mark berninghausen wrote:
> Bill Truesdell,
> Aren't we talking about Apis mellifera scutellata crossed with Apis
> mellifera mellifera? Or Apis mellifera scutellata X Apis mellifera
> carnica?
My point. When we speak of AHB we are using shorthand to identify only
one bad actor from Africa. It is just like saying EHB and say they are
gentle, early flying, heavy propolis producers. Anyone saying that would
be instantly corrected and told they are probably talking about Carniolians.
We in the US, since there seems to be only one AHB here, have pinned AHB
onto Apis mellifera scutellata. If you read Bob's posts, he does
separate them since they do have very different characteristics.
The problem with crosses is, like all crosses, you have no idea what you
will get. Plus, in time, you can end up with something else. Buckfast
were considered a gentle bee, but some had problems with them after time
with increased aggression, or, if you prefer, more defensive behavior.
As an aside, I do not think aggressive is a bad word to use, since there
is a transition between purely defensive behavior and aggressive
behavior. If I am stung, as I was, repeatedly when working my garden
some 300 yards from the colony, I would say that is more aggressive than
defensive. (The colony was Italian.)
We in the North might look a little more toward the South and see the
reality of working in a mixed environment. There is no need for panic,
since I doubt if we in the North will ever have an unmanageable "AHB"
problem. We will get aggressive colonies and re-queen, be they EHB or
AHB. We can take what happens in the Southern US and learn from that.
My main concern is overreaction,as what happened with Tracheal and
Varroa. There was a lot of the same "close the borders" talk then, and
in the places it was done, it did not work. With AHB, I think it would
be worse, since with the first two, the problem was strictly within the
beekeeping community, while with AHB, the public will be very involve.
As the Chairman of the Bath Zoning Board, I know I would not want that.
It is easy to zone out anything the public sets its mind to prohibit.
Bill Truesdell
Bath, Maine
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