Bees?

[Gabi]

Hey, if there can be a topic about snow, there can be one about bees too, right?

Bees are building a hive in my garden! There was nothing last night and now it looks like it's almost done. Half an hour ago the bees were swarming all over the garden. Now most of them are in/on/around the hive.

I don't really know what to do about them. Is it safe to keep them and leave them alone? Will they leave all the people/dog/cats who walk into the garden alone too, or will they view us as a threat? Or is it better to get rid of the hive? And if so, how?

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Depends on the bee type, really.

If you walk towards the hive, and you start getting them bouncing off you, back away quickly. Apparently that's one of the warning signs killer bees use...

If you don't get stung when you walk past the hive, you're probably fairly safe. I realise that's not really a great way of measuring safety, but it's the only one I've got... :-/

[Gabi]

I don't think we have killer bees in this area. Only normal bees whose sting just hurts.

[RJ]

Beeeeees!!!

*flees*

[Aridas]

Beeeeees!!!

*flees*

*chasetackles RJ and shields her from the bees*

[Vidar]

It seems your options are:
1) Call in an exterminator. Most people would do that.
2) See if you can keep the bees, and collect the honey. This is likely the craziest idea here. Contact a beekeeper for information.
3) Do nothing and get swarmed.
4) See if you can relocate the hive to someplace where the bees can live out their lives in peace. I'm not sure if this is possible / feasable. Messing with the nest could trigger an attack. Even non-killer bees will defend their nest. Contact a beekeeper for information.

Good luck with the little flying daggers.

[Jim Halisstrad]

Offspring said it best, Fire always makes it better.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Yeah. Set fire to the little sods, and watch them all fly into your house and set it on fire also...

... wait a second...

[RJ]

Kamikaze fire bees? ... D:

Though, I do know that pouring kero down a funnelweb spider hole, then throwing a match in does pretty good work. And if you're lucky, the funnelweb will accidentally catch fire from the inside out (since they love to drink that stuff)... I feel mean.

[Jim Halisstrad]

Well, you are a Mod.  That does require a certain sinister streak within your soul   

[TheGreyRonin]

I think Vidar gave the best options. Personally, I can't stand bees. The local ones are insane and vicious.

[xHaZxMaTx]

Beat it with a bat.

Last I heard, killer bees aren't any more venomous than normal honey bees, they're just really aggresive and attack in swarms.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

Despite the movies, I think Haz is correct - killer bees aren't dangerous in and of themselves, they're just -really- aggressive about defending what they see as their territory.

.. Something to bear in mind if you run across a swarm, of course. :-)

[EvilIguana966]

Are they bees or wasps?  The distinction is rather important.  Bees are typically pure herbivores, usually have barbed stingers, and are almost always less agressive than wasps.  Wasps are at least partially carnivorous, have smooth stingers so they can sting repeatedly without personal injury, and are much less amiable than the average bee.  Both will sting if you get too close to the hive, but bees are going to be much less agressive towards you overall.  What you should do depends entirely upon where the hive is and what species of bug you have.  Keep in mind though that if you let it go it will continue to grow and eventually produce another queen and therefore another hive which may or may not be in a more annoying place.  And of course you have to consider who else is going to be coming in close proximity to the hive.  If there are small kids or pets frequenting your garden it could be more of a problem than if it is just you.

[Zedd]

Am I right or I hear their using beestings to help MS 

[ShadesFox]

Sounds like the perfect chance to try out our new model of APF: The Flame Thrower.

Though really it shouldn't be a problem, though I suppose it depends on where the hive actually is in the garden.  Most the bees I know of won't bother you if you don't bother them.  Though there are some people who just get really creeped out by bees and feel the need to squash them no matter what.  They tend to be the ones who get stung.

Bees do help flowers to pollinate too, spreading pollen all over the place.

[Eibborn]

What Iguana said- if you're sure they're bees, and if they're out of the way, I'd leave 'em at least until you get stung or feel at risk. If things are otherwise... well, you're going to want to get rid of 'em. I know that when wasps built a nest in our cabin (actually in the wall!), my dad just vacuumed 'em out of their home. Sorta weird, and it took a lot of time, but it worked.
The bag buzzed. XD

[xHaZxMaTx]

Some wasps built a nest in our wall once, as well.  There was a soft spot where the next was, and you could hear them walking around if you were really quiet.

[Zorro]

Your profile says you are in Argentina.  There are most certainly Africanized bees there.

Call a Bee expert to check it out.  If they are Africanized bees they will certainly be destroyed.

If just regular bees then they will end up in an orchard or farm somewhere pollinating crops.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&lr=&q=Africanized+bees+%2B+Argentina&btnG=Search

[Hilary]

I'd call a professional... a while back, we had a wasp nest in our garden. My dad tried to spray poison down their hole, and thought he succeeded. Resulting event:
Dad walks in the door, pants buzzing suspiciously.
Me: 'Hey, dad. Didja get the wasps ye-- huh?' *takes a closer look at his buzzing pants, and realizes they are covered in wasps* Get the frick outside!
Dad: What? Why? Oh, (censored)! *sprints out the door and hops around in the front yard trying to take his pants off*

It's a good thing we don't get any traffic around here. That man is so oblivious... <<

[Gabi]

They are bees. Not wasps, not killer bees, not Africanized bees whatever they are. I'm not in the Northern semitropical region. I'm in the central Eastern temperate region.

