Africanized Honey Bees – What You Need to Know

Africanized honey bees are a hybrid of our normal honey bee and an African honey bee. They have a mixture of genetics from both types of bee and the amount of mixing varies. It is possible for a honey bee colony to have only a small amount of Africanized genes and not be aggressive. But a different colony may have a lot and be very aggressive and dangerous. Our normal honey bees are referred to as European honey bees because they were brought here from Europe, beginning in the 1600s. Genes can be mixed when a European honey bee queen mates with an male “drone” honey bee that is Africanized, or vice versa.

How DidAfricanized Honey Bees Get to the U.S.?

In 1956, a pure strain of Africa honey bee (Apis mellifera scutellata) was imported from southern Africa to Brazil for a breeding study to produce a hybrid honey bee with greater honey production. However, the following year in 1957, twenty-six African honey bee queens escaped from the study area and began to breed with European honey bees in the surrounding area. The resulting Africanized honey bees were extremely successful and spread rapidly northward through South America, into Mexico, and into the U.S. at a rate of about 300 miles each year. The first U.S. sighting was in 1990 in Hidalgo, Texas. To date, their range in the U.S. appears to follow climates most similar to their African origins, warm, not too wet, and with mild winters. In Texas, most feral honey bee populations have mixed African-European genetics because they can breed at-large. Most Texas beekeepers maintain European honey bee queens in their colonies to prevent having Africanized honey bees. If a colony does become Africanized, the Africanized queen can be replaced with a European one, producing new honey bees with European genetics to replace the Africanized ones that will die off naturally in a few weeks.

When are Africanized Honey Bees Most Dangerous?

Africanized honey bees can be extremely defensive and attack with little provocation. While their venom is nearly the same as regular honey bees, Africanized honey bees will attack in greater numbers and persist for a much longer time. A honey bee is capable of stinging only once because the barbed stinger gets embedded in the skin and is pulled from the body of the bee as she flies away (and dies as a result). Even though they sting only once, you can receive many more stings from a group of Africanized honey bees because they tend to attack in greater numbers.

For persons allergic to bee venom, a single sting can be fatal if medical help isn’t quick or nearby. But even if you aren’t allergic, a single sting can hurt a lot, and multiple stings can be extremely painful. The following are some tips that may help should you be attacked by Africanized honey bees.

What to Do and Not Do if Africanized Honey Bees AttackYou RUN – to an enclosed area such as a building or car. Africanized honey bees can chase for long distances. You should not leave the enclosed space even if some bees follow you inside – if you leave, there may be many more bees outside that would begin to attack you again. COVER – your nose and mouth while running away. Defensive bees may try to fly into your nose and mouth, which can make it difficult for you to breathe.

SEEK MEDICAL HELP – if you are stung and are allergic to bee stings, or if you are stung and feel unwell or are concerned.

Remove stingers in your skin as soon as you can. Scrape rather than pull them out, with your fingernail or something thin and flat like a credit card. Pulling the stinger is not good because squeezing it releases more venom into your skin.

DO NOT – jump into water. Africanized honey bees can attack your head and other parts of your body that are not underwater. They will stay in an area a long time to continue the attack.

DO NOT – try to hide in bushes. Honey bees have both keen eyesight and sense of smell and they can easily follow you into vegetation.

DO NOT – spray the nest with insecticide, chemicals, or water.

This can make the bees more defensive and make it more dangerous for you from stings or splashing chemicals.

DO NOT – attempt to get rid of the nest yourself.

Call a licensed pest control operator to remove the nest.