> As a former member of that club, 
> the Backwards Beekeepers...
> Feral bees in Los Angeles are so 
> healthy and plentiful that the group 
> grew beyond the small little 
> neighborhood club...

So the group is no longer meeting at all because it became too large and
popular?  
Most "too large" groups work out a way to split into more manageable pieces.


> there are also those who
> will learn to be successful beekeepers. 
> Especially in Los Angeles, where we
> have tons of thriving feral survivor stock, 
> which, with some careful attention and 
> intelligent oversight, seem to take 
> extremely well to being put into hive boxes.

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

Given that LA County has been described for some time as "completely
Africanized" by multiple responsible authorities, what happens when a swarm
of "feral" bees is captured, and given or sold to a novice or a beekeeper
with limited experience?  What sort of liability insurance coverage does one
need to hand out bee swarms without something definite to establish their
pedigree, like DNA testing of the sort Jerry Hayes used to do in Florida?

The Backwards Beekeepers' Official Position Statement (circa 2010):
http://www.backwardsbeekeepers.com/2010/05/on-africanized-bees.html
http://tinyurl.com/omkg98y

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
http://tinyurl.com/oozqwog

The Orange County Reporter Aug 2013:
http://www.ocregister.com/articles/bees-370119-africanized-bee.html
http://tinyurl.com/9o7xzzd

They went to see how "docile" LA's bees were, and compared known EHB with
known AHB in the same yard.  They did not escape unscathed, even in full
protective gear.  With apt comments from Eric Mussen, the acknowledged
authority in that area.

The LA County Beekeepers position circa 4/13/2013:
http://lacba.squarespace.com/home/2013/4/13/killer-bees-where-are-they-in-ca
lifornia.html
http://tinyurl.com/oeq2vle

Here in NYC, we requeen anything that intimidates the owner, as life is just
too short to work bad-tempered defensive bees when there are so many
reliable producers of queens whose progeny I can smoke a little, and work in
a tee shirt.  

Why is Sam Comfort (right) wearing a tee shirt, shorts, and sandals to work
bees, while Kirk Anderson (left) wearing a full beesuit, holding heavy-duty
gloves, and wearing velcro-closure sneakers with no ventilation panels?
http://www.facebook.com/photo.php?fbid=131223366971431&set=a.131220210305080
.28871.125433804217054&type=3&theater
http://tinyurl.com/nw9jcod

Perhaps because Sam works bees in upstate NY, while Kirk comes from LA, and
has no experience with bees that can be worked without full protective gear!

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