jeffreyp

Each year I have noticed larger and larger increases in honey bees over the past 4-5 years. In fact I have seen more swarms of honey bees in the past 5 years than any other time in my life here in florida (about 25 years). I think most of the European bees have died out and what I am seeing now (I am in the southeast part of Florida) are africanized honey bees. I used to raise Italian and caucasian bees and got out of the hobby when mites (varroa) became problematic. I suppose one of the good things about African bees is that they are resistant to mites and disease but for good measure keep an eye on your bees and make sure your queen does not get replaced with an African queen or end up fooling around with african drones. In either case your hive(s) will become increasingly more aggressive as the worker bees are replaced with African worker bees and the hive becomes unmanageable. African bees can also do a "hostile takeover" of your hives as well, why work for food when you can takeover a home loaded with honey? African bees can also fill in the gap for food crops where European bees are now scarce. A couple things to remember about African bees is if they chase you don't stop running until you get into a building, jumping into a pool or lake doesn't work because they will wait for you to surface. A few months ago I was walking a cross country track by a school near where I live and out of seemingly nowhere I was buzzed a couple times by a honey bee. It wasn't the normal buzzing sound but a really irate high pitch buzzing sound that meant I am really pissed at you (you'll learn bee moods when you work your hives). I didn't see anything nearby that could have been a nesting area which could have prompted that but it made me think about the aggressiveness of African bees vs. European bees. I was at the point where I was about to start running but luckily mr. bee decided I wasn't a threat. European bees would almost never be so annoyed if you walked by their nest.