I like his bees… I give him eggs he gives me honey!!
Sounds a great idea Sean.
Max Winter said:
P.P.S. Did you know that the various species of bumble bee specialise in the plants they pollinate. Get a few “red tails” in my garden. Wonder what they like here.
I did not know this. But makes sense. When we planted bee balm (aptly named) at our house a few years after moving in we started getting these absolutely giant bumble bees showing up that only landed on these flowers. They come in the late summer and stay until the frost arrives. They are the size of small hummingbirds and are truly fascinating to watch and very docile. I would love to know where the nest is as I believe they are the same colony because they always come and go from the same direction. I have tried to follow them but loose them after a few homes. I would love to find them and do what I can to protect them. If for no other reason than I just like it when they show up so I can watch them.
Years ago we used to have a lot of bumblebees here. Then one day our neighbor had the misfortune of “discovering” their hive, in a hole in the ground in his side yard. He had pest control come out and kill them, and ever since we rarely see any.
Sometimes we get big, black carpenter bees cruising around. They’re solitary, and don’t cause much trouble. Once when I took a break from digging out the hillside for the railroad, one took a few bites out of my shovel handle.
Ray Dunakin said:
Years ago we used to have a lot of bumblebees here. Then one day our neighbor had the misfortune of “discovering” their hive, in a hole in the ground in his side yard. He had pest control come out and kill them, and ever since we rarely see any.
Sometimes we get big, black carpenter bees cruising around. They’re solitary, and don’t cause much trouble. Once when I took a break from digging out the hillside for the railroad, one took a few bites out of my shovel handle.
I am not what i would call a tree hugger by any means but I am a conservationist. And It is sad to me to have a fine colony of bumble bees destroyed. I understand that sometime necessity dictates it. But we simply are having a bee epidemic and that isn’t a good thing. I don’t think the average person thinks about just how important these critters are. I won’t lay blame on the neighbor i don’t know the reason or the motivation but if that colony of bumble bees was at my house i would do everything in my power to protect them or move them safely to a better location. I don’t know if you can even do that with bumble bees like you can with honey bees.
Now yellow jackets you can have. they are nasty vile creatures. I will take about any other bee, wasp or hornet. But I loathe yellow jackets.
I had those ground dwelling bees a few years back. I got rid of them, because that type of bee put my cousin in the hospital. She had run a lawnmower over their hive, because she didn’t know it was there. They came out and stung her so many time that she went into shock. Once I got rid of that nest, they started to make a new one with the entrance between 2 ties of my track. So I had to get rid of them again. The other bees I just let them bee, unless they insist on buzzing around my head and in my face. Those I swat away. It doesn’t seam to hurt them, and they find something else to do.
David Maynard said:
I had those ground dwelling bees a few years back. I got rid of them, because that type of bee put my cousin in the hospital. She had run a lawnmower over their hive, because she didn’t know it was there. They came out and stung her so many time that she went into shock. Once I got rid of that nest, they started to make a new one with the entrance between 2 ties of my track. So I had to get rid of them again. The other bees I just let them bee, unless they insist on buzzing around my head and in my face. Those I swat away. It doesn’t seam to hurt them, and they find something else to do.
David,
The “bees” your describing sounds like yellow jackets. They are ground or wood dwellers and when mad they attack with a vengeance. I declare them public enemy #1. The problem with them unlike true bees they are wasps and can keep whacking you again and again. They don’t loose their stinger. Generally bees like bumble bees and honey bees are docile unless you really make them mad (running them over with a mower would do that). Thankfully I live in the North so I don’t have to put up with Africanized Honey bees that would be bad as well. On the other hand if my kids were young and I couldn’t isolate my animals from them I wouldn’t let any bee nest be around. There is a reasonable point where they must go. I can and will some day have bee where I live but I will isolate them and clear it with the neighbors.
Let them bee ? I always know spring has sprung when I see my first bumble bee of the year. Probably a queen looking for a place to nest. Bumble bee nests nests usually contain between 50-500 individuals, though honey bees hives contain around 50,000 (so it says in Wikipedia). Max.
I’ve had those swarms in some of my shrubs occasionally. They’re usually gone in a day or 2. I just leave them alone and give them a wide berth…(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
I’m an unlucky sort of chap apparently, this year is the very first time I’ve seen bees in the wild near my residence. I try to explain the need for bees to my little herd of kidlets and to explain the differences between bees and "W.H.Y."s, and “why” I choose to trap and kill them.
Ever since we moved in here I’ve been plagued by paper wasps, which aren’t too terribly bad, but still terrify me. I carry Spectricide’s commercial brand which is nasty enough to knock a wasp out of the air and kill it before it hits the ground. It must be some sort of acid or catalytic compound because it reacts with the wasp’s exoskeleton and if you get close to it when the body lands you can hear the chemical eating the body. It smells like a petroleum product but doesn’t seem to cause any damage to skin, but I wash asap just to be safe.
