A few days back someone mentioned the size and coloring of the bees in
regards to the AHB. I am sorry for my ignorance on this subject, but was
hoping that being in Oregon I wouldn't have to worry it for a while.  I have
one new colony that was a swarm that moved into an empty hive this past
summer.  The bees are smaller than "normal", black bodies with thin yellow
stripes, and the queen is also mostly (entirely?) black and barely larger in
size than the workers themselves.  They are currently the holders of my
"nasty hive" award (I requeened my other nasty hives).  This hive is much
more aggressive, attacking me incessantly when I disturb the hive.  What to
AHB's look like like and how can one tell if they have them?
 
As a side note: Since all of my other hives have similar bees, I never
noticed how much intermingling of the bees from different hives goes on.  I
have found these black bees intermingled in the other hives as well as the
regular bees from the other hives now living and working in this new hive.
As far as I can tell, the brood from this hive is of the same strain and the
regular bees have moved in from the other hives, as have some of these
workers moved into those hives.  I have 7 hives as of this summer, all
within 2-3 feet next to each other.
 
 
At 03:16 AM 11/2/96 +0000, you wrote:
>Bob St. John wrote:
>>
>> >I've met a few people from the Transvaal (South Africa) who work on a
>> >day to day basis with these bees (A.m.scutellata - the fearsome
>> >Killer bee of the Americas) and do very well from them.
>> >
>> No, they are not the same. I have talked to beekeepers from South Africa and
>> their bees are not the Brazilian "killer bees"
>> I have worked with a lot of bees all over Ethiopia and while there are
some bees
>> who are easily offended there are many swarms there that are quite tractable.
>> When we talk ogf the Africanized Honey Bee (AHB bred in Brazil) we are not
>> taliking about the African Honey Bee.
>
>I'd like to explain that the Brazilian AHB is the result of a mixture of
>three breeds (Italian, German and African) and there may also have been a
>fourth known as "kingdom bee" which was brought by the "Jesuitas", who were
>religious men that came to Brazil in the beginning of the Portuguese
>colonization to catechize the natives (1600's).
>
>Therefore, our AHB is different from the pure African bee.
>
>JOSE MARIA DIAS
>BRAZIL
>