f'n bees

[Speedbag]

I had an incident last fall with a potted plant that sat on the deck all summer.

The season was over and it had froze overnight several times and everything was pretty much dead plant-wise, so I was taking the pots out to the garden and dumping them out. As I flipped one over to dump it, the dirt clump slid out and thumped to the ground. That's when I saw the nest.

Yellow jackets had built a nest that took up about a third of the pot's volume, and the nest was unseen from view from the outside of the pot. Needless to say, they were pissed. In the microsecond it took me to cover the space (probably 100') between the garden and the house, I got stung 15-20 times on my right hand, arm and neck and looked like a circus freak for several days. make the beast with two backsers.

It was great fun hosing down the nest with long-distance wasp killer spray, and then torching it afterward....

[krolik]

What kind of bees can't be understood?









Mumble bees!

[IZ]

I had an incident last fall with a potted plant that sat on the deck all summer.

The season was over and it had froze overnight several times and everything was pretty much dead plant-wise, so I was taking the pots out to the garden and dumping them out. As I flipped one over to dump it, the dirt clump slid out and thumped to the ground. That's when I saw the nest.

Yellow jackets had built a nest that took up about a third of the pot's volume, and the nest was unseen from view from the outside of the pot. Needless to say, they were pissed. In the microsecond it took me to cover the space (probably 100') between the garden and the house, I got stung 15-20 times on my right hand, arm and neck and looked like a circus freak for several days. make the beast with two backsers.

It was great fun hosing down the nest with long-distance wasp killer spray, and then torching it afterward....

Ouch!!   


We had a family reunion once when I was 14.  Two of my little cousins (about 7 & 8 y/o) accidentally disturbed a nest.  D*mn..I put this out of my mind until you mentioned yellow jackets..probably too traumatic?!  A few of my older cousins ran into the swarm to help them.  A lot of chaos and bloodcurdling screaming!  In all..about 200 stings.   

[DarkStaR]

dane cook shark and bees

[DY]

anyone remember this from a year or so ago?

bees in the grill 



more pics here

i remember this... a shame that he fumigated them, all that wasted honey. 

[Kopfjager]

i remember this... a shame that he fumigated them, all that wasted honey. 

Yeah. A local Beekeeper could have transported them for him easily.

[the_Journeyman]

That's what I was thinking.  Honey bees can be reasoned with, unlike say, those Pterodactyl-sized hornets that live locally.

JM

[DY]

even more of a shame since we are in a bee crisis.  plight of the honey bees, they call it

[Kopfjager]

http://sarahmeyerwalsh.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/the-plight-of-the-honeybee/

[red baron]

http://sarahmeyerwalsh.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/the-plight-of-the-honeybee/

I never knew the life span of a bee.

[Popeye the Sailor]

i remember this... a shame that he fumigated them, all that wasted honey. 

I also remember he was unaware the extent of the nest, or he would not have done it that way.

[Randimus Maximus]

http://sarahmeyerwalsh.wordpress.com/2008/06/03/the-plight-of-the-honeybee/

very enlightening. 

[Grampa]

lil bee update.

the pest  guy came out yesterday..... and was worthless.

I had climbed up on the roof the evening that I discovered the bee invasion to check everything out. Michelle had read on-line that bees are not active at dusk, so I figured it was safe to go have a look-see. No bees to be seen outside the wall, so I removed the dryer vent and looked inside. No bees inside. I made a temporary plug using the vent lint, figuring I didn't want to do something permanent trapping any bees that may be in there. I figured I'd wait to hear what the pest expert has to say. Early the next day.... only one bee seen buzz'n about. The pest guy shows up Tuesday afternoon, and says... "well... looks like it's taken care of", all this being said before he even looks at the where the bees were coming from. I had to practically beg him to get on the roof, and when he did that, he poked at my lint dam and said.... looks like its a done deal .

So.... today, not a bee in sight. Cool. At noon I decide I'm gonna go outside with the dogs and read a lil. Just as I'm about to head downstairs, I hear a strange wooshing noise outside. I look out the widow that faces the backyard...... holy shit it's a huge swarm of bees flooding the entire back yard. I run down the stairs to get the dogs in. They are so freaked out they don't even want to come in the house. I ran out and rushed them in. I then proceeded to go back upstairs and watch the show from inside the house.

For about the next 1/2 hour , they swarmed back and forth from our neighbors yard to ours, then to the house behind ours, then back to ours, then they vanished.

It was like something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

[Kopfjager]

Video? 

[Bun-bun]

lil bee update.

So.... today, not a bee in sight. Cool. At noon I decide I'm gonna go outside with the dogs and read a lil. Just as I'm about to head downstairs, I hear a strange wooshing noise outside. I look out the widow that faces the backyard...... holy shit it's a huge swarm of bees flooding the entire back yard. I run down the stairs to get the dogs in. They are so freaked out they don't even want to come in the house. I ran out and rushed them in. I then proceeded to go back upstairs and watch the show from inside the house.

For about the next 1/2 hour , they swarmed back and forth from our neighbors yard to ours, then to the house behind ours, then back to ours, then they vanished.

It was like something from an Alfred Hitchcock movie.

Swarm is exactly the right word. In the spring, a colony will send out a new queen, along with half of the bees in the hive, and they'll swarm for a few days until they find a good place to start a new colony. It's actually a good sign, it means that the original colony was doing well enough to afford to divide. If you find where they lay up, you can contact a beekeeper in your area. They'll come out and pick up the hive. Some will even pay for the info.
     You can usually find a beekeeper through your county agent, or local farmers market.