Swarm of bees kills all 9 of family’s backyard chickens ‘within minutes’
BRYAN, Texas (KBTX/Gray News) – A family in Texas said a swarm of bees attacked their backyard chickens, killing all nine of them “within minutes.”
On Monday, the Stavinoha family was left in shock after a swarm of bees turned aggressive in their backyard.
“I get a text from my husband, and he says, ‘I think bees are killing our chickens,’” Jennifer Stavinoha said. “So, I put the baby down and I ran outside, and most of the chickens were already dead, and there was just a swarm of bees stinging all of our chickens.”
The Stavinohas lost their entire flock in minutes, and now they’re wondering what kind of bees would have caused this type of destruction.
“European honeybees don’t normally attack you. You want them in your yard,” Stavinoha pointed out. “But the idea of this Africanized colony, or bad genetics or whatever, is that they get aggressive and they go after you. Normal honeybees don’t do things like this.”
Local bee expert and professional bee remover Chris Barnes told KBTX this type of behavior most likely has to do with territorial behaviors in bees. The chickens were likely caught in the crossfire of two colonies fighting for hive space.
“You can have Africanized bees that are not aggressive, and I really mean to say they’re not defensive, because that’s what bees are. They’re defending their colony. It’s just that some different colonies want to have a bigger area,” explained Barnes.
Barnes advised the community not to fear bees, even after hearing a story like this. In the case of a beehive showing signs of aggression, he suggested the best idea is to stay away.
“The first thing is to just leave them alone. If bees are attacking, or attacking like in this case, distance is your friend,” Barnes warned. “They’re not going to be aggressive as a general rule, and ... the benefit of having the bees around far outweighs the fear that people have now.”
Both the Stavinoha family and Barnes agreed that generally, bees are beneficial. But if a swarm starts to form or any unusual activity arises, get indoors and leave the bees alone.
Even though the beehive is not on their property, the Stavinoha family said they are taking steps to remove the hive. They also plan to rebuild their chicken flock.
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