Africanized Bees

There are no records of ancient beekeeping practices in Africa; the historical practice of beekeeping in Africa is relatively new compared to Europe. Formerly bee robbing (the process of extracting honey from a beehive) in Africa was fundamentally a smash and grab approach by the locals, as well as the Ratel or honey badger, among other predators, destroying the hive to get the honey. This, along with extreme conditions caused the more feral aggressive beehives to survive; the fiercer the honeybees in their ability to protected their home and to relocate to livable areas, the more likeliness of survival. This caused the African honey bee to develop differently over time then their sister European honey bees.

So why did people cross breed African honey bees and European honey bees? Until more recently, European honeybees (the Italian honeybee) were the preferred bee for beekeeping and had been taken to many corners of the world. However unlike African honey bees, European bees do not do so well in the tropical regions of the world. Because of this, beekeeping organizations and government of Brazil began projects in hopes to create a more productive honeybee species for the tropical environment of South America. In 1956 a scientist from Brazil brought what was known as a select stock of domesticated "African" bees (Apis mellifera scutellata) from Central South Africa for cross breading with the European honeybee. This scientist was Dr. Warwick Estevam Kerr, once defamed by the government in Brazil, Dr Kerr is today an admired social activist.

Where did the africanized honey bees originate from? The Africanized honeybee is said to have originated from Sao Paulo Brazil, were Dr Kerr began working to make a more productive honeybee. During this project in 1957, it is said that 26 of Dr. Kerr's first gen African cross hybrid bees from Pretoria Africa, were accidentally released by a visiting beekeeper who removed the queen excluders that were on the front of each of the beehives at the Rio Claro Apiary in Sao Paulo. These bees spread and mated with the local European honey bees of Brazil. It's calculated that 26 years later in 1982 they spread up through Panama, then within 4 years spread through most of Mexico despite government programs set in place to stop the spread of this Africanized or crossbreed honeybee.

At the time of the initial release of Dr. Kerr’s hybrid honeybee in 1957, Brazil ranked 27th in honey production. Three decades later, after the introduction of the Africanized bee by Dr Kerr, Brazil sky rocketed to 4th worldwide in honey production which also increased in pollination and food source. Though causing initial hardships the Africanized honeybee, also known as the Brazilian bee or the "brave bee" in Brazil, is now the preferred bee for beekeeping in South America, Central America and some areas of Mexico. Below is a map of the original estimated spread of the Africanized honeybee from Sao Paulo Brazil in 1957 by the Harvard University Press, animated by Adkins Bee Removal in 2009.

Africanized honeybees first arrived in the US in 1990 were the first Africanized bee hive was reported in Rio Grande, Texas. Below is a map of africanized honey bees in the US and there spread from Texas and through the US. To see the enlarged map visit Adkins Bee Removal honeybee removal info.

Honeybee Removal AHB

Africanized honeybees are having difficulty and slowing there pace as they move northward through the United States, mostly perhaps due to the cold weather. Africanized bees have trouble surviving cold weather. This is because they are traditionally used to warm weather and as such they keep their hives relatively smaller not needing the core warmth to survive the cold winter. Smaller bee hives do not do so well in during winter season, as the cold air gets to the core of the beehive a lot quicker than a larger hive with a greater mass, thus causing Africanized bees have difficulty surviving in cold weather.

As the map of the spread of AHB in the US above shows, Africanized bees have slowed there pace, but are slowly adjusting to colder climates; however Africanized bees today in the US are not like the 1st Gen Africanized bees of Kerr’s day in 1957. This africanized honeybee of our time in the US is no longer genetically identical to its origins of 53 years ago and much less hostile.

If you’re a beekeeper and you live in the states of Nor Cal, Oregon, Northern Florida, Utah, Colorado, Kansas, Missouri, Tennessee, Georgia, or the beautiful states of South and North Carolina, you’ll likely here talk about Africanized bees. As for my experience, they are becoming much less hostile then even 10 years ago. To give you an example 95% of all bee removals I performed personally in 2009 near the border of Mexico were simply wearing a ball cap and gloves (and a smoker of course). Dealing with thousands of these bee colonies per year, we just don't come across the feral Africanized bees as much as we used to. After ten years of specializing removing bees, more recently were finding perhaps 1 out of 400 wild bee colonies to be feral. Furthermore in some case these bee colonies have been provoked a good deal before our arrival. Honeybees, like animals can become conditioned to respond to perceived threats, whether being attacked with rocks, wasp killer, or by other means.

