Abating feral Africanized honey bees (Apis mellifera L) to enhance mating control of European queens

Abstract

Abatement of local feral honey-bee colonies was tested as a method to increase the mating control of European queens produced in an Africanized area. Feral colonies within 2 km of a commercial mating apiary at Belen, Guanacaste Province, Costa Rica were targeted. Thirty-eight feral colonies were discovered in the 12.5-km 2 study plot between 13 May and 6 June 1992. Abatement techniques included dispensing avermectin-ivermectin paste (applied manually to the abdominal tergites of drones captured during mating flights) and acephate-treated sucrose syrup bait (retrieved by foragers), and spraying nests directly with pyrethroids. Twenty-one of the known colonies were killed or severely weakened by treatments made between 27 May and 5 June