Hello All,
The Albuquerque Journal ran a story today (12/3) headlined "Killer Bee
Repellant".  The gist of the story was that Dr. Erickson of the Tucson
Bee Lab is test marketing a spray that mimics "queen pheremones" and
causes the attacking bees to become confused and reduces their
aggression.  According to the article, it would be used by a person to
spray their "head and upper body" thereby causing the bees to become
confused and return to the hive.
...One wonders what applications this would have for beekeepers.  Given
the inventive nature shown by list members it will be fun to see what
uses we all come up with, assuming this stuff ever receives approval to
be sold.
...The other thing I was wondering about is, if it uses "queen
pheremones" does this mean that the workers will all return to the hive
and that the person will then be swarmed by all the drones in the area
<g>...I can see the headline "Man Escapes Killer Bee Attack, Smothered
by Drones".
 
Patrick M. O'Hearn
Bears Choice Honey
Aztec, NM
email [log in to unmask]