Bob
> Did you keep "Scuts" at one time?
I am in the Western Cape and as such am tucked away in the southern most
tip of Africa. The chances of interacting with Scuttellata are almost
zero. Due to the Capensis ability to lay females , there is a ban on
moving bees across a horizontal line running from coast to coast @ 200
kms north of my apiary - even Africans don't want my girls to mix with
theirs !! So my bees are pure "thoroughbred" AM Capensis and are as you
say little black bees - no mixed colours here.
>
> We do not see the crayon "yellow" color on our AHB. Many are close to the
> black of capensis but still with distinct strips. Comments?
I would love to add some pictures and will do once I get the know how of
doing this on Linux. To answer your question - distinctive stripping yes
- Bright yellow no except on the belly of our queens

The Capensis swarms I have encountered have all been well mannered and
there has been no untoward aggressiveness- whether or not they all have
been primary swarms, I wouldn't know. I have taken Capensis feral
colonies with no undue behaviour - obviously the girls have not been too
happy about my intrusions but they did not go on a stinging rampage - a
couple of times curious onlookers have been far too close for my comfort
and have not been attacked.
I have had no exposure to AM Scutellata due to the transport ban and
from what I can gather , Scuts are the real problem and can be
aggressive to the core, although Barry Sergant will testify differently.
Don't get me wrong here , my girls can and do sting albeit that I can
only judge on what I am exposed to. You guys overseas have the
opportunity to be exposed to a variety of different breeds and can
therefore have a better view of the various traits associated with
different breeds. I have only been exposed to AM Capensis and am
therefore more blinkered than most, but from where I now stand, wouldn't
have it any other way.

Regards
Peter McMahon
Western Cape
South Africa

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