Texas

[jajeanpierre]

It takes a lot of stings to kill an average person, commonly regarded as 7-10 stings per pound of body weight. Folks with an allergy to bee venom might have severe distress or death with only a single sting or two.

"Africanized" bees generally just respond more forcefully to any disturbances. Whereas with a gentle European honeybee beehive you might be able to do all the work with only a veil or not even that, with an Africanized hive you need full suit. Pre-Africanization if you upset a hive you might get escalating responses from a few bees. In an Africanized hive their "alarm" pheromone is very strong (smells like sweet bananas) and drives hundreds to "defend" the hive from a perceived attack. It's the greater number of bees that respond in a defensive/stinging manner that cause the problems.

If ever attacked, get indoors asap where they cannot get to you. This could be a car/truck or building. European type bees might give up the chase after a few dozen feet, but africanized bees will follow you hundreds or thousands of feet. They are somewhat visual though, if you can dodge through brush and trees to break their line of sight it does help.

http://www.livescience.com/37094-man-dies-in-killer-bee-attack-africanized-honey-bees.html

Years ago I was camping in East Africa on a safari. The procedure was to bury the our garbage. (The next morning the holes would be dug up as the Masai took the cans and bits of things they could use or turn into jewellery--I have a fantastic necklace made of beads, a toothpaste cap, safety pins and pieces of tin can.) On one evening, the person burying the garbage was tamping the dirt down at the base of a baobab tree--whacking it hard with the shovel. The vibrations went through the ground into the hive of bees in the tree, African bees obviously. They flew out of the tree in a swarm. I didn't realize what was happening--it just felt like someone was throwing peas in my face, hard. It took a while to figure it out. People were running around screaming. I had long hair and just quietly walked away and dropped to the ground in a ball and waited. Those bees were relentless! They would not give up. I think I was lying on the ground for well over half an hour with them crawling through my hair, buzzing furiously and trying to get to my face. I was getting stung a half an hour after I had stopped moving! They stayed in a rage forever. I think I counted about 40 or 50 stings, but their sting was nothing like an English honey bee. I hardly noticed it. The woman who was running around in a panic got hundreds and hundreds of stings. She was sick, but recovered.

The African bees I ran into (in Tanzania) had very little sting but they had a temper and would not calm down for a long, long time. I can only imagine how dangerous a bee with the English honey bee's sting and the African's temperment would be. It took me years to get over panicking when I heard any insect buzzing.

 

[jockeyeba]

Hey everyone. I'm popping in on my phone today. Keyboard on laptop fried. Has anyone entered pics for the calender contest? I was thinking about it. I have bee hives. I have some thoughts to share, but typing on this phone is not easy.lol

I only have 1 entry, my backgrounds are just not pretty where most of our chickens are at

 

[jockeyeba]

 
It takes a lot of stings to kill an average person, commonly regarded as 7-10 stings per pound of body weight. Folks with an allergy to bee venom might have severe distress or death with only a single sting or two.

"Africanized" bees generally just respond more forcefully to any disturbances. Whereas with a gentle European honeybee beehive you might be able to do all the work with only a veil or not even that, with an Africanized hive you need full suit. Pre-Africanization if you upset a hive you might get escalating responses from a few bees. In an Africanized hive their "alarm" pheromone is very strong (smells like sweet bananas) and drives hundreds to "defend" the hive from a perceived attack. It's the greater number of bees that respond in a defensive/stinging manner that cause the problems.

If ever attacked, get indoors asap where they cannot get to you. This could be a car/truck or building. European type bees might give up the chase after a few dozen feet, but africanized bees will follow you hundreds or thousands of feet. They are somewhat visual though, if you can dodge through brush and trees to break their line of sight it does help.

http://www.livescience.com/37094-man-dies-in-killer-bee-attack-africanized-honey-bees.html

Years ago I was camping in East Africa on a safari.  The procedure was to bury the our garbage.  (The next morning the holes would be dug up as the Masai took the cans and bits of things they could use or turn into jewellery--I have a fantastic necklace made of beads, a toothpaste cap, safety pins and pieces of tin can.)  On one evening, the person burying the garbage was tamping the dirt down at the base of a baobab tree--whacking it hard with the shovel.  The vibrations went through the ground into the hive of bees in the tree, African bees obviously.  They flew out of the tree in a swarm.  I didn't realize what was happening--it just felt like someone was throwing peas in my face, hard.  It took a while to figure it out.  People were running around screaming.  I had long hair and just quietly walked away and dropped to the ground in a ball and waited.  Those bees were relentless!  They would not give up.  I think I was lying on the ground for well over half an hour with them crawling through my hair, buzzing furiously and trying to get to my face.  I was getting stung a half an hour after I had stopped moving!  They stayed in a rage forever.  I think I counted about 40 or 50 stings, but their sting was nothing like an English honey bee.  I hardly noticed it.  The woman who was running around in a panic got hundreds and hundreds of stings.  She was sick, but recovered.


The African bees I ran into (in Tanzania) had very little sting but they had a temper and would not calm down for a long, long time.  I can only imagine how dangerous a bee with the English honey bee's sting and the African's temperment would be.  It took me years to get over panicking when I heard any insect buzzing.

Just reading that makes me feel sick

 

[jockeyeba]

Yep. Those are from my birds. Here is a pic I took about an hour ago with my phone.

The colors in this picture are so vivid

 

[jockeyeba]

Okay, sorry these pics are not the best, but I finally took some of the "Three Musketeers". These are all I have left, just 3 Cubalaya boys, still looking for homes "Where is the food woman?"

 

[jockeyeba]

Calender picture

 

[TexasLisa]

Good morning Fellow Texans!!

I hope everyone has a great day!!

Lisa

 

[jajeanpierre]

Just reading that makes me feel sick

Sorry. They were so relentless and they knew to go for my face. They were angrily buzzing and crawling through my long hair that I had spread out on the ground to protect my face. I was curled up in a ball, face down. When they made it through my hair, they stung me around the face and would die and drop. Thankfully, the stings didn't hurt much--nothing like an English honey bee. I had years of uncontrollable fear response if I ever heard a loud insect buzzing after listening to that enraged buzzing, then the dropping of dead bees on the ground around my face while I forced myself not to move a muscle. It took an hour or two before the attack was over. It didn't help that some people were running around screaming.

I had forgotten about Africanized honey bees in Texas. Now you folks have got me worried!

 

[jajeanpierre]

I want to give a dozen of my itsy bitsy eggs (bantam pullets) to a friend of my husband who is being treated for lung cancer. I don't know what chemo he is on, but it is a very aggressive program. I will assume his immune system is shot.

What can I do to make my eggs safe for him?

 

[TammyTX]

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I want to give a dozen of my itsy bitsy eggs (bantam pullets) to a friend of my husband who is being treated for lung cancer.  I don't know what chemo he is on, but it is a very aggressive program.  I will assume his immune system is shot.

What can I do to make my eggs safe for him?

Refrigerate as soon as they come to room temp.

If you are trying to kill any harmful bacteria, then check out procedures on how to pasteurize the eggs. It's a fine line between pasteurized and cooked.

Or maybe dunk them in a weak bleach solution....? It will sanitize the outside.