This message appeared on a FidoNet echo called HOME-N-GRDN. My husband =
tells
there are inaccuracies in what Bill McLaughlin says. I would like your =
comments.
 
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 Msg  : 160 of 200=20
 From : Bill Mclaughlin                     1:104/514       09 Apr 95  =
21:03:14
 
 To   : Jesse Tharin                                        19 Apr 95  =
07:33:44
 
 Subj : Killer Bees=20
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  Well!  There seems to have been some recent activity on this echo con=
cerning
Honeybees and the infamous =D2killer bees=D3.
 
     I have been a gardener and beekeeper for some 15 years now and wou=
ld like
to dispel some myths that might be floating around concerning these ins=
ects,
the common honey bee, that are so beneficial to all of our gardens prod=
uction.
 
     Some little known facts of the honey bee;
 
     They are not native to the Americas.  They were brought over to th=
e new
world by the colonists.
 
     To make 1 pound of honey it is estimated that a bee would have to =
fly
around the world at the equator 1 and 1/2 times in bee miles.
 
     Bees never =D2hibernate=D3 during the winter.  They cluster up for=
 warmth but
are fully awake during the winter.
 
     The queen mates only once during her entire life.  This being done=
 in mid
air.  Sometimes with as many as 10 males.
 
     Scientists have been able to duplicate the taste of honey but have=
 not
been able to duplicate honey itself.
 
    It takes approximately 5 pounds of honey to make 1 pound of bees wa=
x.
 
     Now for the =D2killer bee.=D3
 
     The =D2killer bee=D3 as it is known, is believed to have originate=
d in Europe
as a Germanic bee (which by the way is one of the bees originally broug=
ht over
by the colonists).  It was shipped to Africa from Europe in hopes of st=
arting
up honey production in that part of the world.  Then in 1956 a team of
scientists decided to see how they would work in the South American cou=
ntry of
Brazil where they were (and are) used widely and successfully for comme=
rcial
honey production.  The killer bees where first spotted north of the Rio=
 Grande,
Texas border in October of 1990.  And have been slowly moving north sin=
ce then.=20
 
        The name =D2killer bee=D3 was first dubbed by the Brazilian mil=
itary
calling the bees, in Portuguese, the language of Brazil, abelhas assass=
inas
(killer bees).  The first known mention of the words =D2killer bees=D3 =
in the US was
in Time magazine in the September 24th, 1965, issue that picked up one =
of these
military press releases.  Much the same story was repeated in a second =
article
in the same magazine in the April 12, 1968, issue.  Those stories promp=
ted
others to write in this same vein, and the term and the Brazilian assoc=
iation
with =D2killer bees=D3 was firmly established.
 
     =D2Killer bees=D3 are not more venomous then any other honey bee t=
hey are just
more aggressive.  About 40 people die each year in the US from the stin=
gs of
venomous insects.  Of these deaths, ordinary European honeybees are res=
ponsible
for about half.
 
     Modern beekeepers of today harvest many different products from th=
eir
hives.  From the well known honey and wax to pollen and royal jelly (us=
ed in
some cosmetics for the skin or eaten for health).
 
     Another product of the honey bee is the venom for certain forms of
arthritics.  To harvest this crop, The bee keeper puts a thin nylon mem=
brane
across the bees=C9board and delivers a mild electric shock to the bees =
as they
land.  They in turn react by stinging through the membrane and depositi=
ng the
liquid venom onto a sterile glass plate.  The bee is able to retract it=
s
stinger because the barbs in the stinger don=D5t get caught on anything=
 and the
honey bee continues to live. The bee keeper then comes and collects the=
 glass
and turns it over to the pharmaceutical companies who in turn provides =
the
product to medical physicians.
 
     In a message from Jesse Tharin to Joan Tuckey
 
JT>And we got 'em. The killers are so difficult to tell apart from the
JT>native aboriginal bees that the fire department never messes around
JT>with identification. They just hit any urban swarm with foam and kil=
l
JT>them.
 
     The fire departments choice is the correct way to handle swarms or=
 any
other stinging insect emergency.  In an article published in Gleanings =
in Bee
Culture, the July 1992 issue, it addresses this problem.  If there are =
any
fireman out there that would like more information on this subject ther=
e is a
video training tape as well.  Just e-mail me.
 
     Finally, if any one is interested in starting up this hobby I can =
put you
in touch with a several catalogs and a great magazine to start with.
 
     One Bee Joke.
 
Q:  Why do Honeybees sting?
A:  If someone took your honey and nectar, you=D5d bee mad too!
          (If you don=D5t get it, say it aloud)
 
BillMc
 
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