I'm in the Virgin Islands, N.E. Caribbean. We have a healthy and thriving wild bee population and a rapidly increasing tended colony population with year round nectar and pollen producing plants. With temperatures throughout the year averaging between 76 nights and 86 days, it is bee heaven.
The fact that most colonies are Africanized, is an accepted fact.
My place is rural in nature, in the mountains. Walking and working around the place I'm accustomed to large numbers of bees on blossoming wild plants pretty much everywhere. I never have a problem with them, even when clearing bush or running a tractor nearby. Every morning I go for a hike on the dirt roads in my area and that's where the problem started. At one place below my house I frequently see bees going too and fro, across the road, usually ten to twelve feet off the ground. The forth and most serious encounter with them occurred three days ago. While I have had a single or possibly a double buzz my head, this time it was four to six and I was stung at least four times as I ran away, down the road. In addition to walking, I need to tend the dirt road through there and keep the roadside bush trimmed. Now I'm paranoid.
I searched to try to learn how far from a colony one would be for the aggressive behavior to start and did not come up with a definitive answer. I loaded a pile of rocks in my truck, parked adjacent to where they cross and started heaving rocks into the bush, both above and below the road to see what would happen, with my truck as shelter right there. I was not able to stimulate an attack.
The terrain is pretty much 45 degrees up and 45 degrees down on the roadside and is populated with Guinea Grass and heavy bush which would make a search for the colony difficult to near impossible and recovery of the colony a major operation. Considering the massive collective wisdom on this forum, any suggestions for how I should proceed?
An occasional sting while moving across the flight path wouldn't be the end of the world but I have those fears of me and my dog covered with angry bees, not a way to go.
The fact that most colonies are Africanized, is an accepted fact.
My place is rural in nature, in the mountains. Walking and working around the place I'm accustomed to large numbers of bees on blossoming wild plants pretty much everywhere. I never have a problem with them, even when clearing bush or running a tractor nearby. Every morning I go for a hike on the dirt roads in my area and that's where the problem started. At one place below my house I frequently see bees going too and fro, across the road, usually ten to twelve feet off the ground. The forth and most serious encounter with them occurred three days ago. While I have had a single or possibly a double buzz my head, this time it was four to six and I was stung at least four times as I ran away, down the road. In addition to walking, I need to tend the dirt road through there and keep the roadside bush trimmed. Now I'm paranoid.
I searched to try to learn how far from a colony one would be for the aggressive behavior to start and did not come up with a definitive answer. I loaded a pile of rocks in my truck, parked adjacent to where they cross and started heaving rocks into the bush, both above and below the road to see what would happen, with my truck as shelter right there. I was not able to stimulate an attack.
The terrain is pretty much 45 degrees up and 45 degrees down on the roadside and is populated with Guinea Grass and heavy bush which would make a search for the colony difficult to near impossible and recovery of the colony a major operation. Considering the massive collective wisdom on this forum, any suggestions for how I should proceed?
An occasional sting while moving across the flight path wouldn't be the end of the world but I have those fears of me and my dog covered with angry bees, not a way to go.
