There are several hundred types of bees.  Most of these live in small groups or  are solitary.  Only two specific species of bees lives in huge colonies and produce honey.  The two different types are known as the Italian/European and the more aggressive African. 

Africans will take over Italian/European hives.  They interbreed and create a hybrid known as  “Africanized”.  Texas A&M Reports that 90+% of all hives are nearly 20% hybridized, and becoming more and more aggressive.  Every one of the Southern 48 states has quite a few counties with reported hybridized Africanized bees.  In Texas- over 150 counties are recorded as Africanized counties, meaning Africanized bees have been found in those counties. 

Africanized hives focus more on making babies than honey whereas European hives focus more on making honey than babies.  Africanized hives are not used to having to make it through harsh winters and therefore, they do not stock up for the winter as well. This is their downfall in their ability to go further North. On the other hand, European hives do not make more babies because they do not want to waste their honey on too many bees.  They prefer to store their honey in an effort to make it through long winters, allowing them to live in all of the 48 states.  As a result, the Africanized bees swarm more often, due to more bee production,  Swarming five to ten times a year.  Europeans on the other hand, typically will only swarm 2-3 times a year.  The two cannot be distinguished by the naked eye.  Therefore, all wild hives seen in Texas should be considered aggressive and avoided.