Whats the best ways to get rid of honey bees?

[Timber]

We have always kept bees as long as I can remember. My family has been farmers for generations and have always had bees. Both my sister and I went to Norfolk Agriculture school specifically for bee Keeping and were registered in the state of Mass as Bee keepers. I collected swarms with my dad through my entire youth. Most of the time they were are own bees and we would open the hive they came from and restore the queen and remove all the new queen cells. In fact that is why you open the hive is to remove all the queen and Drone cells. We would harvest honey near the end of July and the let them keep what they produced from there for the winter or you would have to feed them. It has been over 25 years since I have kept Bees but my dad always has to this day. There are 2 kinds of bee keepers. Production and Hobby. Farmers are usually Hobby bee keepers with about 10 or 15 hives. The only people we would rent are hives too we the Cranberry bog owners. I don't know any farmer that doesn't know the value of keeping bees. By the way all bees will cross pollinate plants not just honey bees. The only reason I stopped keeping bees was My step son is allergic to the Neurotoxen from the sting, he is grown and gone now I my get back into it but it is a very expensive hobby

 

[Timber]

seems to be a lot of misconceptions about bees. AHB still exists. Most farmers don't keep bees. they are more likely to rent hives for pollination from beekeepers if their crop calls for it.
anyway, i may have found a beekeeper that would do the cutout but now i need to know a way for him to hook up with chuck.

You are correct the African honey bee does exist and always has. The so called Killer bee is a Hybrid. IT is a combination of the African & Brazilian bee. The African bee is very aggressive and resistant to many diseases. It produces a High quantity of honey because it will fly 2 hours more a day than its counterparts. The honey they produce is not as sweet and they are difficult to work with. The idea was to cross them with the more manageable Brazilian bee that produced a sweeter honey to create a bee that would work longer and be more manageable and be more resistant to disease. It worked very well with the exception of the bee became even more aggressive hence the creation of the Killer Bee. It has been almost 50 years since they have been released into the public and have made there migration north to southern United States. The cross breeding over the last 50 years has diluted the strain considerably and disease has wiped out a lot as well. There are still very aggressive strains out there but the Killer bee of 50 years ago is long gone

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

There have still been deadly attacks down south here in Texas. They usually attack people involved with a mower or tractor/shredder.

It makes you wonder if the decline in honey bee population is related to the decline of the killer bees?

 

[Timber]

The strain will never be gone. Once a genetic marker is created it will always resurface from time to time. I am just saying that strain is not the same as it once was

AHB CHRONOLOGY IN NORTH AMERICA - DATES & STATISTICS First reported in Mexico.....................1985 (northern Mexico 1987)
Total Mexican fatalities......................175 reported fatalities from 1988 to 1995
First AHB discovery in US...................October 1990 in Hidalgo, Texas
First US casualty................................May 1991 in Brownsville, Texas.
Texas casualties................................212 confirmed AHB stinging incidents (5/91 to 9/93)
First US fatality..................................July 1993 in Harlingen, Texas
First AHB discovery in Arizona.............June 1993 in Tucson
First Arizona casualty..........................Tucson 1993 (53 stinging incidents reported in 1993)
First Arizona fatality.............................October 1995 in Apache Junction
First AHB discovery in New Mexico.......1993 First AHB discovery in California...........October 1994 in Blythe (Chuckawalla State Prison)
First California casualty........................November 1995 in Palo Verde
First California fatality..........................September 1999 in Long Beach
First AHB Discovery in Nevada ............May 1998 in Laughlin
First AB Discovery in Oklahoma ........ August 2004 in Tillman County
First AB Discovery in Alabama ...........August 2004 in Mobile County
First AB Discovery in Arkansas ..........June 2005 in Miller County
First AB Discovery in Florida ..............July 2005 in Tampa area (four counties)
First AB Discovery in Louisiana ..........July 2005 in Caddy Parish
Total US fatalities................................Eighteen (latest: 9/24/06 Alice, Texas)[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif] [/FONT]

©COPYRIGHT 1992-2006 STING SHIELD INSECT VEIL®

STING SHIELD INSECT VEIL:The killer bee solution
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[randy41]

a properly suited beekeeper can deal with AHB but they are not the best honey producers so why bother? they are very mite resistant though.
i think beekeeping is a somewhat expensive hobby to get into but they sure helped with my melon production last year.

 

[Timber]

If you can make your own suppers and frames it helps a great deal. We use to buy are wax foundations by the case. A centrifugal honey separator is expensive even a hand crank one. When I was younger I would open a hive with just a smoker and hive tool. I never liked gloves but a net I would use now and then for a mean hive. If you kill a bee you put the hive on alert so I would never were gloves for that reason

 

[coffeeman]

CNN is running a story today on bees. Probably be on all day and tomorrow too. They mentioned that 25% to 30% of the bees died last year alone. Not sure if that figure is for whole country or just one part of country. Some think there is a disease involved. They think bees immune system might have gone haywire. I think some ruled out cell phones.

Anyway you look at it, it's not good news.

Cheers

 

[randy41]

some beeks think that its the overuse of chemicals used trying to control mites. and pesticides in the fields. and limited genetic diversity.

 

[tallyho8]

Two weeks ago I noticed honey bees entering my attic by a front porch column. I seal the hole with caulking and 2 days later they find or make another way in. I have to get up the courage to go in my attic one night and try to remove the hive if I can get to it and see if I can set it up in my orchard. I spotted a lizard going up the column by the bees and got my camera and watched because I thought he was going to try to catch a bee. But I think he was just looking for a friend.

 

[McRancher]

We had a hive in the eave of the house a couple of years ago, and called a beekeeper to get some help. It was late mid-summer, so there were lots of bees. He recommended waiting until the next Spring when the numbers would be lower, and they would be easier to move. We saw them a few times during the winter on warm days, but come Spring they were gone. Either they left, or did not survive. Either way I had to take the house apart and clean out all the old hive and honey that was left. Otherwise we would have had problems with other bugs. Anyway, haven't seen them since.