Are African bees killer bees?

Yesterday I attempted to transfer a colony of African bees from a traditional log hive into a modern hive that I built several months ago. My friend Berhanu was ready to try it again, which surprised me considering how badly things went the first time we attempted this transfer. This was a very strong colony and aggressive to the core. We lowered the log hive when it was completely dark. Sure enough, the bees were far calmer and we only received a few stings each. Berhanu tied up a new log hive that he had prepared in the same place as the one we just took down. That way if the bees absconded, they would likely return to the same place and find a new log hive waiting for them. While he did that, I carried the full hive to the new location and started opening the log slowly. We were working by flashlight. We found the hive chalked full of comb honey and laid eggs. I worked slowly tying up the egg-comb into the new hive with string. We put some of the honeycomb in the new hive as well, but it was so heavy that we couldn't tie it very well. We eventually had to harvest the honey (I gave some of the honey comb to the orphan children helping us (they earned it through a couple of stings) and harvested at least 4 jars worth. Not bad from a small log hive that was empty just four months earlier.

We looked for the queen that night but it was nearly impossible to see. Eventually, we dumped the mass of bees in the new hive and closed it up until morning. Early in the morning, I went out by myself and found a mass of bees hanging outside of the new hive. I also saw that the bees had drained the honey inside the new hive. This is a sure sign that they are preparing to swarm to a new location (abscond). I got a cardboard box and trapped the mass of bees, quickly dumped them back in the new hive and closed it up. This time I put on a queen excluder (small slits that are too small for the queen to pass through but large enough for workers to get in and out). I observed the colony for the next several hours. For a while, half of the bees were outside gathering again, and half were inside. By 10:00am, nearly all the bees had moved inside the new hive. That is a sure sign that the queen is in there and going to stay. I have since been observing their behavior. They are gathering pollen now. That also is a sure sign that they will be building wax to secure the combs to the top bars. I have really enjoyed learning about beekeeping in a totally new context. Everything is different here in Ethiopia, even the honey!