Re:  I have been told that breath is an aggression trigger.

Allen said: I have never experienced that effect in all my years with
EHB... Maybe this can be a new quick test for AHB.

Ok, most of the time, you can blow on bees and NOT get an aggressive
response.  Didn't work the day I had a beer for lunch.  Don't know whether
the bees didn't like the smell or were mad because I didn't bring any for
them (I'm joking -- some on this list take everything literally).

Justin Schmidt alleged that AHB responded aggressively to breath and
attributed the response to C02 as the component that induced the behavior
-- I find this hard to believe.  We routinely use C02 to anesthetize bees,
and we never get an aggressive response from EHB.  So, either AHB has a
different response OR something else in the breath causes the response.

I hear Justin has retired, but maybe he reads this list?

Of course, blowing too hard on bees can agitate them, just like
over-smoking (the flame thrower approach that I've seen some beekeepers use).

We have found, as have others, that bees respond to caffeine in ways
similar to the response seen in people -- I've considered getting an order
to go for them when I grab my morning's Starbuck.  (I'm somewhat serious
about this -- caffeine enhances some bee behaviors).

Jerry

Jerry

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