Africanized and European bees differ in colony-level behavioral characteristics such as defensiveness and population size at swarming. Colony phenotype is determined by integration of genetically diverse individuals to a functional society. Presence of both Africanized and European bees in Puerto Rico allowed us to establish composite colonies. We studied swarming tendency, defensiveness, colony population growth, and response to Varroa in composite colonies and in colonies of only Africanized or European bees. In addition to a fundamental understanding of colony integration, this approach could lead to management techniques that use honey bee races in combination to obtain desirable colony phenotypes.