Africanized Bees

[Dallasbeek]

Yeah, or minds play tricks on us, don't they? 

I was a newspaper copy editor before I became a beekeekeeper, so I see things other people miss.  But when I look at what I have written, I see what I think I wrote. 

Don't sweat the the little stuff.  And it's mostly little stuff.

[BeeMaster2]

Same here, as an engineer I design and review jobs. I can see other people's design mistakes but miss the same error on my own jobs. Before we can approve a job we are required to have another engineer in the office review our jobs.
Jim

[divemaster1963]

my enemy is the autocorrect and auto insert. i have to keep turning it off because it keeps resetting it to on.

john

[jredburn]

The State of Florida claims 90% of feral bees are AHB and have been trying to kill all of them for  5 or 6 years.  Over 600 skeps placed every year and every time one get filled up they kill it,  True Story.
They have not been successful as there are still plenty of bees around.  i have done over 150 removals this year. I cover 4 counties.
When a queen gets bred she gets serviced by multiple males,and the workers she produces will express different traits as the queen uses up semen from different males.  So here in SW Florida we have feral hives that are mild and docile one day and  next week they will chew the chrome off the door handle of the truck trying to get at you.
I've been  trying to raise to raise survival prone bees feral bees for 5 years now and I have had some 2 year queens and now have a couple of three year olds.  It is hard to get them to stay in a new box as they abscond with the slightest provocation.  Once they settle in you can't beat them out with a stick. 
The AHB will tolerate living in water meters, flower pots, bird houses and open air nests in trees, under soffits and under shed floors.  You can house them in transparent plastic tubs in the shade or sunlight and never have SHB because the beetles cannot stand the light.
Our local State bee inspector  grew up with European bees that he worked in shirt sleeves, no gloves, no veil.  About two years ago he opened a hive that had been very mild the week before,  smokes them a little and they went down into the comb like good little bees and then the whole hive came up and hit him.  He darn near died, spent three days in ICU.  So you need to have a suit on if you work AHB territory.

[paus]

I "usetabee" brave and worked bees with no protection, even commercial bee hives, for a friend, but now I am thinking it just ain't worth it. I have had a good nice hive change their personality from nice ladies to really bad girls.  Don't take a chance be ready.

[divemaster1963]

with the advint of the breeze suit and jacket ( even the low end chinese nockoffs) it should be a no brainer to wear protection when working hives. we have lost to many beeks to changes in their lives that all of a suddan have delayed reactions to stings. that had anifolactic shock hours after taking several stings. if you are going to be beekeeper, working smart and having the equipment to keep bees means using it not looking at it. a person living in the woods aways has a gun just in case on them. think if he saw a beekeeper handling hives in aopen yard in shirt and no suit what would he say. ( there crazey to do that without protecting  them selves from the chance of a mad hive.


john

[gww]

John
Dieing from a hive inspection is an extreem example of having a bad day.  Michael Palmer has a vidio on you tube saying you need to not be protected so that you take no stings.  His view is that family members who are exposed to bee venom with out the benifit of being stung are more likly to become alergic than those exposed by being stung.
Cheers
gww

[divemaster1963]

yes being stung occasionally does have benefits. but being stung fifteen to twenty five times at once can possibly Bring on a reaction that can put a person into anifilatic shock hours later. there are confermed cases of beeks that have worked bees for years that took fifteen or more stings even after taken benadrel tabs before starting that hours later went into anifilatic shock setting in house and died. i myself get stung working my bees with jacket. but the thing is to reduce the number of stings in one go. its easier to deal with 2-5 stings reactions than 15- twentyfive at one time. beekeeping is great but we need to show newcomers the proper way to start and not  just jump in with no regard to safety and precautions. i rather teach someone to use a jacket and gloves each time than to show them opening up a hive that was docile last week and learning now that they are qweenless and aggressive the day i have that new person on site. and i get chased from a full blown attach. sort of like a professional woodworker using a tablesaw  all there life and not using a bladeguard all of sudden not watching and getting to relaxed will cutting and cutting off his finger's. it just takes one time putting your guard down for something catastrophic to happen.

just my thoughts
john

[gww]

It is usually a simple mistake at the wrong time that gets you.  Any other time it wouldn't get you.  I am pretty much a chicken though I have worked the hive in shorts and flip flops before but had a viel and gloves on.  If I go in the hive unless I am with one guy who has had hives for a very long time, I get dressed to the T.  I have been stung about four times and one of those times I should have got more then I did.  A whole bunch of bees went in the cuff of my glove and I couldn't get it off cause it was slick with honey while trying to rubber band comb.  Only ended up with one sting.  I have got stung on the ankle, toe and side of foot the other times.  I am real new.  I only mentioned the vidio so it was known to be there.  We did have our second ever copperhead death in missouri this year and it happend just as you say.  Copperheads haven't been very deadly but this time it was.
Cheers
gww