( CNN ) -- A Texas man died after a swarm of Africanized bees disturbed by his tractor attacked , stinging him more than 1,000 times Saturday . The bees were living inside an old chicken coop that Larry Goodwin , 62 , was pushing over to clear off his Moody , Texas , property , neighbor John Puckett told CNN affiliate KCEN-TV . `` He lifted the whole hive and disturbed them all and they just came swarming out of there and trapped him on his tractor , '' Puckett said . His daughter and neighbors rushed to help , but they said there was nothing they could do to save Goodwin . `` When we got to him , he was purple , he had thousands and thousands of bee stings on his face and arms , '' Tanya Goodwin said . Puckett said his wife and daughter were stung 100 times . `` I came pretty close to losing my family , '' Puckett said . Allen Miller , whose company Bees Be Gone removed the hive after the attack , said he 's seen more Africanized bee hives in the past few weeks than he normally sees in a year . `` If anybody has any brush or anything on their lands , please clear it , because they do n't want to go through this , '' Tanya Goodwin said . `` Nobody needs to go through this . '' Africanized honey bees , known colloquially as `` killer bees , '' are believed to have entered Texas in 1990 and have since spread to at least 10 other states , from California to Florida . Africanized honey bees , which are hybrids of African and European bees , can be highly defensive around their nests and swarm more frequently than other honey bees , according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture . The venom carried by honey bees has similar potency .
Larry Goodwin , 62 , was pushing over a chicken coop when the swarm attacked . ` ` When we got to him , he was purple , '' Goodwin 's daughter says . '" I thought it might be an allergic reaction but then they started biting and scratching at his face.