At 01:47 AM 9/15/2005, you wrote:
>My question is that if only a few of the many drones the queen mates
>with are AHB, then are just some of the workers AHB? Can the presence in
>a hive of some AHB workers cause other non AHB to also be aggressive? Is
>there any research data on this?
Yes,Yes and maybe. I suspect it's more anecdotal evidence than hard
numbers. I can't point to any specific research done on this, but
was told by Sue Cobey that a hive will be aggressive if only some of
the workers are AHB. I had no reason to question her statement at
the time, so I don't know what her source was on this. You could
contact her directly by e-mail and ask if you want.
I do know from several sources that queens are being produced in the
south in areas where AHB are found and some at least partially
africanized queens are being shipped. I have also had one customer
that claimed he had purchased queens from the same producer in Texas
for 11 years, but last year got 2 very aggressive queens. He did
send samples out for testing and both hives tested fully Africanized.
It's also been suggested that the reason why certain counties in
texas are not quarantined while all adjacent counties (or at least 3
sides of the county) are quarantined has been is politics (ie. a
queen/package producer operates from those counties). I don't know
how much truth to this there is, and can't claim to know the
geography of Texas and what natural features would keep AHB out of
specific counties and not others, but I do find it strange to see
such island or peninsula counties where AHB won't cross the borders,
yet at least one of the peninsula counties at least is suitable for
EHB queen production by a large producer. See
http://agnews.tamu.edu/bees/quaran.htm for a map.
> Every state needs to take responsibility for the beekeepers' problems
> with AHB. Making legislators more aware of the problems then removes the
> problems from the beekeeper and onto the legislators, because the
> legislators can not just say "Well no one told me anything about this"!
I can't speak for other states, but I know Ohio is ill equiped
currently to handle the problem (and I suspect many others are in the
same boat). The state budget has been cut and we are down to just
two inspectors. Counties are expected to hire and pay for their own
inspectors and their budgets have been cut as well. Some counties
have gone without an inspector, and I know others have been under
funded and simply inspect until the money runs out. Those willing to
take the job have also been hard to find and I have been unimpressed
with the experience of some of those hired (but at least those
counties still have an inspector). I know in once case the state has
given permission to sell nucs without inspection when the county
inspector had retired and the remaining state inspectors couldn't get
around to everyone. Last year only about half my hives were
inspected at least according to the inspection reports I received by
mail, and this year I don't believe my hives have been inspected yet
at all. Plus, unless you sell bees, queens or move them in/out of
the state, you can request not to be inspected (I'm sure this helps
the budget, but defeats the purpose). I know what remains of the
apiary section (of the department of agriculture) is doing all they
can, but they are understaffed and under funded for the task. So the
future of the program really rests on the legislature, and unless
many of us speak up it will continue to have funding cut because no
problem is perceived.
-Tim
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