Bee Season

IrishTam · #31 04-23-2008, 11:12 AM

yeah, I agree that birds are good to have around, but last year, we had hornets/wasps build nests inside our bird feeders!! I almost got stung filling the feeder because I didn't know the nest was in there...

I wish they could spray to kill all the stinging bees or something... they annoy the heck out of me - did you ever see those BIG bees that dig in the ground? they're all around the golf courses in the Summer... I hate them!!

Pythoness · #32 04-23-2008, 11:21 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IrishTam

yeah, I agree that birds are good to have around, but last year, we had hornets/wasps build nests inside our bird feeders!! I almost got stung filling the feeder because I didn't know the nest was in there...

I wish they could spray to kill all the stinging bees or something... they annoy the heck out of me - did you ever see those BIG bees that dig in the ground? they're all around the golf courses in the Summer... I hate them!!

You have seed eating birds at your feeders. They don't eat bugs. Bug eating birds will eat bees and small wasps, if they can get at them, but the bigger the wasps, they less things eat them. I don't know of anything that will eat hornets. If you get actual hornets (they're BIG, as long as your thumb, so there wouldn't be any doubt in your mind if you did see them), your best bet is to call a professional to remove them. (Or I'll come do it, if you don't mind me knowing where you live.)

The reason they don't spray to kill stinging insects is because a lot of them are VERY IMPORTANT to agriculture and the natural flora in the area. If you spray for stinging insects, you're not only going to kill pest species like hornets, you'll also end up killing people's domesticated hive bees, which have a huge job to do in pollinating crops. So they don't.

If you find them in your bird feeder, car door, garage, or anywhere where they're going to be a hazard to you or other people, by all means, remove them. (Tip: Do it at night. They are very reluctant to come out at night.)

Pythoness · #33 04-23-2008, 11:41 AM

Bees are real cool little critters, and I <3 them.

I don't know why I don't get stung, I just don't. I have theories, but that's all.

When I was younger, it seemed like every summer everybody I knew got stung by something at least once. I never did. I had lots of close calls where I probably SHOULD have gotten stung and didn't, but just thought of it was, "Whoa that was lucky."

There were hornets all over my uncle's farm. He had two apple trees and two pear trees on his property, and they would eat holes into the fruit that fell, and start eating from the inside out, until there was just an empty fruit skin lying there on the ground. The horses got stung, the dogs got stung, I'm pretty sure Gordon, the farm hand, got stung a lot when he was mowing. I never got stung. One evening, when we were paddling the canoe around the lake, my stepfather and I discovered the hive. In an attempt to keep people from fishing on our property, we went out another night and moved the hive to a tree at the end of our property. This is how I know they won't come out at night. They get really angry, and they make a lot of noise, but they didn't come out. I used to take a book and my walkman and go sit under that tree to watch the hornets a lot. They are fascinating to watch. And despite times when they'd land on me, I never got stung. I figured I sat there so often and so still for so long they figured I was part of the tree.

The thing with the bumble bees.. I effed with those things so often and so hard I honestly thought they COULDN'T sting because I'd never gotten stung by one. Until my dog tried to eat one and got stung. Then I started to wonder why I didn't get stung by anything, no matter what I was doing with it.

And then my stepfather started keeping honeybees. He has about 10 hives. Most of them he leases out to farmers, but three were on our property in town, and one very large hive was on our property at the lake.

I could lay with my face inches from the three hives next to our house to watch the bees come and go, watch the dances they do to tell each other where the best flowers are, and watch the sentry bees kick things that aren't supposed to be in the hive out of the entrance, and they would land on my back, my face, my hands, on their way in or out, and never sting me.

The large hive were Italian bees (there are different strains), and the Italian bees, amusingly enough, are grumpy. They definitely earned the nickname Bitchy Bees From Hell. They would come out en masse on full out attack mode whenever my stepfather tried to do ANYTHING with them. He had to go in there with the full bee suit on.

I was fascinated with the bees. As soon as he started this venture, I read all his bee books. I wanted to know everything I could know about the bees.

And when he started having problems with the Bitchy Bees From Hell, I decided to see if they would sting me.

I went to that hive, which was almost as tall as I was, with nothing on but street clothes, and took the top off..

and nothing happened. They didn't care.

I could pull frames out, I could put my hand in, they acted like nothing was really going on.

It's the weirdest thing ever. But, things just don't sting me. So now, whenever there's a wasp or something inside, I'm always the person everybody comes to, 'cause I'll just walk up, pick it up, take it outside, and let it go.

Maybe it's because I'm not afraid of them, maybe it's because my natural pheromones smell a lot like theirs, maybe it's because I don't often wear perfume (which can trigger responses in them), maybe it's a combination of all those things, maybe none. I really don't know.

But I <3 bees, wasps, hornets. All flying stinging things. I love watching them, I think they're beautiful critters.

IrishTam · #34 04-23-2008, 11:47 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Pythoness

You have seed eating birds at your feeders. They don't eat bugs. Bug eating birds will eat bees and small wasps, if they can get at them, but the bigger the wasps, they less things eat them. I don't know of anything that will eat hornets. If you get actual hornets (they're BIG, as long as your thumb, so there wouldn't be any doubt in your mind if you did see them), your best bet is to call a professional to remove them. (Or I'll come do it, if you don't mind me knowing where you live.)

The reason they don't spray to kill stinging insects is because a lot of them are VERY IMPORTANT to agriculture and the natural flora in the area. If you spray for stinging insects, you're not only going to kill pest species like hornets, you'll also end up killing people's domesticated hive bees, which have a huge job to do in pollinating crops. So they don't.

If you find them in your bird feeder, car door, garage, or anywhere where they're going to be a hazard to you or other people, by all means, remove them. (Tip: Do it at night. They are very reluctant to come out at night.)

wow Py.. you're just a wealth of knowledge about everything!!!! I'm impressed!!!

so it sounds like "wasps" (not hornets) that are building all the nests around my house... I'll definitely go at them at night then!! do those "wasp traps" that you fill with sweet liquid work at all? if they do, I'd definitely set a few of them around the yard!!

I seldom drive around in the Summer with my windows open because I'm so terrified of getting trapped inside the car with an angry wasp!!! (yeah, I'm a big chicken!)

Pythoness · #35 04-23-2008, 11:51 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by IrishTam

so it sounds like "wasps" (not hornets) that are building all the nests around my house... I'll definitely go at them at night then!! do those "wasp traps" that you fill with sweet liquid work at all? i

I imagine they would. I've never seen any used, but if they have an attractant and water, that's all you really need.

Tracy · #36 04-23-2008, 03:42 PM

If Py was a dude....

Panama Girl · #37 04-23-2008, 05:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DeCurlyGirl

If Py was a dude....

*ding ding ding* We have a WINNER!!!!

19720 · #38 04-23-2008, 06:45 PM

If you're stung, make a thick paste out of baking soda and water... press it on the sting, and it will soothe it....

just a lil fyi....

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Bee Season

Nature and Environment