It seems many people focus on the highly defensive/aggressive behavior 
as if that's the only reason that AHB are bad bees. There are lots of 
other reasons too. They tend to swarm multiple times in a single season. 
They are runny on the combs. They tend to abscond if they think they are 
being disturbed too much. AHB swarms are known for usurping other 
colonies. Best practice is to harvest honey by the frame as soon as a 
frame is filled, not wait for a full super, because if they fill a super 
they'll likely swarm and take the honey with them.

Folks that have no choice can make AHBs work for them, turning their 
lemons into lemonade, but it seems to me that it would be a strange 
thing for anybody who has a choice to deliberately prefer them, at least 
in non-tropical regions. Varroa resistance is only one part of the picture.

I've worked with AHBs a tiny bit in my world travels, enough to decide 
that if they ever become endemic in my part of central North Carolina, 
it will be time for me to take up some other hobby. They just aren't fun.

Dewey Caron's _Africanized Honey Bees in the Americas_ is a nice 
introduction to these critters.


Randall Austin



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