The Latest Buzz: ‘Killer Bees’ Have O.C. Colonized

State experts have declared Orange County “colonized” by Africanized honeybees, based on this month’s discovery of the Brazilian-bred insects in four county cities, officials said Wednesday.

The term means the bee invaders are now considered permanent residents, and people should take special precautions to avoid being stung, said Oscar Hidalgo, spokesman for the state Department of Agriculture.

State records, meanwhile, show the bees were swarming in two of the locations where they were found earlier this month, suggesting the insect is already well established in Orange County.

The news demonstrates just how quickly the so-called “killer bees” have permeated Southern California since they were first discovered in Riverside County in 1994. Six counties now rank as colonized: Orange, Riverside, Imperial, San Diego and San Bernardino counties and the southern part of Los Angeles County.

In other words, the bees that have been moving north and west for decades are now found from Los Angeles to the Mexican border.

“You basically assume that every bee that you see may be an Africanized bee,” said Cynthia Ross, an Orange County vector control technician. “There’s not a guarantee it is, but you want to take precautions.”

San Diego County was also officially declared colonized this week, following the March 12 finding of the bees in Fallbrook and Tierrasanta--the first in the county’s western half. That brings to nine the number of bee finds in San Diego County since the first discovery in 1996 near Borrego Springs.

State records show that the four Orange County bee finds in early March included two small swarms of Africanized bees, which can range from 5,000 to 10,000 bees apiece. County officials on Tuesday had said no swarms were found.

One of the swarms was found in a Costa Mesa tree. The other had moved into an empty hive in a Garden Grove aviary, where the bees developed “exceptionally defensive behavior,” state records show. Africanized bees are most defensive--and dangerous--when they are protecting their nests and young, not when they are simply swarming, experts say.

Bees typically swarm to establish new hives in the spring and fall.

One bee expert says that swarming Africanized bees rank as more serious than single bees found foraging because they clearly have built up their numbers and are creating new colonies. A bee swarm will separate from an existing colony and move in search of a new nesting site, whether an attic or an abandoned car.

“When they are swarming, they are expanding,” said San Diego County entomologist David Kellum. “If you see a swarm, they came from another swarm.” A small swarm like those found in Garden Grove and Costa Mesa might consist of 5,000 to 10,000 bees, while a normal swarm could number 20,000.

“If we find a swarm now, it may mean they may have been here last year,” said Kellum, noting that no swarms have yet been reported in San Diego County. That could mean the bee infiltration farther south is not as far along as that in Orange County, he said.

In addition to the two swarms, Africanized bees also were found in La Palma and Seal Beach during a routine sweep by county vector-control workers who collected bees in 24 spots countywide and submitted them to a state laboratory in Sacramento for DNA testing.

After reviewing the test results, a Africanized bee task force concluded Tuesday that Orange County was colonized.

That finding reflects the fact bees were found in both the county’s northern area and its midsection, said agriculture spokesman Hidalgo.

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Bees Are Here

Africanized honey bees have been found in four Orange County cities.

Bee swarms found: Garden Grove, Costa Mesa

Single bees caught: Seal Beach, La Palma

* The danger: The bees are no more harmful individually than the common honeybee, but their aggressiveness is legendary. They are easily angered and will swarm against a perceived danger, delivering hundreds of stings.

* How far bees will chase:

European bee: Defends uip to 450 yards.

Africanized bee: Defends up to half a mile.

* Time bees take to anger:

European bee: 19 seconds

Africanized bee: 3 seconds

Sources: Orange County Vector Control, Times research