Hello Peter
Evidently there has being a communication lapsus in regards to the Puerto
Rico Africanised Honey bees somehow, but the truth of the matter is that we
have the same bees now found in the most southern part of the US which is a
hybrid AHB, which is nothing more than a cross from an European queen with an
africanised Drones, thus far giving you 50% alleles European and 50% alleles
Africanised. Puerto Rico is an 100% an africanised (AHB) area for the past ten
years. I wish that some of those European alleles for docility and gentleness
would have been transferred but no such luck.
Furthermore for the past 5 years I have worked with these bees all over the
Island and believe me they are far from docile, nor gentle but yes they are
resistant to common bee diseases such as Varroa mite resistant, Tracheal mite
resistant, Brood disease resistant, high brood viability, yes lots of brood
that's how they survive, they also need lots of heat and avoid coldish
temperatures. They don't thrive much in the mountains, because of the rain, cold,
windy and wetty sorroundings.
Their behavior can be changed temporarily by introducing European queens,
but their survivalbility rate is very low, due to AHB invasions mostly. We have
been working with the F1, which is a daugther of the European Queen which
becomes highly productive, until it becomes africanised all over again and the
process starts again.
If you need to or anybody in the list needs further i
nformation about AHB, please dont hesitate to ask. We the Beekeepers are
the experts!!!!!
Saludos
José
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