For now I'm going to leave them alone. I've stood at about 1 meter from the hive and all they did was buzz a bit louder, as I expected. I'm not going to try Vidar's option 2, I'm not that crazy. But if no one else in my family decides to go for option 1, and not too many bees come to spend their last minutes inside the house (some do that, they get disoriented when they get too old) I don't mind sharing a corner of my garden with them.

My mum is likely to call an exterminator, though. But as far as I'm concerned, I'm not going to do anything for now.

Thanks for all your thoughts an ideas. Even the crazy ones. They made me laugh.

And now, for everyone who didn't know this yet, some facts about the city I live in.
-It's not in a tropical or subtropical region.
-It's not in/surrounded by a jungle.
-It's not on an island.
-It's not near the sea. (Thanks, llearch.)
-It's not in Brazil.
-It's a big city.
-We have movie theaters/cinemas, pizzas and everything you'd expect to find in most big cities all over the world.
-It's not, in its majority, inhabited by people of Mexican descent.

Just so that people don't keep assuming otherwise. It's funny at first, but after a while it starts getting annoying. I have nothing against any places that don't match those criteria, they may be lovely for all I know; they're just not here.

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

-It's not near the see.

Of course not. The Papal See is in Italy...

*hides*

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Go Gabi! I live in central Maine, USA and know what you are talking about. We had a visitor from London a few years back and she was surprised we had roads. Really, the woman thought that her airplane would have to land in Boston and she'd have to take a horse and buggy to Maine. Evidently her guidebook hadn't updated since 1776.

[Tapewolf]

Go Gabi! I live in central Maine, USA and know what you are talking about. We had a visitor from London a few years back and she was surprised we had roads. Really, the woman thought that her airplane would have to land in Boston and she'd have to take a horse and buggy to Maine. Evidently her guidebook hadn't updated since 1776.

Did she think it was some Amish hangout or something?

Heh.  When I was at secondary school we had this new kid from London.  I lived in Swindon at the time, and he was convinced that we all had tractors and spoke with a rural Wiltshire accent.  Not a particularly nice kid.  He alienated the entire class on his first day, the 'Dominic Death League' forming the following day.  I would have joined it myself, except I was entrusted with his welfare by the year head.  Rather like Abel for Dan, actually.


As for bees, there was an amusing tale from my family.  As mentioned in the CJP thread my family is convoluted so I can't remember the guy's relationship to me and he's dead now, anyway.
But he had a problem with some bees which had apparently built a hive in his chimney.  He had a gas fire so it was just a nuisance.  I can't remember what he did at first but when that failed he decided to gas them and fed the gas mains into the chimney.  Ten minutes later and the bees were still happily buzzing around inside the chimney.  So he decided to smoke them out.
What he didn't realise at the time was that the gas had been seeping into the floorboards.  When he struck the match, several things happened.

Firstly there was a dull 'whooff' sound, followed by a scream from the kitchen.  His wife emerged looking like a ghost, because the explosion had blown the plaster off the ceiling and covered them both in a fine, white powder.  Meanwhile, the beehive had been blasted clean out of the chimney like a cannonball.
When they went outside to look the chimney was on fire and it was raining little bits of bee.

[Vidar]

As for bees, there was an amusing tale from my family.  As mentioned in the CJP thread my family is convoluted so I can't remember the guy's relationship to me and he's dead now, anyway.
But he had a problem with some bees which had apparently built a hive in his chimney.  He had a gas fire so it was just a nuisance.  I can't remember what he did at first but when that failed he decided to gas them and fed the gas mains into the chimney.  Ten minutes later and the bees were still happily buzzing around inside the chimney.  So he decided to smoke them out.
What he didn't realise at the time was that the gas had been seeping into the floorboards.  When he struck the match, several things happened.

Firstly there was a dull 'whooff' sound, followed by a scream from the kitchen.  His wife emerged looking like a ghost, because the explosion had blown the plaster off the ceiling and covered them both in a fine, white powder.  Meanwhile, the beehive had been blasted clean out of the chimney like a cannonball.
When they went outside to look the chimney was on fire and it was raining little bits of bee.

That is worth a honorary mention in the Darwin Awards. Truly a moment of supreme stupidity. 

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Did she think it was some Amish hangout or something?

Actually she thought we were in some kind of colonial time warp. While I will grant that Maine is still largely forest we have actually progressed somewhat beyond Pilgrims and Indians. The woman actually thought that she was going to witness us hunting deer in the front yard with our blunderbusses and butchering them and cooking them in our open fire pits in front of the one room logs cabin. She brought bear repellant. I don't know if she was relieved or disappointed when she found out that it was just like any small city. But we had fun messing with her mind while she was here.  But we shouldn't have because at least she realized that the USA had a state named Maine and it's location, which is more than many people I've met in the US. 

[llearch n'n'daCorna]

"Can I get the train to Hawaii, is that cheaper than flying?" *sigh*

[Mel Dragonkitty]

Well, is it? <grins and quickly runs behind a large mountain to hide.> Hmmm... since Maine appears to have drifted away from the rest of the states and Hawaii is now attached maybe we swapped places. Don't think you'll like it here though, it's colder than you're accustomed to.

And I appologize on behalf of the entire state for sending my evil ex-sister-in-law to your lovely island. Feel free to throw her in a volcano. (and if you ever meet her you will want to.)

[Gryphon]

http://www.break.com/index/giant_hornet_vs_bees.html

Cause I can't find the html button.

[Zedd]

http://www.break.com/index/giant_hornet_vs_bees.html

Cause I can't find the html button.

And at the ending...Is normal Jigsaw to hack your net?