It's important to understand the "killer bee" propaganda that was brought to the US many years ago by what many have called hyped journalism designed to sell newspapers. The stories appear to have stemmed from three factors in South and Central America.

1) The new hybrid Africanized honeybees were much more aggressive then the European bees causing initial challenges to the general public with more bee singings and also a few death casualties.

2) Beekeepers had to re-adjust their practices, and learn how to work with these Africanized honey bees that were spreading across the continent outperforming the European honeybee in these tropics.

3) The third source of propaganda initiated from a scuffle with the Brazilian government. At the time Dr. Kerr had been protesting against cruel actions of the corrupt government in Brazil. Because of this the Brazilian government began spreading harmful rumors about Dr. Kerr's work to discredit him, calling him a mad scientist that released the "killer bees" to wreck havoc and cause harm to the good people of Brazil and South America.

These three factors caused some amount of panic in South and Central America in relation to Dr. Kerr's killer bees and appear to be the main issues that caused alarm. The Mexican government devised a plan of action to stop the northern spread of these Africanized honeybees, but it failed. State and regulatory organizations in the US watched as this hybrid honeybee continued it’s moved up through Mexico toward US borders.

By the time these Africanized bees arrived in the US they had spent 40 years re-adjusting to the new landscape and lifestyle in many case being domesticated and mixing in with the local European bees of the Americas, they began to be less aggressive at this stage then in 1957. Today nearly 55 years later, they are still more intermingled and have settled with an even lesser degree of hostility, however there still are some very aggressive africanized bee colonies.

Since that time many biologists throughout the Americas have devoted much time to studying the traits and genes of the African Honey Bee AHB in comparison to the European honeybee. In 2001 biologist Octavio Jaramillo, had begun working with these hybrid Africanized bees, trying to further lessen the aggressiveness of the bees while retaining their strong work ethic, honey productivity traits, and resistance to disease. Below is a small excerpt:

"In 2001, our team of researchers has developed a selection technique to improve bees, which are actually utilized by beekeepers in the Eastern Mexico. After selection of three generations of bees, we concluded that determined AHBs family lines could inherit their high levels of tameness, even when they reproduced in the condition of free fecundation. (Natural mating)" africanized bee studies.

Africanized honey bees are about 10% smaller than European honey bees, may appear darker in color, and abscond or swarm more often than European honey bees. Like European honey bees, Africanized honey bees die after stinging. AHB’s are slightly faster and have a bit more agile movement. Africanized honeybees cannot likely be told apart by comparing them side by side to a European honeybee. Pictures of the difference between African bees compared to European honey bees, or Africanized honeybee vs. native European honeybees must be viewd under microscope for accurate identification. A common method of identification has been termed the FABIS method, Fast Africanized Bee Identification System (FABIS) in which many parts of the bee’s body and wings are measured for proper identification. FABIS is currently less expensive than DNA testing.

An Africanized honeybee sting is identical in severity to European honeybees, and like the European bee, it loses its stinger and dies when it stings. Stingers are about an eighth of an inch long and a sixteenth of an inch across at the dislodged end. If stung by a honeybee the edgy or barbed stinger will typically get stuck in the skin as the bee pulls away dislodging it from the bee's abdomen. The small muscle on the end of the dislodged stinger will normally continue to pump for up to a minute, during this time the sooner you remove the stinger, the less swelling will occur. In relation to removing the stinger, though many claim to scrape and not pull the stinger out, studies have shown one method of removing the stinger is generally as effective as the next; whether you pull out the stinger out, or scrape it out appears to be irrelevant, the more important factor being how long the stinger is in the host, as well as how deep and how sensitive that area of the body, in addition to perhaps how alarmed or panicked the individual is.

