leaving/returning weedguru members

[Bubbles]

sorry in my head that made sense, i was meaning as i was telling what they were and how they came about sorta dealio

[SToNeR ChRiS]

how are the bees even africanized to begin with?

my spell check did the same thing

Your fears of killer bees may be more real than originally thought, in 1994 there were virtually no colonies of Africanized bees in the United States, by 2004 however the population had gone as far north as Colorado. There are also a high number of beekeepers who have Africanized hives throughout California and Texas who come north in the summer time to North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba, Montana, and Saskatchewan to continue the bee harves in cooler conditions than are prevalent in the southern states during the hot summer.

If the "killer" bee population continues to increase and beekeepers continue to work north in the summer, there is a definite possibility that Africanized bees could become a regular part of our ecosystem. However the name Africanized often comes attached with a negative stigma. Sure the bees are more aggressive, but they don't go out and look for blood per se. More or less if agitated they will swarm and attack you, but in order to agitate them you have to be a potential threat to their hive and their honey.

Stay away from the hive and you stay away from an onslaught by the bees. An occasional sting may happen, everyone gets stung from time to time, but your in no eminent danger from a massive overkill on the bees part unless you are highly allergic to the venom, whereupon you could asphyxiate and die.

Now I am sure that you know a lot more on the subject than I, but I'm not as sure that I completely agree with everything you said. When I was younger, I lived in Los Angeles for about a year... and then went there for the summer pretty much every year for a few years. Now I reside in Canada (where I was born before I moved to Los Angeles). That's part of the reason why this topic interests me so much. I remember in the late 90's scientists were expecting killer bees to reach far north (MUCH farther north than Colorado) within a few years. This never did pan out, however. Even if handlers did bring them to Saskatchewan, I don't think they would be able to survive here over our harsh winters. At least I hope this is the case... Africanized honeybees do not store as much honey in their colonies as their European counterparts, so it would be much more difficult for them to survive long, harsh winters. They may indeed eventually reach pretty far north, but I am quite confident that Abby will be safe if she stays in Canada!

Also, I've heard of many accounts where killer bees would indeed attack individuals for absolutely no apparent reason. Perhaps they did get agitated, say, by a lawn mower or cold weather, but that doesn't relieve my fear of being attacked by killer bees for absolutely no apparent reason. The thing that would worry me the most about killer bees is the fact that they will follow you for miles upon miles and even wait for you to come up for air if you submerge yourself under water. Also they do attack in SWARMS, so I would not only be worried about being stung here and there, I would be worried about being stung potentially tens of dozens of times... something that would be unheard of by regular European honeybees. I understand that these instances may be somewhat rare, but I don't think they are THAT rare. Matter of fact, I've heard of quite a few stories where even individuals who were not allergic to bees died as a consequence of being stung so many times by this aggressive breed of bee.

Anyway, I'm not trying to pick on anything you said... enlighten me if you will . I'm just going by what I've always been told/read/watched etc.

Not so random note: I have quite a severe phobia of wasps, hornets and bees.

[Weedguru_RyaNayR]

I have quite a severe phobia of wasps, hornets and bees.

i think that's a good thing

[SpRi7e]

You aren't going to die from a couple bee's stinging you even over and over.. you need hundredsss of bee stings for the venom to start doing real damage to you if you aren't allergic

unless the africanized ones are way more potent, people get swarmed by bees and almost always end out OK.

This actually reminds me when I was outside when I was younger.. my dad was knocking down a bees nest after he sprayed it, right as he knocked it down I was walking around the corner and didn't know what was happening. Then out of NOWHERE I see SOOOO many bees fly out from that spot and guess what? They all chased me, I ran like an ethiopian track runner back to my house getting stung a solid few times in my back/all over

[SToNeR ChRiS]

You aren't going to die from a couple bee's stinging you even over and over.. you need hundredsss of bee stings for the venom to start doing real damage to you if you aren't allergic

unless the africanized ones are way more potent, people get swarmed by bees and almost always end out OK.

This actually reminds me when I was outside when I was younger.. my dad was knocking down a bees nest after he sprayed it, right as he knocked it down I was walking around the corner and didn't know what was happening. Then out of NOWHERE I see SOOOO many bees fly out from that spot and guess what? They all chased me, I ran like an ethiopian track runner back to my house getting stung a solid few times in my back/all over

haha funny story man... well the way you described it at least.

As for the first thing you said, that's exactly my point. As far as I know, they are not more venomous than their European counterpart, however they definitely are more aggressive... to the extent where getting stung hundreds of times can't completely be ruled out. There are numerous accounts of people getting stung hundreds of times by killer bees.

A swarm of bees, believed to be "killer" Africanized honey bees, stung a 55-year-old man to death Wednesday near San Diego. He was stung more than 500 times by the bees, and died from his injuries.

The Africanized honey bees, which are sometimes called killer bees, attack quickly and sting in larger numbers than their European honey bee cousins.

The venom of an Africanized bee is not of greater volume or potency than that of a European honeybee. However, the personality of the Africanized bees is such that they may pursue a victim for up to 2/3 mile (1 km), and may recruit other attacking bees by the hundreds or thousands. A victim may be stung 200 to more than 1,000 times; it is estimated that 500 stings achieves the lethal threshold.

I know these are only a couple of examples, but there are numerous others out there. With that being said though, there's also an account of a man having survived being stung 2000 times. Either way, I'm not worried about killer bees invading the north, so I won't lose any sleep over it.

