Do honey bees nest in ground?

[Richard]

I can't say I've ever seen any kind of honey bee nest....ever.

Yesterday, I was on back side of farm collecting some rocks to border the wifes flower garden.

I backed my hoe up to the fence and was reaching out almost 20' to pull some rocks that were dumped there (decades and decades ago) closer to the fence.

There was a couple 10" diameter trees that had grown up through the pile of dumped rocks.

I pushed one over that was dead and ultimately, banged up the other one that it was sacraficed for the rocks.

During one of these events, I noticed a small swarming of insects. There was only maybe 30/50 of them BUT.... being sting allergic (although taking preventative shots for it) I scooted away for a while to let them calm down.

I went back to look, again, staying on the seat of my machine so I was maybe 20' away from them and still saw them. They looked TOTALLY like normal honey bees that you see on the flowers.

They did NOT look like yellow jackets nor hornets and they were not swarming nor attaking like I'd expect yellow jackets or hornets to do (ask me how I know)

If these were indeed, normal 'bees' then the implication was that they were nesting in the ground???

do they do that?

Maybe they had a nest in a hole in the tree I pushed over?

 

[gotrocks]

If not yellow jackets then my guess would be a variety of bumble bee.
Was mowing broom sage field years ago went over an underground nest.
Got 14 stings neck & shoulder. They did not hurt nearly as bad as yellow jacket stings.
Do not think you found honey bees if coming out of ground, in the tree then good chance of honey.
Try to find a bee keeper and see if you can get a little honey, got some from eave of house a few years past. It was GOOD.

 

[2manyrocks]

I'm guessing honey bees possibly if they came out of the tree. If they came out of the ground, more likely they are a small yellow jacket that will swarm and sting. Better watch out until you figure out what you have.

This time of year, collecting rocks is also good activity for collecting snakes.

 

[Bird]

When I was a kid, I had to help my dad get out first hive of bees by cutting down and splitting a hollow tree to take some of the honeycomb out and put it in the hive he bought, and for him to find the queen been in that tree and move her into the hive. Hollow trees, in between the walls of houses, etc. may have honey bees, but I never heard of them in the ground. Also when I was a kid, there were lots of bumble bees around. They seemed to especially like the blooms on my okra crop, so I've been stung by them while cutting okra. I always heard that they nested in the ground, but I've never seen one of their nests.

 

[rekees4300]

Honey bees do not nest in the ground. Last year there was a ground nest of what looked like 1/2 size honey bees in my yard. Don't know what they were but definitely not normal honey bees or yellow jackets.

 

[Mark @ Everlast]

If they did not swarm after you, they probably weren't honey bees or yellow jackets. They were likely bumble be nests with the quantity you described. They are not territorial and would likely take a lot to get stung by them.
I used them in the water melon field along with honey bees for pollenation. The bumble bee hives were expensive, but I felt much safer around them that the honey bees...They just didn't care if you were there or not, even if you tapped on their hive, it took a lot to get the riled up.

A true bumble bee is a lot smaller than people think. A lot of people confuse carpenter bees and other solitary bees with bumble bees, but a bumble bee is quite hairy and is not shiny at all.

 

[Egon]

There are some species of Bee's that do nest in the ground.

 

[Barton]

I have seen 1 honey bee hive in the ground. Well, mostly. The hive was below ground level in a mostly rotted out tree stump.

And I know what a honey bee looks like. Use to work 'em full time.

 

[works4me]

If they did not swarm after you, they probably weren't honey bees or yellow jackets. They were likely bumble be nests with the quantity you described. They are not territorial and would likely take a lot to get stung by them.
I used them in the water melon field along with honey bees for pollenation. The bumble bee hives were expensive, but I felt much safer around them that the honey bees...They just didn't care if you were there or not, even if you tapped on their hive, it took a lot to get the riled up.

A true bumble bee is a lot smaller than people think. A lot of people confuse carpenter bees and other solitary bees with bumble bees, but a bumble bee is quite hairy and is not shiny at all.

Bumble Bees in Missouri must be alot different, if the nest is distrubed in warm weather you are in for an experience

 

[Richard]

I'm guessing honey bees possibly if they came out of the tree. If they came out of the ground, more likely they are a small yellow jacket that will swarm and sting. Better watch out until you figure out what you have.

This time of year, collecting rocks is also good activity for collecting snakes.

I agree with the caution...this is why I lifted my stabilizers and moved away (rather far away). After going back, I only saw one/two buzzing about in the same location so I moved a rock again and then saw many more. I had zero intent of getting a close look so was content sitting in my seat nearly 20' away and letting them check out the bucket (which they were only mildly interested in.....no swarming towards it either)

As for snakes.... although I didn't think of snakes, I guess they weren't a big concern because again, I was doing all of this from the seat and letting the bucket do the work.

Futile for me to try to get down there with my hands, I have some pictures of some of the rocks posted in this thread

http://www.tractorbynet.com/forums/rural-living/175837-my-current-project-flower-garden.html

Interestingly.... we spent 4 hours adding more large rocks the other day (no where near as large as the first rock).... and yesterday, wife said she didn't like those so I had to move them and will be replacing them with others that are closer to the size of this first one.