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So is there any truth to the "africanized/killer"(I dont know any other way to state it but I dont like the term) bees being more difficult to manage and more a

by S_A_P 12y ago

So is there any truth to the "africanized/killer"(I dont know any other way to state it but I dont like the term) bees being more difficult to manage and more aggressive? I live in Texas where they arrived in the early 1990s. I would be leery of keeping bees that were not as docile as the european variety. I am not too worried about getting stung once or twice, but I have heard that the "killer" bees go ape shit once the stinging pheromones have been released and you can get stung hundreds of times in a short time span.

nwp90 12y ago
Yes. In NZ we don't have them, but one of the guys who works for AsureQuality (google them) on bee-related stuff here is from Paraguay, and his description of beekeeping experience there (where basically all their bees are apparently Africanised) makes me think I probably wouldn't enjoy the experience over there. Here, you can open a hive of "gentle bees" on a warm day and they will sit on the frames and basically completely ignore you. There, I'm told once you take the lid off, most of the colony will take to the air to have a go at you. Which makes examining the frames easier, as they're no longer covered in bees - if there aren't too many on your veil, I guess.