As a young kid I grew up around beehives, when I would get stung as a child, the calm confidence from my mom that it would be ok, possibly some ointment of any kind, along with some TLC, (tender love and care) seemed the most important factors in calming my pain. According to past studies, researchers have found that more people think they are allergic to bees than they actually are. In the US, about two million out of three hundred and five million people are allergic, that's about 0.55% of people that are allergic to some type of bee and wasp stings. If you get stung by a bee or wasp and you feel you're allergic, seek medical attention.

When people say there allergic to bees, they tend to categorize “bees” to meaning any insect that fly’s including all types of wasps, hornets, yellow jackets, bumble bees and other solitary bees, often not even knowing the difference between a bit and a sting. All these insect mentioned above are stinging insects with their abdomen, some loose there stinger but most don’t. The reality is that the composition of the toxin varies between these species, and if you’re allergic to one, it doesn’t guarantee you’re allergic to another. For example when I get stung by a honeybee nothing of any great substance happens, perhaps a slight bit of unnoticeable redness and minimal if any swelling. Yet when I get stung by a hornet or yellow jacket I have a large amount of redness, a fair amount of swelling followed by a day of uncomfortable itching! This is because the components or make up of the toxins of a yellow jacket sting are different than that of a honeybee to which my body has built up a tolerance. A good example of tolerance is bee venom therapy (BVT) or apitherapy in which a patient is purposefully stung to assist in healing an ailment. Eventually the patient is able to be stung by a larger amount bees at one time because the body naturally builds up a tolerance to the toxin of the sting.

I speak to many people that say there allergic to honeybees, when I ask them how they know, they say things like, “a bee got in my soda can” and when he went to drink it he got stung on the lip, tong, or throat. I usually don’t comment further, but it’s more likely that this was a yellow jacket (a type of wasp) which is commonly found in parks disrupting picnics or foraging in trash cans as opposed to a honeybee. Because he swelled up significantly in this case doesn’t guarantee this person is allergic to honeybees, and is going to have the same reaction if a honeybee stings him say on the arm.

The elderly seem to have less tolerance for bee stings. Some time ago I was speaking with the owner of an Apiary and world renowned candle shop. His father owned the Apiary before him, and he purchased it from his father. He had grown up around bees his entire life and worked with bees all through. But recently while doing some beekeeping he got stung; (getting stung is a regular occurrence for beekeepers) it just happens and you don't think anything of it. Well he swelled up something good and rushed to the hospital were a doctor told him he must be allergic. This story I have found tends to designate with older folks has been my experience when speaking to elderly people or reading reports; their immune system seems to not handle it the same way as perhaps when they were younger and it can take fewer stings to cause the same or a greater amount of swelling. Of course even within elderly people it is still a very small minority in comparison and generally takes many stings to have an impact.

Not all Africanized honeybees today are feral or demonstrate aggressive behavior. In addition, if you were to come across a large amount of africanized honeybees foraging on flowers, you will find they are no more dangerous than any other honeybees in this state. Bees are however very protective of their homes. It is estimated that feral Africanized bees can protect their home with up to 4 or 5 times the amount of bees and produce more alarm pheromone to excite the bees in the hive that European bees do. Africanized bees can become agitated more easily, and stay alert longer than european bees. Africanized honey bees have very similar characteristics of European honeybees, they can become agitated by any of the following near the beehive: loud or vibrating noises like lawn mowers or electric shrub trimmers, rapid or startling movements, dark colors, the smell of bananas, and exhaling or carbon monoxide. The following is more detail on what makes bees mad, provokes bees, or make bees angry.

Lawn mowers: The smell of cut grass and the loud vibrating noise of lawn mowers cause bees to get mad and feel that their home is being threatened. Interestingly enough, it seems were becoming more of a biophilic society, for example as people become more aware that lawns are having a negative impact on the planet. It’s also important to note that the amount of shrubbery on your property, does not attract any more or less beehives to move on to your property than if you had an all rock yard. Ironically what bothers the bees in this case with lawnmowers perhaps should bother us as well.

Bananas: Why the smell of bananas? This smell is very similar to the alarm pheromone given off by a distressed bee. The purpose of it is to alert the other bees in the hive of perceived danger. If you plan on working with bees don't bring bananas for a snack!

