Africanized bees confirmed in Alabama

GSF · March 20, 2017, 02:01:41 PM

I don't know where except North Alabama. Our former president who now holds office at the (beekeeping) state level was talking to me today. He said that a dog was attacked and killed by some bees. A sample was taken from the hive and it tested positive for Africanized bees. If I understood him this was in the last week or two. All hives were destroyed. I understood it to be the first case of established AHB in this state.

bwallace23350 · March 20, 2017, 02:29:51 PM

Odd I thought they would have come south first

Jeff L. · March 20, 2017, 04:45:29 PM

I would bet they were/are in South Alabama, or else they were found close to an airport or shipping hub.

bwallace23350 · March 20, 2017, 05:01:18 PM

Well the post said they were in North Alabama so they had to come in from some where.

iddee · March 20, 2017, 05:10:17 PM

My guess would be it was a package from Texas or Florida, with a young, newly mated queen that had mated with Africans, but was shipped from the mating box before the young began emerging.

bwallace23350 · March 20, 2017, 06:00:00 PM

If we do get African bees here everyone will freak out and knowing Alabama then we will pass some really dumb laws.

Dallasbeek · March 20, 2017, 07:09:39 PM

Quote from: bwallace23350 on March 20, 2017, 06:00:00 PM
If we do get African bees here everyone will freak out and knowing Alabama then we will pass some really dumb laws.

Why should Alabama be any different than all the other states? At least in Texas the legislature only meets every other year.

bwallace23350 · March 21, 2017, 09:51:32 AM

Quote from: Dallasbeek on March 20, 2017, 07:09:39 PM
Quote from: bwallace23350 on March 20, 2017, 06:00:00 PM
If we do get African bees here everyone will freak out and knowing Alabama then we will pass some really dumb laws.

Why should Alabama be any different than all the other states? At least in Texas the legislature only meets every other year.

In Alabama we have a special kind of bad legislature.

GSF · March 21, 2017, 03:00:31 PM

My guess would be it was a package from Texas or Florida You hit the nail on the head. A queen supplier from Texas shipped the queens to the beek. It wasn't just Alabama that this happened to it was a couple more states. In each case the Africanized hive was re-queened with a queen from this supplier. I'm not going to call any names.

Jeff L. · March 21, 2017, 04:25:08 PM

It seems that a lot of the hype/media overkill about Africanized honeybees has died down. Even looking at the USDA ARS map, the last time it was updated was 2011.

bwallace23350 · March 22, 2017, 10:20:10 AM

Have the Africanized bees gotten calmer?

dott · March 23, 2017, 10:18:16 AM

There is a long tread about this on beesource. When the time frame they were found is a little fuzzy (dates and year). What I got out of it was queen/queens was from Texas and when tested they were 18% Africanized. They were in N. Al. Then moved into Tenn. b-4 the state inspectors got involved

GSF · March 24, 2017, 02:19:35 PM

Thanks for the info Dott, 18% and they stung a dog to death. I caught a 'possum in a live trap in my bee yard. When I went to get it out there was 15-20 bees on the 'possum stinging it.

erbs honey · March 24, 2017, 09:40:17 PM

How does one "test" for Africanization? How/is the DNA different?

Acebird · March 24, 2017, 09:47:40 PM

Instrumentation. You have to send the bees into a lab that has the right equipment.

BeeMaster2 · March 24, 2017, 10:09:24 PM

Quote from: erbs honey on March 24, 2017, 09:40:17 PM
How does one "test" for Africanization? How/is the DNA different?

Under a microscope they measure certain segments of the wings to determine the genetics.
Reciently they have determined that they can also measure the angle of certain segments of the wings.
Jim

divemaster1963 · March 24, 2017, 10:21:23 PM

Hey jim jump on virtilo.

john

sc-bee · March 25, 2017, 12:18:05 AM

The same thing happened in South Carolina. The initial test determined the bees to be AHB. The hive was destroyed. Later the genetic testing determined it was not AHB. Let's see what happens here.

http://counton2.com/2016/07/20/dna-testing-shows-sc-bees-werent-dangerous-african-variety/

joebrown · March 25, 2017, 07:19:41 PM

I heard Randy Oliver site a similar instance. The queen was a Buckfast. You know Brother Adam did a lot of breeding and African genes could be present. In Olivers citation, the hive wasn't Africanized. The colony had been moved midday. Leaving the old foragers behind. Someone tried to spray the cluster of foragers and there you go. Beekeeper error.

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Jim134 · March 25, 2017, 11:49:53 PM

I do know a few beekeepers in Florida. Some of them do cutouts. What they do is call the state apiary inspector up I believe. This is a test they do FABIS. What they say this test is supposed to be about 95% accurate. The thing is this test is to be done. On honeybees who have not been dead that long. My understanding they come in a van with all the test equipment to do on site. Otherwise it is DNA which may take a week or so.

https://tinyurl.com/lokaoue

BEE HAPPY Jim 134