Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: bwallace23350 on May 16, 2016, 09:33:59 AM

Title: Africanized Bees
Post by: bwallace23350 on May 16, 2016, 09:33:59 AM
Would it not make sense as Africanized bees move into areas of European Bee populations that the Africanized genes would get diluted and they become more docile and more like European bees?
Title: Re: Africanized Bees
Post by: cklspencer on May 16, 2016, 09:36:02 AM
A good portion of the africanized bee genetics are dominate traits, making it difficult to dilute.

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Title: Re: Africanized Bees
Post by: Michael Bush on May 16, 2016, 12:12:10 PM
>Would it not make sense as Africanized bees move into areas of European Bee populations that the Africanized genes would get diluted and they become more docile and more like European bees?

For 200 years we bred out bees to be reproductively disadvantaged.  We bred EHB to make less drones.  We bred EHB to not swarm as much.  The placed where AHB are they have not gotten significantly nicer.  We need to breed AHB to be more docile.... or EHB to be better at reproducing...
Title: Re: Africanized Bees
Post by: BeeMaster2 on May 18, 2016, 01:37:23 PM
2 other factors prevent the mixing of the genes to make them calmer.
The AHB queens hatch out a day or so earlier and the drones are known to be more aggressive at mating than the EHB. Add the 2 together and you see why they have not changed much.
People in areas where AHB are dominant are selecting the gentler AHB bees. This is the same thing our ancestors did with the EHB bees.
Jim