Bee Advice Wanted / Smart Bees, Dumb Me

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...I inadvertently stepped on a nest, walked off, felt a pin prick on my back, sometimes feel things like that, no big deal then another, then another, OW....</font color=blue>

Del,

From that statement, I just know... you've been walking on our property lately... /w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif

 

[Bird]

del, my wife might think she could break your record. One day we were riding slowly around the lake (on a paved road) on the Aspencade, and suddenly I realized she wasn't still with me. I stopped and looked back and she was standing in the road with her helmet in her hand. She said a bee flew under her face shield and she had bailed off without saying a thing./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif How she was able to do it and land on her feet, I'll never know.

Bird

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>that picture looks like what I thought was a hornet nest instead of bees</font color=blue>

Now that you mention it, the closeup below does show the critter to have a mighty slim waistline. Does that put him in the hornet family?

<font color=blue>I've never known of yellow jackets nesting underground</font color=blue>

Seen it too many times out here. Don't have any pictures, but there's no mistaking their hidey-hole when you find it. I just follow the instructions on a can of Wasp and Bee Killer (by the Raid people?) -- wait 'til dusk, when they're all kicking off their shoes in front of the TV, and nail the entrance with a blast of the juice. The pressurized can delivers a stream, not a spray, and is easily aimed from a distance of 6 feet or so. Seems to be one hundred percent effective. /w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

 

[Bird]

I don't know for sure, Harv, but whatever that critter is, I don't think we have any of them around here. I don't recall ever seeing anything quite like it anyway.

And I've used only one of those cans of spray that shoots the stream several feet; worked quite well on red wasps that were coming out of a hole in the wall of an old house.

<font color=blue>wait 'til dusk, when they're all kicking off their shoes in front of the TV, and nail the entrance</font color=blue>

When I was a kid and we moved the bee hives, we'd wait until dark, stick a plug in the entrance hole to the hive, load 'em on the pickup and move them to the new location, set them off (you could hear a lot of angry activity in there), and go away for an hour or two. Then we'd go back and pull the plugs out of the entrances after they had time to settle down. Only trouble was, we didn't even have a TV back then, much less the bees./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

<font color=blue>...we didn't even have a TV back then, much less the bees...</font color=blue>

Bird,

Are you trying to tell us they listen to the radio fireside chats with FDR...? /w3tcompact/icons/shocked.gif

 

[Bird]

John, I'm definitely gettin' old, but not quite that old./w3tcompact/icons/wink.gif Harry Truman was president. Of course, we didn't have a TV until I was 14; we thought we were really uptown when we got running water in the house./w3tcompact/icons/laugh.gif

Bird

 

[PaulT]

Bumblebees are actually referred to (by my exterminator, at least) as carpenter bees. The reason for this name is also the reason you haven't seen any bumblebee/carpenter bee hives - they bore into wood and live inside the wood. The nest I had was inside a 2x8 deck joist that was old and dry (not dry rotted). The wood was still pretty thick near the hive, unlike a termite infestation, so there was still some strength to the wood. I looked at the entrance hole, didn't find an alternative exit/entrance, so I just nailed a piece of wood over the hole and trapped them all inside. I probably shouldn't have, as they are very docile (for a stinging creature), but my little boy doesn't need any stings, docile or not! The deck is long gone now, as we remodeled 2 years ago.

PaulT

 

[msocko3]

That closeup looks like a picture of a bald face hornet. They can be quite aggressive and the nest can be quite large. I've seen the nest built larger than what a burlap sack could be put over.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Bird, that must have been painful, going over the "sissy" bar (if so equipped).

Speaking of walking on other property, I have some other property and I was walking the property line last Father's Day. Didn't know it but I walked right on top of a nest. I hadn't run out of survey tape so kept on going about 40 feet, then looked back and stretched the line straight. At that time I saw the furry right over where I had been walking. I figure it was my Father's Day present from the Big Guy... Couldn't possibly have been my dumb luck!


del

 

[Harv]

<font color=blue>That closeup looks like a picture of a bald face hornet.</font color=blue>

I think you nailed it, msocko3. This picture of a Bald Faced Hornet from an extermination web site looks mighty similar to my not-so-welcome guests:

 

[msocko3]

<font color=blue>I think you nailed it, msocko3.

<font color=black>I've spent a few years battling the little beasties I'm a believer in know thy enemy.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

msocko3,

Can you help identify my "attack bees"...

they are just like a miniature honeybee, but with red and black stripes and extremely aggressive that sting multiple times...

Thanks...

 

[skent]

It seems this year the wasps have been out in larger numbers. We have 3 underground nests arounf the old well, and four more within 100 feet of the farmhouse.

Seems every time I think I know where they are, they add a new home.

Some are right up against the foundation or a tree stump, and two are right out in the middle of the lawn.

I guess it was the mild spring.

Steve

 

[Anonymous Poster]

It MUST be a good year, for THEM, when I went to get some spray the first 4-5 places were sold out.
del

 

[msocko3]

<font color=blue>Can you help identify my "attack bees"...

<font color=black>Wish I could help you, I've never come across a bee or wasp with those markings. You might do some web surfing and see what you come across. At times when I can't identify the critter I check with my Terminix man.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Yes, I've searched and searched...but found nothing yet except... Africanized Honey Bees that look and act the closest except the color...

How about "reddish-brown and black stripes"

The funny thing is... when all is done and complete... what could I do about it... Nothing... just get back on the tractor and keep on cutting...

This has been the worst year for the bees... almost like an Alfred Hitchcock movie... /w3tcompact/icons/crazy.gif

 

[msocko3]

<font color=blue>How about "reddish-brown and black stripes"

<font color=black>Doesn't ring a bell, its amazing how many different nasty little stinging criters ther are. I'm betting it was a cousin to the yellow jacket which can be evil tempered when messed with.

<font color=blue>This has been the worst year for the bees...

<font color=black>You said it. I've killed bunches of the critters, everything from yellow jackets to a bald faced hornet. I haven't seen any European hornets yet this year I'm sure I will. They are nasty critters when ticked off and they take lots of wasp & hornet spray to kill.

 

[Bird]

<font color=blue>Tastes like regular honey only stronger and darker</font color=blue>

That's what I first heard when I was a kid, Jim, but I've never found a bumblebee nest.

Bird

 

[Anonymous Poster]

I think I have battled them back to win or a temporary truce if the queen is still alive.

From my reading on the internet, most likely the wall nests, or underground nests, or cones from the eaves are yellow jackets, which seem to be an extreme problem country wide. The german yellow jacket seems to be taking over. Unlike a honey bee or bumble bee, the yellow jacket has an unbarbed stinger so it can get you over and over. They are also known to sting for the fun of it, at least for reasons other then defending the nest.

Especially liked the one entomology website that mentioned not to plug a wall hole until you are sure they are dead from poison as they can chew through the wallboard and be inside the house.

Am also glad I have left the big hanging melon in the tree that is a safe distance away. Supposedly those are a type of hornet, sometimes called a bald faced hornet I guess, that actually attack the yellow jackets.

Apparently as the german yellow jackets migrate west, the hospital visits are on the rise. One queen equals 3-5000 kids.

del