Just Say No to Africanized Bees
Bee Culture (January 2007) Vol. 135 (1): 16-18.
By
Dr. Malcolm T. Sanford
At the latest Florida State Beekeepers Association convention, Mr. Bill Vanderput gave one of the best presented and informed discussions of Africanized honey bee management I have experienced. If anyone should know about these insects, it would be Mr. Vanderput. He was quoted in Dr. Eric Mussen’s newsletter, From the UC Apiaries as saying the Africanized honey bee means "...25 percent more stings, 25 percent more work and 25 percent more sweat."1
Not only was he one of the
first U.S. beekeepers to experience first hand the invasion, but he also has
had experience with their progenitors in their native homeland. In
1987, in response to reports the Africanized bee (AHB), an American hybrid of
the African honey bee race, Apis mellifera scutella, he boarded a plane for
So in 1990, when one of the
first swarms of AHB landed near his bee yard in the vicinity of
His mission in coming to
The message he delivered to
Unfortunately, experience revealed the F1 hybrid does not persist for any period of time, and quickly through supersedure it goes to F2 and F3 colonies, which are more and more African-like especially in defensive behavior. And although he might have been able to work through this, it became apparent that this would not be possible in his environment.
Even in rural, south
After five years of “denial,” Mr. Vanderput said, he was forced to reconsider his management practices. Instead of including them as an integral part of his operation, Mr. Vanderput has gone to the other extreme, by excluding AHB totally. The way he accomplishes this is simple:
Use only mated queens from European bee sources for requeening, not queen cells.
Destroy any queens from colonies that exhibit AHB behavior.
The first step above was difficult because it meant purchasing queens. Mr. Vanderput said he labored under the idea that it was too costly and he would be dependent on others (queen producers). He found that instead of being too expensive, purchasing queens provided a huge bonus, peace of mind. Thus, each year he purchases some 2,000 queens with the idea that they pay for themselves because they allow him to continue to keep bees.
It is easy to detect AHB colonies Mr. Vanderput said because of their behavior. He characterized it as “shock and awe.” They are not calm on the comb when manipulated, but instead fly off and “in an instant they will be all over your bee suit and gloves.” That’s when he employs his counter weapon, an “improvised shaker box.” This consists of an empty super on top of a queen excluder. Shaking all the bees through the excluder exposes the queen “struggling” to get away. She can easily be caught a destroyed. In 24-hours, this now queenless colony can be united to a queen-right unit. It is notoriously difficult to requeen AHB colonies via direct introduction of queens using traditional technologies (cages).
As part of his message, Mr. Vanderput acknowledged and supported the idea of best
management practices as being developed by
“CERTIFICATION PROCEDURES FOR EUROPEAN HONEY BEES - Colonies without clipped or marked queens in regulated areas will be permitted to move from a regulated zone to a non- regulated zone if requeened with (1) certified breeder queens; (2) queens produced from certified breeder queens (to be called certified production queens); or (3) certified queen cells. Colonies may also be certified to move using the current USDA identification method known as FABIS or USDA- ID.
“A certified breeder queen is
one in which the progeny can be certified as European by: a)
Fast Africanized Bee Identification System (FABIS); b) Official
Universal System for the Detection of Africanized honey bees (USDA-ID); and c)
any other APHIS-approved identification technique.
“A certified production queen is one produced from larvae of a certified breeder queen. Certified production queens cannot be used to produce other certified production queens, but can be used as drone-producing colonies.
“A certified queen cell is any containing a larva from a certified breeder queen. The resulting queen emerging from a certified production cell is a certified production queen.
“Queen and Package Bee Producers - Except where special regulations may require, queen and package bee producers will not require certification in non-regulated areas. Those in regulated areas must use certified breeder queens for cell and queen production and requeen or make splits using certified queens or cells. It is strongly recommended that all certified production queens be marked and clipped for ready identification.
“Producers of Certified
Breeder
“Mating Yard Procedures - A minimum of 60 European drone-source colonies must be established for each 1,000 or fewer mating nuclei. All such drone-source colonies should be located within 1/4 mile radius of the mating yard. No drones may be introduced into colonies and mating nuclei unless originating from certified breeder queens or certified production queens. Producers of either certified breeder or production queens must requeen drone-producing colonies annually.
“Swarms - The practice of catching swarms and using them in beekeeping operations is no longer justifiable in regulated areas. All swarms captured in regulated areas must be destroyed.
“Abandoned Apiaries - All abandoned apiaries located within two miles of queen rearing yards must be destroyed.
“Semen Certification - Drone semen from regulated areas can be certified by progeny tests of worker bees. No certification will be required for semen obtained from non-regulated areas.”3
In addition, Mr. Vanderput discussed the beekeepers’ relationship with the press. He ensures that no managed colony (box or hive) is ever photographed as part of any story about a stinging incident. His philosophy is that these two things should be kept in separate compartments in peoples’ minds. I published some further suggestions on this subject developed at a crisis communications workshop conducted at a Florida Beekeepers Institute in 1992:
1. Individual Rights
-- No one from the press has the right to violate your individual rights.
2. Honesty -- Never mislead or lie to a reporter. If the
situation is under litigation, say this is so; if there is a question about
profits, dollars or proprietary information, you can defer/refuse answering
based on not informing competitors in the marketplace.
3. Buzz Words -- Never repeat an expression or inflammatory
statement made by a reporter. As an example, if you are asked to what do you
attribute this catastrophe, do not repeat the word "catastrophe." It
then becomes attributable to you and you alone; you will "own" it.
4. Hostility -- Never get angry; keep cool and remember the
reporter always has the last word.
5. Off the Record -- There is no such thing; if you don't want
it reported, don't say it.
6. Estimates -- Never make numerical estimates in time or
dollars. Say that the incident is under investigation and you will provide
accurate information when it becomes available.
7. Reporter Verification -- Ask for identification, the
purpose of a reporter's activities, media affiliation and telephone number.
8. Bridging -- Try to bridge the gap between a reporter's wish
to be negative and providing a positive statement about your activity.
9. Statistics -- If you are not aware of statistics provided
by a reporter, say so and ask for them in writing before commenting.
10. Deadlines -- All reporters are on deadlines, but you are
not. Take all the time necessary to avoid hasty comments. The fact that a
microphone is stuck in your face doesn't mean you have to say something. Dead
air time is not likely to appear on television.
An offensively oriented public relations/communications plan is the best defense against sensationalistic reporting based on negativism. It is best to have a communications plan in place and persons trained in this area. Defer all questions to one or two designated (and trained) persons to avoid giving conflicting information. The appointing and training of designated persons to speak for the group would be a good activity for beekeeping associations both now and in the future.4
Mr. Vanderput’s resultant message to
References:
Sanford, M.T. 1992. Apis Newsletter, Vol. 12, No. 1, January, accessed November 20, 2006 < http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/apis94/apjan94.htm#1>
Florida Department of Agriculture, Division of Plant Industry web site, accessed November 20, 2006, <http://www.doacs.state.fl.us/pi/plantinsp/apiary/apiary.html>.
Sanford, M.T. 1992. Apis Newsletter, Vol. 18, No. 8, August, accessed November 20, 2006 <http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/apis92/apjan92.htm#2
Sanford, M.T. 1992. Apis Newsletter, Vol. 18, No. 8, August, accessed November 20, 2006 <http://apis.ifas.ufl.edu/apis92/apaug92.htm#1>.