> 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.

In my limited experience with the SoCal feral bees, I've observed a a very
robust, well-adapted bee, with many desirable traits.  Unfortunately, it
also exhibits a range of defensive behavior, not far from some of the
ferals back when I was younger, and before the African invasion. The
problem is the far right hand end of the normal distribution of defensive
behavior--those few that may indeed kill the neighbor's dogs or children.
It is for this reason that the Calif Beekeepers Assoc is on record against
the keeping of feral bees in residential neighborhoods--we simply do not
want the bad press from an inexperienced beekeeper causing an unfortunate
incident.

On the other hand, I encourage those in SoCal with ample isolation from
neighbors to experiment with the ferals to see whether one can propogate a
workable bloodline.

-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html