Swarm of aggressive bees attack California town

[cali]

-- A swarm of aggressive bees have been attacking a town in Northern California.

Police received the first calls about the aggressive bees on Friday. And from there, it has only gotten worse.

It's believed the insects are so-called killer bees that took over a hive of ordinary honeybees in an amateur beekeeper's backyard.

When the beekeeper removed the infiltrated hive, it left the bees with no where to go.

The insects are behind the deaths of two dogs and have attacked a number of people, including mail carrier Melissa Weisner.

"Climbing up my hair, all over my head, I was running and screaming," she said.

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http://www.cbsnews.com/news/swarm-of-aggressive-bees-attack-california-town/

[RandySF]

1. That's.......too close for comfort.

Hopefully they will find San Francisco too cold for their liking.

[moriah]

2. This will probably happen more...

... as more honeybee colonies die out and more aggressive species take over their homes.

But we might have to accept more stings if we can't figure out what's killing off European honeybees. The hybrids most often referred to as "killer bees" are more disease-resistant but don't produce as much honey. If they are hardier, I'd rather have them around than no bees at all.

[marybourg]

3. We've had them here in the PHX metro

for years. Some animal deaths and serious human attacks. I had to have a hive removed at my old house because they wouldn't let me into my own yard, even at 11 at night. In new house, I had to remove flowering shrubs near the front door; they intimidated every human that came to the door by flying up to their face than backing off in a loop and coming right back, over and over.

[roamer65]

4. If it's like the movie "The Swarm"...

soon the bees will attack the San Onofre nuclear plant. Killer bees hate nuclear power.

[Javaman]

5. being a former beekeeper...

It appears to me that the beekeeper didn't keep after is hive properly.

on the average, a beekeeper inspects the hives once every 2 weeks.

you have to take notice of everything that is going on. not just egg laying patterns, looking for pests, molds or other signs of a weak hive, you also take notice of their temperament.

if there is an uptick in aggressive bees, you change out the queen.

the average life span of a worker or drone is 5 weeks.

if you change out the queen, 3 to 4 weeks later you basically have a new hive.

what happened here is simple, the beekeeper didn't inspect his hive when he should have.

I have had a similar situation and took care of it right away.

You know you have an aggressive hive when instead of a few dozen bees coming out to attack you, you have the basically the entire hive.

When I experienced it, I right away searched and found the queen.

honestly, it's a bit terrifying but if you keep your cool, are wearing proper beekeeping suit and using LOTS of smoke, you can keep them away.

Once locating the queen, I didn't kill her. If I did, I would be in a real world of hurt. upon death all bees release a pheromone to alert other bees to their peril.

Then, as they say, the shit gets real. LOL

I put her in a box and left her alone, for a while then killed her at night.

The next day I re-queened the hive.

2 weeks later, it's as if I had a whole new hive.

(I finally had to give up my hive because I started to develop a reaction to the stings)

[suffragette]

6. Higher temperatures could mean they can go farther north.

http://www.livescience.com/52153-africanized-bees-spreading-north.html

While Africanized bees have taken up residence throughout the American South, Southwest, Southeast and Western coastal regions, their ability to set up permanent colonies in the northern parts of the country seems to be limited by cold temperatures during the winter months, Kohn said. However, higher temperatures caused by global warming could mean that killer bees may continue to push north in the coming years, he added.

There are a few reasons why the range of Africanized bees in California and other states is important, Kohn told Live Science. For one, these bees are highly aggressive, he said. People in California, Arizona and Texas (as well as several other states) have been seriously injured or killedafter enduring thousands of stings from Africanized bees, which are quick to defend their hives. Knowing where those hives might be is a good starting point for preventing future attacks, Kohn said.

But scientists don't just want to track the migration of Africanized bees because of their killer instincts. Kohn and Yoshiaki Kono, a graduate student in UC San Diego's Department of Biological Sciences and lead author of the new bee study, are also curious about the spread of the Africanized bees' more desirable qualities, such as their resistance to some of the diseases and mites that are killing off honey bees in other parts of the country, Kohn said.