Honeybees,
established with combs, are seen more
frequently hanging from tree limbs or
on the face of structures. Honeybees
construct beautiful waxen combs,
containing thousands of hexagonal
cells. These chambers may contain
honey, pollen, brood,
and----regrettably; disease organisms
and parasites. Feral bees, such as
those seen above, may pose a threat to
commercial operations and should be
moved from the vicinity of apiarized
colonies.
Honeybees
distribute their activities among
three variant castes, queen, drone,
and worker.
Queens
( gravid females ) produce and place
eggs into the wax cells. All fertile
eggs are produced by the queen who
maintains pheromonal control of many
hive functions. She does not appear to
instigate swarming. However, her
absence from a departed swarm will
normally prompt the bees to either
return to the parent hive or search
incessantly for her.
When
resting swarms are treated with
pesticides, the novice may not
thoroughly eradicate all the bees. The
survivors may take on a very
aggressive attitude and, if the queen
is displaced at a distance, the
remaining bees will search the
vicinity for her. This activity can
cause much aggravation for bees and
humans.
Drones
are broader-bodied than queens or
workers. They possess exceptional eye
sight and aeronautical astuteness
which assist them in copulating with a
queen. It is necessary for queens to
mate with several superiorly fit
drones in order to produce thousands
of successful offspring in her
lifetime.
Workers
are infertile females, relegated to
fulfilling numerous hive duties. They
sacrifice themselves for the good of
the colony and instinctively defend
their hive to the death. They are, by
far, the most numerous caste and can
number well into the thousands.
Displaced
hives of honeybees may often require
euthanasia. Due the arrival of
Africanized bees in Florida, DACS
currently recommends destruction of
feral honeybee colonies and the
practice of good beekeeping
procedures.
Honeybees
are helpful to man and agriculture.
Their preservation is cherished by
those who know of their usefulness as
pollinators. Honeybees have come to
depend more on good beekeeping
practices since the importation of
overly protective strains, bacterial
and viral disease, and parasites which
threaten their survival. The
removal of feral honeybees is
necessary to promote the success of
bees managed in apiaries. Apian Sting
Operation is dedicated and prepared to
both preserve managed honeybees and to
remove feral colonies from the
population.
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