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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Jerry J Bromenshenk <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Tue, 17 Sep 2002 09:15:40 -0600
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Adrian, Tim's comments are correct, based on my experience in Guatemala and
with AHB in Texas.  In Guatemala, a group of us went through several AHB
bee yards, and for the most part everything went fine, until we opened an
especially large colony on the third day - and things got ugly in a hurry.

We have posted on our web site a video of AHB behavior, filmed in TX in
August of this year.

http://beekeeper.dbs.umt.edu/bees/ElmovBees.wmv

This is a large -13MB- .wmv file.  It downloads best via Explorer - some
browsers such as the older Netscape programs try to download and open it as
a binary file.  I don't suggest downloading over a slow phone line - but if
you have access to a high speed connection, you may find it interesting.

In the video, a round "Elmo" ball is seen being covered with bees.  This
attack occurred as soon as the ball was placed at the entrance - no
bouncing, banging on the hive, nothing!  As the video plays, you will
eventually see the ball bounce around and vibrate.  That action knocks off
bees - and they immediately regroup on the ball.  The toy has a little
vibrator and voice chip in it. We ran a wire from the ball into the car.
The vibration caused the bees to attack both the ball and the white car!
We could hardly see out the windows.  It would make a great advertisement
for Toyota - no bees got into the car.

If you wonder why it takes so long before the ball starts bouncing around -
its because I made a dash for the car with the initial out pouring of bees.
 We were then busy terminating the dozen or so bees that made it into the
car with me.

The second part of the video shows the same ball - after a good washing and
drying in the sun, placed at the entrance of one of Danny Weaver's hives --
big difference!  Even with vigorous shaking and bouncing, few bees paid any
attention to Elmo.

Now here's the rub!  The AHB colony was an abandoned colony, kept by a
hobbyist.  It had been tucked into the woods for more than two years.  One
of our test monitors - who is not a beekeeper, had been harvesting a few
bees from the entrance of this hive to test the bees' ability to get
through the mesh used in a large TENT enclosure.  He found them a bit more
aggressive than Danny's bees, but just enough to cause him to wear a suit.

Some weeks before, he went out (unknown to me) with a high school student,
opened, and went thought the AHB hive.  He used smoke, and nothing unusual
happened.

The day we were there with Elmo was a different story, altogether.  The
first bees hit us while we were 30 ft away, setting up the video camera.
After the filming, it took a couple of hours before things calmed down
enough to be able to separate the camera and the bees -- and I have photos
of stings on the black, rubber lens hood.

We filmed the AHB hive mid-morning.  Late afternoon, we went back to
retrieve Elmo.  When we drove up, the bees were foraging and ignoring Elmo.
 Either they had become used to the presence of the ball (likely) or maybe
they thought he was dead (yes, I know bees probably don't think).

Regardless, as soon as the white car appeared, the bees immediately
attacked Elmo and the car again.  It took us two days to get poor Elmo back.

On the basis of the video, our collaborators finally followed my suggestion
and terminated the AHB hive.

I offer the video for illustrative purposes.  And, I ask whether this
behavior is some trick used to generate dollars for AHB research as someone
suggested on this List.  I don't do AHB research, and I hope that I don't
have to work with these bees - no fun at all.

Cheers

Jerry

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