BEES and other scary buzzing things

[Painter]

I didn't see a thread like this, so I thought, in light of recent events, and also because I am so ruined by the chaos that I feel like crawling into a dark hole and sobbing...

 

a thread about bees! Or wasps! Or other terrifying bug adventures. Share your stories!

 

Here's mine:

 

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I can't decide whether to laugh hysterically or vomit tears.

 

A little while ago, we bought a house. We were asked a vague question.

 

"Do you want the bees?"

 

"No... we do not want your bees."

 

What we should have, but never did bother asking:

 

Are there bees on this property?

 

Do you own bees that you want to get rid of?

 

What bees... I don't see any bees?????

 

Last night at 11:30 an apiary dropped 8 piles of 2 x 2 mysterious boxes in one end of our pasture.

 

For those counting at home, that is 32... 32 individual boxes.

 

We were rather upset. We assumed it was materials for the neighbor next door, but they had driven through our pasture. We don't want our grass getting torn up. We are cowards, so after they left, we walked out in the moonlight to investigate...

 

I opened a lid.

 

Can you guess what I saw? What I heard? What I felt on my hand?

 

Bees...

 

BEES. OH MY GOD.

 

There was a name on the side of the boxes -- we googled it, called the apiary -- they're going to come pick them up. No harm done. It's not their fault, they were never told. The previous owners, when they didn't live here, let them keep bees on their property in exchange for honey in the fall.

 

No big deal, I can handle a few bees, they're pretty far away, anyway........

 

 

The following morning (today):

 

They're swarming the house. I can't go outside. They landed on me while I fed our horses. There's water in our gutters that they are attracted to. The feed smells good, they buzzed around our horses' grain. The wheelbarrow is a bright blue color...

 

I can't go outside. Flies are also swarming, which I don't understand. They're speckling the siding of our house. Hundreds, dare I say thousands.

 

Open the door a crack, what do you hear? A constant, unwavering humming noise. From the insane amount of flies and bees.

 

I'm not normally afraid of bees. But there are... so many... If you look out the window, that's all you see.

 

Bees.

 

By now, if you stand by the door, you can hear the buzzing from inside the house.

 

I can't. This is unimaginable chaos.

 

I don't think I'll last the day... don't forget me... !

[RheaZen]

... calm down, for 's sake, as long as you don't threaten their hives they're unlikely to sting you.

 

Good that you called the apiary at least, most people just woulda gone flamethrower on the whole installation.

Edited April 25, 2013 by RheaZen

[Shienvien]

My relatives have around 14-16 filled hives total (exact number varies slightly by year depending on how bad the winter is), and most of those are positioned spread out pretty much in front of the house. Granted, it's only half the number, but they should not be so over the place unless they are throwing a family, possibly several hives at once - in which case the worst should be over in an hour or so. They won't sting unless you stand right before the opening of the hive or step on one.

Edited April 25, 2013 by Shienvien

[brairtrainer]

First the people with the apairy probably thought that they had permission to place the hives on your pasture, no idea why though. This is a relatively common practice especially for urban and larger scale beekeepers.

 

As for them buzzing around your house, they're probably swarming. Meaning they are looking for a place to settle so they can search for a new home. Swarming bees tend to not be very aggressive and will be calm once they alight somewhere. As to you opening the boxes, they saw you as a threat though the boxes shouldn't have been their in the first place (lazy beekeepers giving the rest of us a bad name ).

 

If the bees are aggressive when you get close to the hive call your state dept. of ag (assuming you live in the states) an inspector will be able to tell if the beekeepers placed normal honeybees on your lot or africanized bees (illegal in some states but not in others)

[Nectaris]

First the people with the apairy probably thought that they had permission to place the hives on your pasture, no idea why though. This is a relatively common practice especially for urban and larger scale beekeepers.

 

From the thread, the previous tenant let them keep the bees there before. It sounds a lot like a mix up to me.

[brairtrainer]

From the thread, the previous tenant let them keep the bees there before. It sounds a lot like a mix up to me.

Nectaris I figured that might be part of it, however the op stated that before they brought the bees over (as most people overwinter the hives away from fields) that they had asked them not to bring them over. I may be incorrect but thats how I read the op.

