[greathorned]

Hi all
I am curious if any Beekeepers here in and around the Finger Lakes are hearing, as I did today, about Africanized Bee's now in the area? we have two commercial keepers I know of who take their Bee's to Florida, so I suspect the possibility is there. Does anyone know what the inspection process is in Florida before beekeepers head north to assure this menace does not reach our soil?
Hopefully this is all here say, rumor nonsense. !!!

 

[dsegrest]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

There are many places where for some reason it is said there are no Africanized bees. This has got to be BS. Every hive has about 15 fathers. The professional pollinators go everywhere with there bees. Surely the DNA of the Africanized bees has to be pretty pervasive.

 

[Dan. NY]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

In another thread this is recounted something like 2nd or 3rd hand. It seems to be more than just a rumor, but as recounted was only one NUC. I will tell you, I had a local raised queen in my hive last summer and it was hot as the blazes. I have a split that should be laying well by the next hive check, will ahve a local queen if all goes well. I am eager to see if she is mean also.

If you hear anything more about this, I would appreciate if you let me know as well. Im not that far. thanks.

EDIT: I dont think it was tested and proven this particular incident was AHB. Appparently just one mean NUC suspected of AHB. I hate to keep commenting as I really do not know more than what is in the other thread. I do think what I am saying matches the other thread info though. I dont have a link or I would provide it.

 

[waynesgarden]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Sqkcrk mentioned with apparent certainty that this occurred recently. I can't find the thread.

Wayne

 

[Michael Bush]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

>There are many places where for some reason it is said there are no Africanized bees. This has got to be BS.

The first African stock was brought over in the late 1800s. The USDA bred the same stock that Kerr had in Brazil for years and shipped them all over the US. The migratory beekeepers are taking bees all over, including Africanized areas and have been the entire time that AHB have been in the US. There are several queen breeders in AHB areas shipping queens all over the US. No there are no Africanized bees in the Northern US. None whatsoever. If you believe that, I have some ocean front property for sale here in Nebraska...

However, they do seem to be a lot LESS AHB in the North and I would like to see efforts to keep it that way... preferably by the beekeepers, rather than the regulators...

 

[gjt]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

My experience and understanding is that African bees [A.m. scutellata] are not able to withstand the colder seasons. I presume this is the case with the Africanized bees too.

It is interesting how some are worried about the hybrid while the central African beekeepers are worried about the A.m. scutellata is pushed out by the Cape honey bee [A.m. capensis].

 

[Michael Bush]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

> I presume this is the case with the Africanized bees too.

Back in the 60's the USDA was shipping them by the thousand to Madison and Laramie... I presume it is NOT the case... but that is a popular theory, or it's popular wishful thinking...

 

[CtyAcres]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

I agree with Michael, those African bees can survive the cold here in NE. I'm fighting one hive now, and can't even get
the supers off. When I finally get down to her Majesty she will be NO MORE!

 

[sqkcrk]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Hopefully this is all here say, rumor nonsense. !!!

I don't know how many nucs there were, but there was more than one. Actual Africanization was not morphometrically determined. Their behavior was extremely aggressive and they came from FL. They were killed.

This is not the first time highly aggressive bees from FL have been found to exist in NY and were dealt with.

I do not know if FL Apiary Inspection does anything to determine whether migratory beekeepers are taking Africanized bees North when those operations leave FL. I don't know how they could. It would take a large force of determined Apiary Inspectors to determine whether Africanized bees are present in migratory operations.

Perhaps NYS Apiculturalist Paul Cappy would be the one to ask about this.

 

[peterloringborst]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Perhaps NYS Apiculturalist Paul Cappy would be the one to ask about this.

Good luck with that. A friend of mine called him and left a message asking for advice about AHB. Call was not returned. I recommend putting down any extremely aggressive hives. I can give advice on how to do it, if needed.

 

[sqkcrk]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Yeah, I know Peter. He doesn't return my calls either.

I think your friend took care of it too. The guy that paints hives w/ all sorts of decoration? I forget his name.

 

[gjt]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

I am not familiar with US bee strains so that is fascinating. How far North have they been spotted? In Europe where it would be simple for the African bees to intermingle, this is not the case, at least in areas where I have been. Wonder why? After all there are not just land bridge West, but wide passage on the East into Europe.

> I presume this is the case with the Africanized bees too.

Back in the 60's the USDA was shipping them by the thousand to Madison and Laramie... I presume it is NOT the case... but that is a popular theory, or it's popular wishful thinking...

 

[sqkcrk]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

How far North have they been spotted?

Single hives or territory? Their natural range has not gotten to where predictions predicted they would, yet. Such as MD.

 

[peterloringborst]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

I think your friend took care of it too. The guy that paints hives w/ all sorts of decoration? I forget his name.

No, this was someone else. And the hive wasn't African. Some people think they have them when in fact the hive is just having a bad day

 

[sqkcrk]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Wow. From what I saw in the photos I was shown at the ESHPA Summer Picnic, photos of all of the stings in the clothing of the guy dealing w/ the hive, they sure must have been having a bad day.

 

[Michael Bush]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

>I agree with Michael, those African bees can survive the cold here in NE

I had four buckfast hives that had survived the winter and went vicious on me after swarming in August in a drought/dearth. Those were the meanest bees I ever saw. They had all survived the winter just fine...

 

[CtyAcres]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Just My Opinion, I feel that there should be a law against bees and queens moving in and out of
Florida, Texas, and a few other southern areas. I for one will not deal in those areas again.

 

[Bill Davis]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

I bought some singles this year that had Florida queens in them and close to half were the most agressive bees i have ever seen. Can't say for certain they were African but they seemed like It to me. African or not those queens were replaced but it took more than a month to have some ready. Hope those drones weren't mating someone else's queens.

I did google the breeder and there are lots of post on here regarding his agressive bees.




And when I googled the breeder he has been suspected before of selling agressive bees.

Requeening worked

 

[Roland]

Our Wisconsin winters, especially the last, are tougher than Nebraska winters, and although a AHB hive may be mean all summer, it rarely makes it much past the first frost. Even in diluted form, we see very little evidence of AHB genes making it though the winter.

Crazy Roland

 

[peterloringborst]

Re: First report of Africanized Bee's in Finger Lakes Region brought from Florida ?

Just My Opinion, I feel that there should be a law against bees and queens moving in and out of
Florida, Texas, and a few other southern areas. I for one will not deal in those areas again.

Hmm, like California? Good luck with that