>Can someone closer to the Africanized penetration into Texas help?

I am with the Capital Area Honeybee Stewards, the Austin Texas beekeeping
group.  This message points out several challenges that we face with
bees here in Austin.  With limited resources (4 active assistants) we
try to handle bee situations.  However:
1) There is no city agency that has an employee or department to respond
in any way to bee problems.  Does your city have one?
2) Travis County Agricultural Extension office has had their urban specialist
position vacant for over two years.  They have my phone number as the basis
for a call out tree with people providing swarm capture, insect identification
("those are wasps which are valuable predators..."), bees in Oak trees 30
feet in the air, bees in swimming pools (drought), bees on hummingbird beeders
(drought), bees in walls and attics (we have day jobs and little time to
tackle removal)

My first call came 28 February and now that it's swarm season I get 8 - 10
calls on my answering machine each evening.  In addition, the fire dept
who we have worked with on Bee Response Team training has my home and work
(thanks to an understanding boss) numbers.  If I am contacted directly I
respond as I can or refer another beekeeper to capture swarms in their area.
I am saddened to hear that this situation did not turn out well.  I have
emailed the original person directly and given her my phone number but
don't know what I have to say.  Obviously a small beekeeping group can not
handle every situation, but how are things done in other areas?

Unless a sample was collected and sent to the Texas A&M Bee Identification
lab, no one will ever know if they were Africanized.  Last year some of
the incidents with multiple stings led to bee testing and only a few
actually tested Africanized.  I do know that when working on a removal
rather than a swarm capture I will be much more aware of my surroundings,
will advise people to expect lots of bees in the air, and not leave until
I feel the situation is under control.

>contacted a beekeeper (hobbyist) who came and set up whatever the boxes
>and such are and "smoked" them.  He began the process and stayed an hour
>or so and then left, meaning to return later.  The bees, who had not


>yelling that I did not have a LICENSED bee person...B) Is there such a
>thing?
Don't know of such a thing.  Pesticide applicators must be licensed here
as everywhere.

>The pest control man said they were NOT Africanized or they
I never make this statement.  Only the Bee Identification lab can.  A
fellow beekeeper destroyed a hive of "nasty" bees last year even tho
the test confirmed them to be Honey Bees...not even a hybrid.

> C) Have you heard of this
>kind of behavior from honey bees?
Bees in an established colony will naturally defend it.  Feral bees don't
come from the same lineage that a nice bunch of Italians or a good Buckfast
hive does.  Natural selection has not allowed them to persist in the face
of Varroa and Tracheal mites because they are calm, or easy to work. In fact,
natural selection may have kept them around because they have some resistance
to Varroa or Tracheal mites...
I just hope this does not further taint the reputation of bees.  As I scan
the internet and newswires on the move of the AHB into California and other
states I worry that a "kill first ask questions later" tactic may be more
damaging in the long run, but if the resources are limited, what can be
done.
I'd like to hear how other communities handle Bee Responce etc.

Carol


>I could find no Texas bee clubs, so I hope you get this and can respond.
P.S.
We are on the internet at http://www.main.org/cahbs/


Carol K. Malcolm
[log in to unmask]