Tag Archive for: can you keep africanized bees

It sounds like a contradiction: keeping “killer bees” on purpose. Yet across much of Africa and Latin America, beekeepers manage African-derived honey bees every day, and some of those countries are among the world’s biggest honey producers. In the United States, the picture is very different. This guide explains how Africanized bees are managed elsewhere, why U.S. agencies discourage keeping them, whether they actually make more honey, and what a remarkable population in Puerto Rico suggests about the future. It’s part of our Killer Bees 101 guide.

This is general information, not legal advice. Beekeeping rules vary by state; check with your state apiary program before acquiring or moving bees.

The short answer

Elsewhere in the world, yes. In the U.S., it’s generally discouraged, and in some states the rules are designed to keep managed colonies European. University of Florida (UF/IFAS) entomologists write that African bees “can be managed efficiently and safely, but the skills required to manage African bee colonies differ from those required to manage European bee colonies.” They add that management of African bee colonies “has been discouraged in the US while accepted in Central and South America,” which UF/IFAS attributes partly to public perception of the bees and to the U.S. legal system.

How Africanized bees are kept in other countries

UF/IFAS describes beekeepers in South Africa using African honey bees as “the bee of choice,” and beekeepers in Central and South America routinely using African-derived bees “with slight management modifications.” The practices UF/IFAS describes include:

• One colony per stand. Each hive sits on its own stand so working one colony doesn’t agitate its neighbors.
• Lots of smoke, early. Beekeepers use ample smoke, which is believed to mask the alarm pheromone, and they smoke the colony before starting work, because once the bees are agitated, smoke may fail to calm them.
• Full protection. A full suit, boots, gloves, and veil, often taped at the wrists and ankles.
• White-faced veils. Honey bees target dark colors, and black veil mesh can get covered with bees.
• Requeening (sometimes). Some beekeepers in Africanized areas requeen with European queens, though UF/IFAS notes this is uncommon in sub-Saharan Africa, where beekeepers mostly work with the bees as they are.

UF/IFAS Solutions for Your Life adds that honey production and pollination in South America dipped during the transition to Africanized bees, but countries there are now exporting honey again, and Africanized bees are being selectively bred to be more docile.

How U.S. beekeepers handle Africanized areas

In the U.S., the goal is usually to keep managed colonies European, even where Africanized bees are common in the wild.

Florida

UF/IFAS explains that every beekeeper in Florida must register with the state agriculture department and follow best management requirements for maintaining European honey bees. Registered beekeepers have their hives inspected regularly. “Beekeepers closely following the BMRs are not keeping African honey bees,” UF/IFAS writes, and it recommends requeening defensive colonies “to ensure that the bees remain European.” Florida’s guidance for feral colonies is that they be exterminated by certified pest control operators or removed alive by a registered beekeeper who will requeen the colony with a European queen.

Arizona

University of Arizona Extension describes a common practice there: beekeepers collect feral swarms, requeen them with a European honey bee queen, and keep the colonies for pollination and honey. The extension notes that these requeened feral colonies “can be somewhat more aggressive than European bees” but “can be managed for production.”

Everywhere else

NC State Extension’s advice for beekeepers anywhere Africanized bees might appear:

• Mark all queens, no exceptions, so you’ll know if one is replaced.
• Inspect regularly so colonies don’t “feralize.”
• Store empty equipment properly so swarms can’t move in.
• Watch for parasitic swarms. Africanized swarms can invade a European colony and take over. UF/IFAS describes small Africanized swarms clustering on a European hive, gradually being adopted, and the European queen disappearing.
• Requeen unusually defensive colonies and contact your state apiary inspector for testing.

Beyond safety, there’s a business reason. Mississippi State University Extension notes that beekeepers there breed and sell queens and starter colonies, and if their bees mate with Africanized drones, other beekeepers won’t buy them.

Do killer bees make more honey?

Usually not per colony. It’s one of the most common questions, and the research points the other way:

• USDA ARS wrote in 1996 that Africanized hybrids are harder to manage partly “because they do not store as much honey as European honey bees.”
• UF/IFAS says African-derived colonies “tend to store proportionately less food (honey) than European bees,” likely because they evolved where food is available year-round.
• Instead of building big stores, they grow fast and swarm often, as many as 10 or more times a year, compared with about 1 to 3 times for European colonies.

So why are some Latin American countries major honey producers? UF/IFAS attributes it to the presence of African bees in those countries: lots of colonies, year-round bloom, and beekeepers who’ve adapted their methods. High national output isn’t the same as more honey per hive.

