[walking bird]

While dropping a new hive off at one of my beeyards I noticed a busy hive whose home was a hole in the ground. At first I thought they were YJs, but upon a closer look (from my truck) saw they were indeed bees.

I've been told by other SoCal beeks that an underground hive is a sure sign of Africanized bees. if that's the case, I'll terminate them, but i don't want to do that without some confirmation. Anyone??

 

[swatkins]

I took Italian bees from a hive in the ground 3 weeks ago... The seem to like the insides of the irrigation valve boxes on the farm... Found another hive in a different box last year.

 

[junglebee]

They might be digger bees .
Diggers are solitary and don't build comb as honey bees do.

All the diggers here are docile and will only sting when crushed .

The Africans here will sting from 100 yds out without prevocation.

 

[walking bird]

These are actually in a hole in the ground--- that's why at a distance I thought they were YJs. They're not solitary; they're behaving just like bees do outside a hive, it's just that theirs happens to be underground.

I first became suspicious when a movie crew was using an empty horse arena to park some vehicles. I have some hives at one end of the arena, and they parked at the far end--- yet the director got out of his car and was immediately stung.

I now realize he was parked directly next to--- or even over--- that underground hive!