A bee swarm at my apartment building , when I got home this afternoon. The landlady got a bee-keeper to take the swarm away. The bees swarmed on a branchof the tulip-blossom tree in front if my Durango . Due to the efforts of many conservationists and bee-keepers such as this man, the honey bee population has rebounded , from a serious dearth of some years ago.
Yeah, glad to see that the beekeeper was able to save them. I lost my last hive due to flooding from Hurricane Florence last year...
That was bad day.... a devastating storm... I read last week that the NWS retired Florence and Michael as names for future hurricanes.
Got a bee hive in a hollow part of a tree 15 feet above my driveway. Did not know if they might be the afticanized type. Called a beekeeper. "You stood under it?" "Yep." "And didn't get stung?" "Nope." "They aint africanized. Those guys would sting you just for the hell of it." Been six years. They're good.
I was talking to a coworker today about bees and he said 3 years ago he had a wild swarm form a ball in one of his trees. He called the local "bee guy" and he thought that guy would collect them for a hive. Long story short, he exterminated all of the honey bee's because (so he said): -no local bee keepers would take them due to fears of them being infected with some disease. -He could not release them on private land due to liability, -The state will not allow them to be released on state land. My co-worker said the very next year another group of bee's swarmed the same tree. This time he did not call the "bee guy" but instead lightly misted them with water until the left on their own. I have a flowering tree in my front yard and last year was the best year for honey bees in a long time, that last 4-5 years there were almost zero bees. Hopefully they are making a come back, we will see how it goes this year.
LOVE HONEY BEES and Honey!! Anybody ever heard of BVT...Bee Venom Therapy? Where you intentionally get stung in order to stimulate yours bodies own anti-inflammatory system. Supposed to cure arthritis and inflammation, etc. They say there was never a bee keeper with arthritis because they regularly get stung and it keeps the immune system healthy. Basically I think of bees like this: No Bees...No Pollination No Pollination...No Crops No Crops...No Food No Food...well, you get the idea.
In Massachusetts, Honey Bees are a protected species. Honey Bees almost never sting unless they are provoked. I don't understand why anyone who had any significant amount of land would object to them. Bees are one of the most beneficial of all insect species. Back when the world still had edges a friend and I raised bees as a science fair project. At first, we wore all of the protective gear that backyard Beekeepers do, as time wore on, we said the hell with all of that hot gear and just wore T-shirts and bluejeans. Neither of us were ever stung. We had to get rid of the hive when two of an idiot neighbor's kids decided it was a fun thing to throw rocks at the hive. Both ended up in the emergency room. We got an Apple orchard owner to take them. He was very happy to get a healthy hive.
We get what are referred to as “ground bees” around here. They are VERY aggressive. I try to live along side them as best as possible, but once I get stung or someone gets stung, including the dog, then they have to go. No one wants them (bee keeps), so the deed gets done.
Uh huh...yellow jackets...ran over ground nest while mowing pasture. Fortunately they went for horse, giving me time to run away. He escaped into his stall. That night, filled hole with gas, sorry EPA. Retrieved tractor next morning. Done...
No bee keepers around here will remove your nest. Some are "africanized" apparently. Had a nest under mobile home for several years, did get stung occasionally, one time got stung like 6-10 times so had it removed by exterminator. No bee keeper wanted to touch it.
I did the gas in a hole trick once - it works well. Had a nest near a fence post. I also had one in the dryer vent - they were getting into a concrete block through a space between the vent and the block. This was years ago, and I'd sit with the shop vac every night for a several nights and I got at probably a couple of hundred of them. So after things calmed down, I pulled the duct out and wowser, big mistake! They were ornery SOB’s, and I eneded up with lots in the house too. I’ve had several nests since, and I just called the exterminator now. But there is something very gratifying lighting those little bastards on fire, esp after getting stung several times!
We had an exterminator vehicle in the shop today. I spoke to the company owner, and yes indeed the “ground bees” that I am not a fan of are yellow jackets, which are part of the wasp family. They are not pollenators, so off with their heads!
