Killer bees in the US…
Officials in Alabama say they euthanized a feral swarm of Africanized honeybees, also known as “killer bees,” and precautions are now being made in an attempt to protect communities in the area and the local honeybee population.
The Alabama Department of Agriculture and Industries (ADIA) said on Monday that the swarm was found in Barbour County by local beekeepers, close to the Alabama-Georgia state line in the Southeast.
The ADIA said that as a precaution, targeted monitoring efforts are now underway to assess and contain the presence of Africanized honeybees. Those precautions include deploying traps within a 5-mile radius of where the killer bees were found to attempt any additional activity.
Full article, HERE from Fox News.
Last month, there was a bee attack west of Lubbock, TX that killed three horses HERE.
One of our Legion members is a bee keeper, and he’s had two encounters with Africanized swarms in the Itchy Paw Falls area, so far this year. He and his partner have killed both hives in an abundance of caution, in addition to reporting them to the state.
Folks, these things WILL chase you and kill you. NOT a joke! If you’re not sure, call a professional to come check the hive out. And yes, they can and will build a hive inside the walls of a house, including brand new houses! All they need is a way in, as long as it is ‘one’ bee wide, you can end up with 20-30000 bees in your wall!
With more people with allergies, it is incumbent on parents to be a little more careful about where your kids are playing, especially as the heat builds, because ‘that’ seems to set these suckers off.
As always, common sense dictates… Stay aware, and stay smart.
Lived in Arizona for several years without any problems with bees. All bees there are considered Africanised. While they will attack when disturbed, with cross breeding with other strains, they have become less aggressive. They are still destroyed if in a house or where young children are.
I’m not saying people shouldn’t be cautious but Beekeepers in Africa have been dealing productively with these bees since forever.
Non-African bees moved into my garage in a gap in the siding.
$1900 of damage and two trips by a bee keeper to finally get them removed.
When someone tells me honey bees are endangered, I smile now.
I thought that movie ended years ago..
My wife keeps an epi pen handy just in case. Last time she was stung was years ago and was just a passing bee but she ended in the ER
Ole- Understood and agreed!
Mikey- True, but they have specific ways of doing it, and LOTS of protection.
Gerry- Ouch!
Ed- Nope!
Hammer- Good for her!
The last place my wife worked at had a huge infestation in the dropped ceiling of a warehouse area. They found out about it when it got so heavy that the dropped ceiling…..DROPPED!
Cost a small fortune to get it fixed.
We had a run-in with killer bees at my wife’s pasture some years back. We were mowing the pasture frontage and a nest of KBs were in the water meter box (unknown to us). They came out highly agitated and chased us at least a 100 yards before they stopped and just buzzed out. As luck would have it, it was parked about 20 feet away from meter box. It took about half an hour before they thinned out enough to walk on opposite side of street and sneak in the car.