[Nectaris]

Nectaris I figured that might be part of it, however the op stated that before they brought the bees over (as most people overwinter the hives away from fields) that they had asked them not to bring them over. I may be incorrect but thats how I read the op.

But there still could have been a mix up. I.E. they told Joe they didn't want the bees over, but Joe forgot to tell Bob that they didn't want the bees so Bob brought the bees over.

[Nine]

Bees are cool-- I like them. They're pretty chill guys, are great pollinators, and keep Nicholas Cage away. I don't know of anyone else who can claim that.

 

The only buzzy insect I truly despise is the Crane fly. I'm sorry, but they are just so ridiculously dumb and appear to be chronically wasted: flying into walls for hours on end, bumping into everything and breaking their legs off, getting stuck behind every piece of furniture, flying into your face instead of out the open window. They don't even eat mosquitoes like the popular myth suggests.

Flies are annoying, mosquitoes suck, cockroaches are invasive... but at least they have their niche. Crane flies, what can you boast about? Acting drunk 24/7? Being a terrible house guest? That's what I thought. Go home Crane flies, no one likes you.

[RWyvern]

I like crane flies for the very reasons you despise them for

 

I don't despise any insects. They're not scary. I'm not like the people who scream and act like a fly's gonna kill them. I do, however, know when an insect is to be respected and when I need to keep my distance. The flying ones are wasps, of course, and bees. In short the ones with the potential to harm. I find bees are very docile though, and most wasps don't give you a second glance if you move carefully.

 

I might also add that I was stung by a bull ant once, yet I still track individuals to their nests and the like

 

I guess this is what happens when you've been playing with bugs and watching nature documentaries from a very young age x3

Edited April 26, 2013 by rampaging wyvern

[Shienvien]

Wasps and hornets are generally less aggressive than bees, and bumblebees are the least so.

[Blear]

Swarms of bees looking to create a new hive are actually pretty docile, they gorge on honey before the journey so they have the energy to complete it but it also makes them drowsy. I've stuck my hand inside a bee-ball swarm on a tree branch before and was fine (and I'm allergic).

[brairtrainer]

Wow Blear I keep bees and even I wouldn't do something like that (stand under one yes, cut the branch they are on with protection so I can catch them yes, but not stick my hand in one.)

 

I'm personally wary of wasps and hornets, sometimes their less agressive but most of the ones I find are very agressive. Maybe they just don't like me?

[Blear]

It was a fairly tricky place they had gathered, in most places I'd have done the same and cut the branch but we ended up just having to hold a cardboard box underneath and scoop them off. We were prepared to smoke them and calm them down even more but they just didn't need it.

[Blear]

To be brutally honest I'm more afraid when I'm wearing protection >.<, I had a pretty bad reaction once when a bee got in my glove without me realising, I carried on lifting the box I was holding and squished the bee a bit, it wasn't happy to say the least.

[Shienvien]

People always freak out when I pick a wasp/hornet/bumblebee off a window with my bare hand and throw it outside. Never gotten stung this way, and that's what I've always done. (Have gotten stung while accidentally squishing one I did not notice was present, as well as gotten a few random honey bees attack me, though. Completely un-allergic.)

[brairtrainer]

To be brutally honest I'm more afraid when I'm wearing protection >.<, I had a pretty bad reaction once when a bee got in my glove without me realising, I carried on lifting the box I was holding and squished the bee a bit, it wasn't happy to say the least.

I can understand that. My mom was switching suits with my dad (she didn't feel comfortable helping me switch around the brood chambers) and my dad got stung by a bee that got in the suit.

 

As it stands my dad is now allergic to bees so we carry an epi-pen with us when we gather or look into the hives, and we're looking at getting one of the higher protection suits (ones advertized to deal with africanized bees) to give him more protection.

[Darklight]

I'm not that scared of bugs, except for those with a large amount of legs, like millipedes or centipedes (*shivers*). I saw a big centipede crawling under the sink once. I sprinted away and wouldn't move unless my dad disposed of it. I've tried to cure my fear of them, but it's not working.