[AbbyRoad]

i just wanted say
i regret the time i left weedguru
and im happy im back

also if america gets overrun by killer bees you guys can come stay with me in canada

[wgToonces]

^haha aw.

[cutthecashflow]

how are the bees even africanized to begin with?

my spell check did the same thing

Your fears of killer bees may be more real than originally thought, in 1994 there were virtually no colonies of Africanized bees in the United States, by 2004 however the population had gone as far north as Colorado. There are also a high number of beekeepers who have Africanized hives throughout California and Texas who come north in the summer time to North Dakota, Minnesota, Manitoba, Montana, and Saskatchewan to continue the bee harves in cooler conditions than are prevalent in the southern states during the hot summer.

If the "killer" bee population continues to increase and beekeepers continue to work north in the summer, there is a definite possibility that Africanized bees could become a regular part of our ecosystem. However the name Africanized often comes attached with a negative stigma. Sure the bees are more aggressive, but they don't go out and look for blood per se. More or less if agitated they will swarm and attack you, but in order to agitate them you have to be a potential threat to their hive and their honey.

Stay away from the hive and you stay away from an onslaught by the bees. An occasional sting may happen, everyone gets stung from time to time, but your in no eminent danger from a massive overkill on the bees part unless you are highly allergic to the venom, whereupon you could asphyxiate and die.

Now I am sure that you know a lot more on the subject than I, but I'm not as sure that I completely agree with everything you said. When I was younger, I lived in Los Angeles for about a year... and then went there for the summer pretty much every year for a few years. Now I reside in Canada (where I was born before I moved to Los Angeles). That's part of the reason why this topic interests me so much. I remember in the late 90's scientists were expecting killer bees to reach far north (MUCH farther north than Colorado) within a few years. This never did pan out, however. Even if handlers did bring them to Saskatchewan, I don't think they would be able to survive here over our harsh winters. At least I hope this is the case... Africanized honeybees do not store as much honey in their colonies as their European counterparts, so it would be much more difficult for them to survive long, harsh winters. They may indeed eventually reach pretty far north, but I am quite confident that Abby will be safe if she stays in Canada!

I agree that it would be very diffucult for bees to survive the long harsh winters in Canada,I guess when I said a regular part of the ecosystem I meant that during the summer time when the hives are brought up from down south that there would be a possibility of encountering Africanized bees as far north as Canada. I don't think this is too far fetched as the bee keeper I work for has hives as far north as the Canadian border and I've heard reports of other beekeeping organizations working North of the border in the summer.

Also, I've heard of many accounts where killer bees would indeed attack individuals for absolutely no apparent reason. Perhaps they did get agitated, say, by a lawn mower or cold weather, but that doesn't relieve my fear of being attacked by killer bees for absolutely no apparent reason. The thing that would worry me the most about killer bees is the fact that they will follow you for miles upon miles and even wait for you to come up for air if you submerge yourself under water. Also they do attack in SWARMS, so I would not only be worried about being stung here and there, I would be worried about being stung potentially tens of dozens of times... something that would be unheard of by regular European honeybees. I understand that these instances may be somewhat rare, but I don't think they are THAT rare. Matter of fact, I've heard of quite a few stories where even individuals who were not allergic to bees died as a consequence of being stung so many times by this aggressive breed of bee.

Yea, the bee is more aggressive and you are more likely to get stung, but I can't see the killer bees just flying into some town and harrassing the citizens . I mean you would have to be in their general vicinity and you would have to be doing something to provoke them. Waving of the hands is provoking, wearing perfume or deodarant to close to the bees is provoking, walking in front of a hive entrance is provoking, being around them on a wet rainy day is provoking. So basically you may not even think you are doing anything wrong at all, but in the bees eyes you are commiting a hanoues act of insanity by trying to make yourself smell good. I do not think however they go out of their way to attack humans for no reason.

I have been stung up to 100 times in less than a couple of minutes before by the Africanized bee and it is not fun. Wherever they sting you it swells up like a balloon and the venom runs through your veins like fire. The itch can last up to a week and it just plain saps the energy out of you in general. I remember this last time I got stung about 50 times in 15 seconds I was unable to sleep at night because my arm hurt so bad

Anyway, I'm not trying to pick on anything you said... enlighten me if you will . I'm just going by what I've always been told/read/watched etc.

Chris, I welcome any and all comments whether they be agreeing with me or if they find contradicting evidence to what I have stated in the past. I am not upset at all, in fact I encourage people to point out any of my potential mistakes, that way we can get closer to the absolute truth of the matter. So anytime you have anything to say, don't hold back, it is a pretty hard task to hurt my feelings man and it would take a really shitty day for someone on WG to make me start tearing my hair out !

I am by means not an expert on bees, I'm going off of the same thing you are going off of, what I've been told/read/observed from working with bees in the past.

Cheers for your post!

Not so random note: I have quite a severe phobia of wasps, hornets and bees.

I love WG, the leaving/returning members thread has turned into the Africanized/killer bee thread!

I am in bold print above in the quoted text if anyone was wondering.

[Weedguru_RyaNayR]

yeah, isn't it nice? one of the many reasons i love it here.

[tweedos]

Right, Im back for good now. Gonna start posting regularly once again.

For the people that know me, you should know my previous account. Its good to be back

[Weedguru Higher]

Welcome back Tweedle!

[andriaSRH]

WB mang.

[wgToonces]

Haha, it's Tweedle. WB man.

[Dr. Greenthumb]

TWEED!

[andriaSRH]

Dude weird..I was just talking about how you never post anymore.

I think Gore and I might be psychic.