In article <[log in to unmask]>, Guillermo Jacoby
<[log in to unmask]> writes
<snip>
>My question is:  How can I get their aggressiveness down?  I was
>thinking of importing queens, but that could bring the verroa
>down here.  Bees are fairly healthy and we don't really have a
>bee illness to worry about.  Can anyone help?
>
>The honey season starts in late November here and finishes in
>April.
>
>Regards,
>
>Guillermo Jacoby
>AHBeekeeper from Nicaragua
 
 
Guillermo,
 
A couple of weeks ago, one of our TV channels screened a programme about
the introduction of the africanized bee into South America and attempts
at controlling its advance into the southern states of North America.
 
It seems that one of the things that the authorities tried was to flood
the area which africanized colonies were moving into with thousands of
non-africanized colonies in the hope that they could dilute their
aggressive tendencies. Unfortunately, one of the things that they didn't
know at the time was that africanized queens spend one day less in the
cell than non-africanized queens. Consequently, the africanized queen
was able to emerge from its cell and go around killing all of its non-
africanized rivals while they were still in their cells. So, the attempt
failed. I think that any attempts at bringing in non-africanized queens
would also be doomed to failure (unless you were prepared to do it on a
continuing basis).
 
The one suggestion that the programme did have to make was to prevent
the beekeeper from breathing carbon-dioxide over the colony during
inspections. In this scene, the beekeeper breathed through a length of
clear plastic pipe (about 10-15 feet long) so that the carbon dioxiode
in his breath came out well away from the hive. In this way, he was able
to inspect an africanized colony without incurring its wrath. The colony
remained completely calm. Now, it seems to me that this idea may be
alright as a demonstration (although the programme didn't really explain
why carbon dioxide was thought to be responsible for AHB colony
attacks), but I am not sure just how practical it would be in your case.
Surely, the heat would make it very uncomfortable to breathe through a
pipe for any length of time, but you might be able to adapt the idea.
 
If you want to follow these ideas up with the programme producers, you
can reach them by email at [log in to unmask] The programme that
I am referring to was the "Equinox" programme entitled "Killer Bees"
that was shown on 13th October on Channel 4.
 
 
Good Luck !
--
Paul Walton
Email   : [log in to unmask]
Toddington, Bedfordshire, England.