Hi Barry and Everyone,

First yes there are a few reports of a few beekeepers in areas with africanized bees keeping them.  Not sure how common it is but suspect it is not very common at this time as the bees are not that nice to work with compared to the bees we are using here in the USA.

Second aficanized honey bees in the USA or at least in Texas are not resistant to varroa mites.  In fact at least one researcher is keeping some AHB colonies in south Texas without any varroa treatment to see if varroa resistance will emerge over time in these bees.  He suspects it will but it hasn't yet.  The AHB are more resistant to varroa than the european bees in common use here in the USA but not fully resistant in the wild at least not yet.

The Texas Apiary Inspection service has also confirmed American foulbrood disease in at least one feral colony of AHB so they are not fully resistant to AFB either.  Still, everyone I have visited with who has worked with AHB says they are not always fun to work with.  Many states here including Minnesota have banned the keeping of these bees mostly to assure the public that beekeepers are also concerned about the negative characters of these bees and don't want them.  I really can't imagine that they would survive our winters at any rate.

FWIW

blane



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Blane White
MN Dept of Agriculture
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