The upside of Africanized genetics

Africanized bees aren’t just a problem to be managed. They carry traits that bee breeders find interesting:

• Pest and disease resistance. UF/IFAS says African bees are more resistant to many honey bee pests and pathogens than European bees, including problems like Varroa mites that devastated wild European colonies in North America.
• Fast development. Africanized queens and workers develop a day or two faster than European ones, according to UF/IFAS.

The gentle Africanized bees of Puerto Rico

The most striking example comes from Puerto Rico. Africanized bees arrived on the island in 1994. A 2017 study in Nature Communications by researchers from the University of Illinois, the University of Puerto Rico, and colleagues reports that within about 12 honey bee generations (1994–2006), the population underwent “a drastic reduction in aggression.” Today’s Puerto Rican bees, which the researchers call gentle Africanized honey bees, resemble European bees in temperament but keep other Africanized traits, including their size, their behaviors for removing Varroa parasites, and faster queen development.

The authors proposed several possible drivers: dense human population (people destroying the meanest colonies early on), the island’s isolation, and a lack of major colony predators. They called Puerto Rico “presently the only place in the New World where gentle Africanized honeybees have evolved,” and suggested that genetically diverse gentle bees “could help secure agricultural production” by providing pollinators more resistant to parasites and diseases. Ohio State University entomologists highlighted the same study in 2024 under the heading “Africanized bees can be gentle over time!”

That research is about breeding and evolution on an island over many generations. It doesn’t mean a feral Africanized colony on the U.S. mainland is safe to keep in your backyard.

Should you keep Africanized bees?

For a hobbyist in the U.S., the practical answer is no. Even experienced beekeepers in Africanized regions typically requeen with European stock. If you live where Africanized bees are established:

1. Register your hives with your state, if required, and follow its rules.
2. Buy queens from reputable breeders and requeen defensive colonies promptly.
3. Mark queens and inspect often.
4. Place hives well away from people, pets, roads, and livestock.
5. Treat captured feral swarms as potentially Africanized until requeened.

If you’re a homeowner with a wild colony, don’t try to “keep” it. Have it removed by a professional. See How to Identify Africanized Bees and What to Do If Killer Bees Attack.

Frequently asked questions

Is it legal to keep Africanized bees?

It depends on your state. Florida, for example, requires registered beekeepers to follow best management requirements intended to keep managed colonies European. Check with your state apiary program.

Do Africanized bees produce honey?

Yes. They make honey like any honey bee. UF/IFAS notes that they tend to store proportionately less of it than European colonies.

Can you make Africanized bees gentle?

In the short term, beekeepers requeen colonies with European queens. Over the long term, Puerto Rico shows that a population can become gentle in about a dozen generations under the right conditions.

Why don’t U.S. beekeepers use Africanized bees for their mite resistance?

Their defensiveness creates safety and liability problems, and their tendency to swarm and store less honey makes them harder to manage for commercial honey and pollination. Researchers are studying gentle Africanized populations for useful traits.

What happens if an Africanized swarm moves into my hive?

UF/IFAS describes Africanized swarms taking over European colonies, with the European queen lost in the process. Marking your queens helps you notice. Contact your state apiary inspector if a colony suddenly turns defensive.

Related reading

• What Are Killer Bees?
• Africanized vs. European Honey Bees
• How to Identify Africanized Bees
• Killer Bee Myths vs. Facts

Sources

• UF/IFAS EDIS EENY-429, “African Honey Bee, Africanized Honey Bee, Killer Bee”: https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN790
• UF/IFAS EDIS ENY-147, “Differences Between European and African Honey Bees”: https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN784
• UF/IFAS EDIS ENY-170, “Living with the African Honey Bee”: https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/IN1205/pdf
• UF/IFAS Solutions for Your Life, “Africanized Honey Bees”: https://sfyl.ifas.ufl.edu/natural-resources/africanized-honey-bees/
• University of Arizona Extension, “Feral Honeybees” (Backyard Gardener #119): https://extension.arizona.edu/sites/extension.arizona.edu/files/attachment/FeralHoneybees.pdf
• NC State Extension, “Africanized Honey Bees: Prevention and Control”: https://content.ces.ncsu.edu/africanized-honey-bees-prevention-and-control
• USDA ARS, “Africanized Honey Bees: The March North Has Slowed,” Agricultural Research (1996): https://agresearchmag.ars.usda.gov/1996/mar/forum/
• Mississippi State University Extension, “Africanized honey bees not established in Mississippi” (2025): https://extension.msstate.edu/news/feature-story/2025/africanized-honey-bees-not-established-mississippi
• Avalos et al., “A soft selective sweep during rapid evolution of gentle behaviour in an Africanized honeybee,” Nature Communications 8, 1550 (2017): https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-017-01800-0
• Ohio State University BYGL, “Myths and facts – Africanized honey bees” (2024): https://bygl.osu.edu/node/2431