One year, I went on an active patrol to eradicate the wasps early in the season. Mid summer I was trimming the front shrubs, only to find out a hive of hornets had setup in one of them. Their sting is as bad as getting nailed by a 220v powerline. Had to use Sevin powder to kill them, and ended up killing a quarter of the shrub.
This year I hung a WHY trap to see how that works. If I find so much as one bee in it, that will “bee” the end of that. I prefer the idea of keeping the little bastards under constant control rather having to wage chemical warfare on unit by unit, but I won’t sacrifice innocent bees to do it.
I heard Rosters will eat bees!(http://www.largescalecentral.com/externals/tinymce/plugins/emoticons/img/smiley-wink.gif)
Rooster!!
J.D. Gallaway said:
One year, I went on an active patrol to eradicate the wasps early in the season. Mid summer I was trimming the front shrubs, only to find out a hive of hornets had setup in one of them. Their sting is as bad as getting nailed by a 220v powerline.
.
I understand this i have been stung by the Bald face hornets (black ones with white butts) and it does not feel good at all. But I have to admit I leave them “bee”. I think there nests are very interesting and they are fun to watch work. The way they make the nest is very cool to watch. I had a great view of them one time as they made their nest on our green house window. So from inside the green house you got to see the inner workings. Ever since then I have a soft spot for bald face hornets. And I have to say if you don’t mess with them they wont mess with you. Pretty docile surprisingly. You can get right up to the nest and watch them work if you go slow. One of these days I will get stung in the face for poking my nose where it doesn’t belong.
Them ground dwelling things we had were nasty. I had a can of hornet and bee killer, no I don’t know what brand. It even claimed to be able to kill scorpions. But spraying those bees, or wasps, or whatever, with it only made them mad. So I sprayed carburetor cleaner down the hole and lit a match. A few of those “treatments” and then I dug out the comb. It was a nice 4 tired structure, and very durable. But after a soaking in gasoline and a good long burn in the charcoal grill, it was rendered to ashes.
I have no problem with critters, so long as they don’t invade my space, endangering me or mine. The tree line behind my house could provide nesting sites for all kinds of critters, where I would not even care if they were there. But right next to my foot path, or in my railroad, now thats a no no. It can only lead to conflict. Since I have petrol-chemicals at my disposal, I WILL win the conflict, so they would be better off to find a path less traveled.
If they’re yellow and live underground they’re yellow jackets, not bees, they are dangerous and need to be irradicated. Otherwise their nest just gets bigger and more aggressive, soon you’ll be at their mercy…
Is this the beast. They are pure evil. I had one in and under a RR tie. By the time we figured it out the hive measured roughly 3 feet in diameter. If you don’t kill the queen when you start ripping this thing up your toast she will simply find a new spot and you start over. they also will fly off with their eggs to establish a new home. They will also live in hollows like trees or your house and attack. As I stated before they don’t loose their stinger so they will just keep whacking you until you kill it. They have a hell of a bite also. They also like to crawl into pop cans while your drinking out of them and then sting your lip.
Demons I tell you.
Getting rid of yellow jackets, without resorting to toxic chemical warfare, nuclear warfare or napalm, use this stuff:
Boric Acid Powder, NOTHING works better, I tried everything including Diatomatious Earthwhich irradicated my ant problem, and the sprays which only killed the ones it hit. This stuff is devious, you spread it over their entry and down into the orifice. They walk over it, then when they groom themselves they ingest it and in a short time they die. this is my go to insect killer now, PS its non-toxic to pets and plants.
I’ve had really good luck with this product, and others like it. It only attracts the bad guys, and leaves the benificials alone. If you put it out early enough, you can get the queens, as they look for a nesting site. I control the two acres around the house with five of them, here and there. There are refills available. I’ve had mine for about fifteen years, and they are just now starting to show signs of plastic breakdown from UV. Never used Armour All as I didn’t want to interfere with the attractant smell.
Funny this thread came up, yesterday after I posted, I got the opportunity to watch four individual bumble bees working over the first of the dandylions in our yard.
They let me get within 6-8 inches with my DSLR to get pictures of them working. No smiles though.
http://jgallaway81.deviantart.com/art/Bumble-Bee-Worker-529934024
Steve, that’s the trap I have hanging out back of my shed. Apparently mine is defective, I have NOTHING in mine after almost a week except a spider!
Very nice picture.
Unless it is one of the two swarms I have sern earlier today marked the third one that is taking refuge in one of my trees. Always had bees buzzing b around but firstb year for a swarm and I got three.
You need some bee boxes