" A swarm of as many as 100,000 bees attacked a Tennessee beekeeper last month, and genetic testing of the angry critters has now revealed that they were partially Africanized bees. This is the first time that Africanized bees have been found in Tennessee.   Africanized bees, often referred to as 'killer bees,' are a hybrid cross between the bee species normally found in America and African honey bees (Apis mellifera scutellata), which were originally introduced to the Americas as a productive source of honey. But the African honey bees take over hives wherever they spread, killing the hives' original queens and hybridizing with resident populations. The hybridized Africanized bees are significantly more aggressive than other bees and more likely to attack in massive swarms when defending their nests. Their stings are no worse than those of other bees, but the sheer number of them can create more life-threatening situations, especially in anyone who is allergic to bee stings."

"The Tennessee Department of Agriculture released the following five steps to protect yourself if you encounter Africanized bees:

1. Run. 
2. Cover your head with your shirt or jacket while running because Africanized bees tend to sting the face and head.
3. Never stand still or get boxed into a place outdoors where you cannot escape the attack.
4. Seek immediate shelter in an enclosed building or vehicle. Isolate yourself from the bees.
5. Do not attempt to rescue a victim without the proper protective gear and training. Doing so could make you the second victim."

Africanized bees found in Tennessee for first time
By John Platt

"Identifying the causes of CCD is a complex proposition, but the disorder's symptoms and effects are quite simple. It usually occurs when worker bees first depart their hives to forage, in winter or early spring. Then they don't return. Their hives typically have an active queen, ample food, and a developing brood – not exactly the home a bee would abandon under normal circumstances. Many scientists have since suggested that pesticides may disorient bees or affect their memory, making them unable to navigate home.
    Chensheng Lu, an environmental scientist at Harvard and the lead author on the Bulletin of Insectology paper, was curious as to how the insecticide may be introduced into the colony, and decided to investigate high-fructose corn syrup, which for the past decade has been used by beekeepers to supplement hives that have been decanted of honey. Much of the US corn crop is treated with neonicotinoids, and so trace amounts of the insecticides can often be found in the sugary syrup.
    Lu and colleagues designed an experiment that would expose hives to concentrations ranging from 20 to 400 parts per billion. Within 4 months, 15 of the 16 experimental hives had been emptied by what appeared to be CCD, according to the researchers.
    As more studies are published on this subject, the link between neonicontinoids and CCD may become more apparent. In this case, Bayer AG could only be held indirectly accountable, as it is the beekeepers who are substituting the inexpensive syrup for bee honey, thereby introducing the pesticide."

Is corn syrup killing the honeybees?
By Trevor Quirk

"What's interesting about honey is that it's a paradox. It is produced by bees, a non-kosher animal, but is itself kosher. And not only is it kosher, but it has been lauded as a special food from the patriarch Jacob's time until today.

How can a product of a non-kosher animal be kosher? It is said that honey is kosher since it is produced outside of the body of the bee. But in fact, this is only partially true. Bees produce honey by collecting nectar from flowers, and storing the nectar in the honey sac, which is part of their digestive system.

The field bee returns to the hive, and as the partially processed nectar is passed from bee to bee, water evaporates from the nectar. The bees add an enzyme to the nectar to break down the complex sugars (predominantly sucrose) into simpler sugars (fructose and glucose). The nectar is then deposited into a cell of the honeycomb and the bees continue the processing by beating their wings vigorously. The flow of air inside the dry hive causes more evaporation to occur until the thickened and chemically altered nectar becomes honey."

Here’s the buzz on honey, Judaism’s sweet standby
by MIRYAM Z. WAHRMAN

You can buy your very own kosher honey at The Bees' Knees Country Store.