Allen Dick wrote
If what is being said is true, then the end point is a foregone
conclusion.  Much of the US will become africanized, and the rest will
have regular and extended visits from AHB via the migratories.

So, it seems to me that the solution is to tame the AHB, rather than
fight it.
unquote

I fully agree. However, you seem to be rather lonely with this view, at
least so far. And it can be done, tame them, I mean. Maybe change
management methods here and there a bit. Less smoke, less banging around
of hive parts, etc.

quote
Where did I read or hear that the reason that the AHB in Tucson are now
less problem than when they first arrived was that the troublemaking
swarms/hives were immediately killed, whereas the less troublesome ones
were not detected and thus left alone.  This selection, over a decade or
more, apparently had a noticeable effect, so it seems that they respond
to selection pressures fairly quickly, as expected.
unquote

That makes a lot of sense, as AHB show individuality, therefore, not all
need to be super aggressive. Brazil, as well as Mexico to an extent, are
quite reasonable examples of it, if one is willing to look. 

quote
Maybe there is too big an investment in existing stocks, or a simple
adversion to anything africanized, but if you cannot beat them, why not
join them?  There seem to be a lot of good characteristics there.
unquote

Again, I would say that is it, in a nutshell. They certainly appear to
cope well with SHB here. From what I read they can handle varroa in
South Africa - East Africa says they do NOT have varroa, we here tend to
say we do not really know, could be here.

Of course I am biased, living in Africa (Nigeria). Reading a lot about
"Killer Bees" before I even came close to any of the local bees made me
fear and clouded my vision. Right, they have a temper, but can be
handled. What is more, selective breeding should produce gentler bees
over a relatively short time span.

Against this I have now seen a lot of reasonably tempered bees if
approached with some "manners", very healthy and vigorous bees, despite
zero treatments, etc. Organic Beekeeping, rather by force of
circumstances than choice, but it seems to work well enough.

All bees have never been modernized here - I only recently measured some
cells when a hive was partially harvested; 4.6 mm for honey cells. I
hope to get my hands on another colony soon, including brood cell.

mp
-- 
  Mario Pittori
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