Killer Bees In Bryan & College Station
Killer bees – Sounds like something out of a sci-fi flick but these bees exist. They are a hybrid of the domestic honey bee and Africanized honey bees and they are highly aggressive. While there have not been any reports of Africanized Honey Bees in Bryan, it is this time of year – Spring – when honey bee colonies begin to split into new hives. It is also the time of year when people are most likely to encounter a swarm of honey bees – domestic or Africanized.
The Danger of Honey Bee Swarms
One danger is that you cannot tell a domestic honey bee swarm from an Africanized swarm. While domestic honey bees are less likely to attack people or pets, they can and will attack if they feel the queen is threatened.
Africanized honey bee attacks are dangerous and can send an adult to the hospital. In some cases, there are even fatal. For smaller creatures, such as pets, an attack by a swarm of bees is deadly. Honey bees have toxic venom which they inject when they sting. While a honey bee is different from a wasp in that they can only sting one time, they often leave the venom sac along with the stinger which continues to inject venom even after the bee is dead.
So, the danger from honey bee swarms ranges from mild to extreme. Because most people cannot tell the difference between one type of honey bee and another, it is best to avoid swarming bees. Africanized honey bees will attack without provocation.
What Are Killer Bees?
Killer bees is a common term given to Africanized honey bees. They are given the ominous name because they are very aggressive. They make hornets look friendly. They will attack anything that gets close to their hive and for smaller organism, that means death.
Killer bees came about because some African Honey Bee queens escaped from a research facility in Brazil. This occurred back in the 1950’s and over the span of those decades, the expansion of hives and swarming have caused the population of killer bees to expand and spread. They are very much in Texas and have even spread to Louisiana. We call them Africanized honey bees because the queens that escaped came from Africa. They were honey bees that bee experts thought would help to improve the genetic pool of the European Honey bee, which is what we call domestic honey bees. In fact, the two have cross bred in the wild which is what is driving expansion of killer bees.
What You Should Do if You Encounter a Swarm of Honey Bees
The first thing is to move to safety. This means going indoors. The second thing is to never attempt to get rid of a swarm of bees on your own. Even domestic honey bees can attack, and the results can be just as deadly. If you see bees in large numbers give us a call. We have all the equipment to handle bees safely and our response time is very quick.
