a thought, an observation, and a suggestion

thought/question:  what you seem to be describing is a functional closed population of africanized bees in the new world.  i believe it was 26 queens that were released in brazil...so is the entire population of thriving ahb in south, central, and north america truly absent of any genetics but these orginal 26? 

observation:  we were in west palm beach for their organic beekeeping conference last winter.  we didn't get a chance to see any commercial bees, but did go to a yard of cutouts.  the owner does quite a few cutouts, and hasn't culled any for being overly aggressive...yet, we inspected most of the colonies in the yard (about 15 or so...finding the queen and examining brood comb) without veils, gloves, or anything other than jeans and tshirts.  someone got stung once on the thumb (might have been dee), but other than that they were quite gentle.  we also walked over to a nearby camper with a colony in it's closet...we took a close look with no issues.  the bees did propolize the entrances.

suggestion:  at the same conference, bud grant (a florida bee inspector) said he knew of a feral population of apis melifera melifera in some remote area.  he said they were small, dark, and not ahb.  imho, this might be a more interesting sight than ahb.

deknow

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