Greets All/Ken
 
Ken you asked about the effect of climate on africanised bees and
whether an irresponsible beekeeper returning from a holiday with a
few african bees in her/his luggage may put other beekeepers at risk.
 
If we are referring to the africanized bee as the cross between
Am.european races and A.m.scutellata which is moving slowly into the
US at present, I do not believe this bee has the ability to survive
far north. The bee can survive short periods of low temperature, but
does not organize it's cluster. I believe that A.m.scutellata has
been kept by hobby beekeepers in Germany, FRance and Norway, where
queens were overwintered with carnolian workers. The bees if not
treat in this way died of.
 
I suspect that A.m.capensis could survive a UK winter in the coastal
areas under a warm winter, but would perish in a cold winter -
scientists and other individuals have kept A.m.capensis periodically
in the UK since some time last century.
 
If however we consider an africanized bee to be any bee with african
blood (genes) then people keep this bee allover the north - it is
called the buckfast bee and contains elements of the highland bees of
africa which are genetically quite similar to scutellata.
 
I recently had the pleasure of working such hives in Lesotho (similar
bees to the ones in Kenya in some ways) and found them to be docile
resourceful hard working bees that could easily be worked without
protective gear. If such a bee were smuggled into the states I would
have no problem with it as it is as exotic as the other honeybee
races there, is capable of tolerating the small hive beetle and is
able to tolerate being surrounded by reasonably thick snow sometimes
for as long as two or three months - even some hives which are
hanging under cliffs survive this!!
 
Keep well
 
Garth
Garth Cambray           Camdini Apiaries
15 Park Road
Grahamstown             Apis mellifera capensis
6139 South Africa
 
Time = Honey