Moving targets, dark colors, and exhaling carbon monoxide are all triggers engrained in the honeybees alert system. Bees have been conditioned to protect against these elements because of recurring attacks from other predators that often destroy the beehive and raid the honey. Most animals that do this are dark in color and often hairy as well as exhale carbon monoxide. This is perhaps the greatest of what causes the bees to attack when protecting their hive. If you are within maybe 10 feet or less of the beehive, light colors, a ball cap and a long sleeve shirt as well as calm movements and the absence of heavy breathing (if very close to the hive) all help to not trigger the bees impulses to feel threatened, or defensive.

When bees attack they typically will target your head. Bees can also target your hands as they are often in motion. The danger proximity for an Africanized honeybees nest may be anything less than 20 to 40 feet. If the beehive has been disturbed, a greater distance, perhaps up to three to four times that distance is recommended. If the beehive is being removed still a greater distance is ideal.

Have my bees become Africanized? How can you tell if your bees are africanized? These are question many beginner beekeepers ask. Generally it's believed that a good rule of thumb is how consistently defensive they are. If you have neighbors that also keep bees, consider asking them how there bees are behaving. However, if its wintertime, you may have nothing to worry about. If you have a beehive on your property, often the bees will be more aggressive or protective during the winter as opposed to summer. This is because the flowers are gone, and the bees are much more protective of keeping the honey safe from anyone that might raid the honey that the bees need to survive throughout the winter. More bee robbing by animals take place in the winter.

How many people die each year from africanized bees? Since the arrival of the Africanized honey bee in 1990, Africanized honey bees have caused some 14 deaths. *However in most cases, it wasn't caused by the bees being africanized but that the victims were allergic to honeybees. In addition, of the people that died most have been the elderly who are unable to escape as quickly and have more vulnerable immune systems. The below chart of africanized bee stats is a comparison of Africanized honeybee death tolls per year vs. other causes of deaths in America.

All bee removal is difficult, especially bee removal from a wall, roof, or other structure. There is generally 5,000 to 25,000 honeybees in a hive. Removing Africanized honeybees is extremely challenging and can be very dangerous to persons or animals on neighboring properties in all directions regardless of where the bees are. If you are not experienced in bee removal, and also perhaps removal of africanized honey bees, you should not consider self removal as an option on any level. The same is generally recommended for European honey bees when found in walls, attics, and such structures.

If you are trying to get rid of angry bees, a lot of your success will depend on the location of where the bees are that you are trying to get rid of. Visit at how to get rid of bees, to learn more about getting rid of bee hives on your property and for help in understanding or solving your bee problem.

Africanized honeybees, initially branded "killer bees" have a bad rap for being more aggressive and protective when defending their homes. In tropical areas of South America and Africa, africanized honeybees directly influence nearly 30% of plant life. Africanized honeybee pollination.

Productivity: Africanized honey bees are highly effective pollinators; Africanized Honey Bees get up earlier in the morning and stay up later at night working longer than non Africanized bees. Unlike European honeybees, Africanized honey bees work during overcast cold conditions and in light rain. Africanized honey bees are better suited to survive desert like climates and droughts. Africanized honey bees carry more pollen than non AHB’s. They can also produce more honey than European honey bees. Africanized honey bees have a stronger immune system and are less susceptible to being wiped out by mites and other diseases. Since Africanized bees have become the standard for beekeeping in South America and most of Central America, they have become a leading producer of honey, producing a much greater amount than when European honey bees were used in addition to more effective pollination. Among the factors in the US of domesticating and beekeeping with these Africanized honey bees, it appears that the most deciding factor in the U.S. that makes Africanized honey bees undesirable is their exceedingly protective nature around the beehive causing perhaps an inconvenience of traditional beekeeping practices and a greater hazard to the general public in comparison to European honey bees.

For many years scientists have been concerned that Africanized honeybees will be a major threat to other tropical pollinating insects and stingless bees by outperforming them. Recent Smithsonian studies suggest a much smaller impact on native and local tropical bees, as these other tropical pollinating and stingless bees seem to be able to hold their own in foraging for food.

Africanized honeybees have not been reported to be affected by the major phenomenon of Colony collapse disorder, (CCD) an effect where honey bees mysteriously abandon the beehive.

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