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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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From:
randy oliver <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 28 Dec 2013 09:41:06 -0800
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> It follows that any swarm in LA lacking a marked queen would have a very
high probability of being AHB.

Perhaps it would be more accurate to conclude that any swarm in SoCal would
have a high probability of consisting of bees with a certain degree of
African genetics.  In my limited experience of handling colonies in SoCal
at various degrees of hybridization (i.e., pure European, F1 Euro/feral, F2
Euro/feral, and presumably pure feral wild type), the feral population
appears to have stabilized with a normal curve of defensive behavior
clearly higher than that of gentle European stocks--to something more
similar to the old dark "German Bee" stocks that I used to find in Calif,
as opposed to the extremely defensive first wave of the Africanized
invasion.

Long prior to the Africanized invasion of SoCal, we'd occasionally have
thermonuclear hot colonies that would start hitting you like a machine gun
when you approached the apiary.  Last summer I spent time walking through a
yard of about 50 feral colonies in SoCal without a veil, with no sign of
overt defensiveness.  Even when I started cracking the hives for
frame-by-frame inspection, I didn't need a veil until after I had inspected
several hives, and even after opening quite a few, we could still stand
next to the apiary and talk with minimal interest from the bees.

Far be it from me to condone the keeping of dangerously hot bees in any
residential area, but I suggest that we be careful in assuming that all
feral colonies in SoCal are unworkably hot.  My on-the-ground experience
indicates otherwise.

There appears to be a locally-adapted wild population of bees somewhere in
its evolutionary process in SoCal.  I don't know the effect of the constant
introduction of European genetics, but based upon my observations of the
phenotypes, I suspect that it has little influence--the ferals are very
easy to differentiate from imported stock simply by looking at their brood
patterns (healthier, and more in tune with the environment) and behavior
(somewhat more jittery on the combs).

Is there a high enough ratio of managed ferals to wild type colonies for
human selection to shift the population towards more gentleness?  I don't
know.  But I certainly support those who are making the effort.  But with
such effort comes the great responsibility to not create nuisances or
dangerous situations for the neighbors.

Although there have long been dangerously hot bees in SoCal (and
elsewhere), the likelihood of stinging incidents is certainly higher with
the current feral population than with the bees of yore.

Since it is difficult to regulate the degree of beekeeper responsibility
(or stupidity), it is likely safest to require that residential beekeepers
maintain marked gentle queens.  However, I see no reason that those marked
gentle queens could not come from a selected, locally-adapted stock.


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

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