 

About bees and wasps, I try to avoid them as much as I can. I've never gotten stung by one, and hope I won't be allergic to them.

[Leidarendi]

Bugs are cool. The only time they're not is when I wake up and roll over and there's one staring at me on my pillow lol.

[pikapooka]

If that happened to me I would cry. I am terrified of bees, wasps, and especially HORNETS!

[ChocolateIzzy]

A swarm of bees look frightening but they are not aggressive like the cartoons Well unless you hurt one of them

I don't like hornets!

But to hear that hornets and wasps areless aggressive???!! Whaaaat?

[Alpha Gryph]

But to hear that hornets and wasps areless aggressive???!! Whaaaat?

That's what I thought. >,> I've never had a run in with honey bees and bumblebees always buzz harmlessly around me, they're quite cute.....

 

But wasps are mean little , they always seem to be aggressive for no reason. The ones around my parents house in the summer anyways...

[TCA]

I don't mind honeybees. Everything else that is buzzy and black/yellow striped is terrifying.

 

And I love most insects/similar critters. Like, I'll pick up random stuff like caterpillars and praying mantises and millipedes and snails and people will be like "why do you have a bug on your arm what is wrong with you". However, I draw the line at venomous anything that is even remotely aggressive, and bloodsuckers that carry diseases. I don't mind leeches, for example- if I get one on me, I'll just pick it off and toss it back in the water where it came from. Mosquitoes and ticks are terrible, though. Do not want centipedes, do not want spiders I can't identify (or can identify and they're dangerous).

 

Also, Nine, if I remember correctly crane flies do eat mosquitoes, but it's the larval crane flies eating the larval mosquitoes and then once they become adults they stop. It might be another large mosquito-looking buzzy thing though. I know one kind of thing does that.

[Nectaris]

For aggressiveness, it probably depends on what kind of honeybee you are talking about. Africanized honeybees are extremely aggressive, however, the European ones aren't as aggressive. Especially as you can purchase hives bred for being gentle.

 

We have one hive of honeybees, and we have ordered a second that should be arriving any day now. Mom does most of the work with the bees, she still hasn't persuaded me to do anything more than give them sugar water.

[Shienvien]

These were the European version I've been talking about. Still have been attacked for no notable reason by said honeybees, while being on the other side of the house compared to the hives. (Never mind when you accidentally get on their flight-path - then you're almost certain to get stung.)

 

But ... yeah. I can pick wasps/hornets/bumblebees up with bare hand and no harm will come of it. If you gently touch a bumblebee that is on a flower she would just kind of raise one of her middle legs and wave it in air, as if telling not to bother. Used to sit right next to wasp/hornet/bumblebee nests and watch how they come and go when I was a child. Even accidentally stood right in front of a hornet-nest once, and noticed one climbing out less than an inch from my nose when I finally started wondering why there were good few dozen circling around me and turned my head. Still did not get stung.

 

No guarantees for when you are flailing, though. They don't like it.

Edited April 27, 2013 by Shienvien

[Nectaris]

These were the European version I've been talking about. Still have been attacked for no notable reason by said honeybees, while being on the other side of the house compared to the hives. (Never mind when you accidentally get on their flight-path - then you're almost certain to get stung.)

 

But ... yeah. I can pick wasps/hornets/bumblebees up with bare hand and no harm will come of it. If you gently touch a bumblebee that is on a flower she would just kind of raise one of her middle legs and wave it in air, as if telling not to bother. Used to sit right next to wasp/hornet/bumblebee nests and watch how they come and go when I was a child. Even accidentally stood right in front of a hornet-nest once, and noticed one climbing out less than an inch from my nose when I finally started wondering why there were good few dozen circling around me and turned my head. Still did not get stung.

 

No guarantees for when you are flailing, though. They don't like it.

Complete opposite for me. None of us have ever been stung by the bees, but just walking by the old well-house with its wasp nest would get you stung. As I said, different hives will have different temperaments. Our neighbor had a mean hive, but ours is fairly gentle, it sounds like you have a mean hive(s).

Edited April 27, 2013 by Nectaris