# Killer bees in texas



## Guest (May 26, 2004)

Hi all,

I'm in Texas close to Houston.

I would like to start a hive but am worried about it being taken over by killer bees. 

Can I have a successful hive here?

Thanks

Dave


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## Terri (May 10, 2002)

Every year or two, the queen will get old and the bees will raise another queen to replace her. 

That's where the trouble comes in. When the new queen goes out on her mating flight, she MIGHT meet up with a male with killer bee genes. If she does, her offspring will be aggresive. That is how killer bees take over a hive.

A LOT of beekeepers in Texas buy a new queen every year and re-queen each hive. That way, the Queens in EVERY hive are young and of calm parents.

A lot of other beekeepers just re-queen whenever they notice that a hive is getting more aggresive. 

Either way works.

Lastly, a lot of beekeepers who collect killer bee swarms simply take the bees home, kill the queen, and provide the hive with a domestic queen. In a few weeks time, the hive is domestic and calm. 

Each worker bee only lives for a few weeks. Once the offspring of the domestic queen are hatched and the old bees die of age, the hive is domestic.


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## james dilley (Mar 21, 2004)

for your information there is no such animal as a killer bee (unless your talking sports) they are AFRICANIZED honey bees .The term killer bees is hollywood hype to sell movie tickets , now the bees are more agressive than common european bees. But they are not killer bees, the difference is like night and day. the africanized just are a more agressive bee they defend their home and do it well. they do not forage as well as the common bee but put more time into building brood stock. .they swarm more. just take the normal precautions and requeen yearly, I live here where they first came into the country, and rare is it that we get stung ,even when my neighbor has/had 300 hives of africanized bees. the hype from hollywood is dying down but when people say (killer bees) everyone freaks ,here they are the RIO GRANDE KILLER BEES sports team.


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## southerngurl (May 11, 2003)

They're sometimes called killer bees because they have killed (though not very many) people, and not because of allergies!


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