stay, and I am happy to keep some of them in hives. 

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