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jrbarnard
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 06:19am
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So.. we love our place, but every time we go out, God forbid someone leaves a coke can sitting out....before you know it, you have a swarm of bees everywhere...then it just gets to be a pain. No-one gets stung much...unless they mess with them.. heh, but they get in everything, trucks, trash, cabin, everywhere.
Anyone else have this issue?
No earthly idea where they are coming from.
Russ
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Martian
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 07:40am - Edited by: Martian
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Obviously, you have a hive somewhere close by; consider yourself blessed. Its an indication you're in a healthy environment.
I have four hives within 200 feet of my house; two of them within 30'. They seldom get into stuff, but on occassion, one or two will come into the house. I let them crawl onto a paper towel and release them back outside. My suggestion is to keep covered everything containing sugar. If someone spills a sweet drink, rinse it off and/or wipe it clean. They are looking for food sources. I'd be more worried about flies, who spread germs, than about bees, on the trash. Cover it.
You've moved into their space; work with them to live in harmony. They perform a much needed service to our world and provide the original sweetener.
This pic is of the hive about 20' off my front porch. I took about 20 lbs of honey out of it last month.
Tom
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Anonymous
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 08:36am
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Bees are your friends.
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jrbarnard
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 08:57am
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Well, I suppose if I knew where the heck the hive was, it might be nice.. heh, but to be overrun by hundreds of them over one coke can, is a little rough.
Either way, nothing we cannot deal with, just wish they found a different source.
All is well after the night, so long as we clean up :p
I agree they perform a much needed job though!
Wish I could get honey off them, but I'd just get stung 500000 times I am sure, trying ;)
Russ
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 09:01am
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The bees the original poster speaks of are not honey bees but yellow jackets, a member of the wasp family.
They make no honey, they are carnivorous and scavengers. They can get very aggressive during a feeding frenzy like sharks and attack (sting).
I always bring a can of Toyota brake cleaner. Drops them in flight. 
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jrbarnard
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 09:31am
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lol.. have not seen the brake cleaner used in a while ;) But, these are actually bees, not wasps.. wasps I can kill as I have wasp spray.. but bees, they do not make a bee spray, but I doubt I would care to kill them all nor would I be able to. If I could find them, it might be easier.. just plant a ton of flowers around their home and let them play with those all day.. lol
Or have someone come extract them, I guess.
But, they do a good service so I guess I can learn to live with them.
R
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toyota_mdt_tech
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:22am
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I do not kill honey bees. There is some virus going around killing them. I'd tell all visitors all trtash into the plastic bag located away fromt he cabin.
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TheWildMan
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:25am
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these sound like yellow jackets (people around here refer to them as "garbage bee's", but they are not actually bee's)
bees can sting but they have a barbed stinger that stays in and kills the bee (they sting as a last resort, and only when they feel doomed, or they are protecting the hive), wasps have smooth stingers and can sting over and over (a tool for hunting)
not sure if yellow jackets are a solitary insect or hive builder (some wasps and bees are not social insects and don't live in hives). I had trouble when i was canning outdoors, my cabin is too small to do big porojects indoors so i have a big covered porch for an outdoor kitchen. they swarmed after the fruity smell of what i was canning, i killed 100s over the sumer by grabbing them out of the air and crushing them, or pressing a spoon on them, they were easy to kill but it made no difference how many i got.
i built a fly/bee hotel trap. a 2 litre soda bottle, cut the cone top off and invert it with the cap removed, acts as a funnel trap. I put about 2 inches of water in it with some crushed grapes, honey, plain sugar, and apples. they were drawn to the smell, went in the funnel but could not get back out, when they get too tired to fly looking for an exit they fall into the water, cant get out (often surrounded by 100s of rotting dead relatives) and drown.
I had to empty the trap every week when i had it full of dead of dead yellow jackets, worked round the clock and significantly reduced their numbers or at least drew them away from the kitchen where i was working.
if you really hate these bugs yoiu also get the sadistic joy of them dying by drowning slowly in a soup of dead relatives with rotting body parts and body fluids swirling around them, a horrible way to die.
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jrbarnard
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 10:44am
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These guys die when they sting, hence why we really do not get stung a lot, just when they get caught under a shirt collar or something, but they are bees. I'll get a picture of one later and you can correct me if I am wrong.
I despise yellow jacket wasps.. so know what they are.. heh.. those I would kill without blinking and do often at the house. heh
What we have done is take a coke can and leave it cut open with coke in it about 40 yards from the house, when they get bad, and a ton of them drown in it.. but it is the constant fling around and having to cover your drinks or, heaven forbid, grabbing a drink and there is one that made it inside.. that got one kid stung on the lip.
Russ
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toyota_mdt_tech
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 05:25pm
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Wildman, you like wasp/hornets/yellow jackets as much as I do. 
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Martian
Member
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# Posted: 29 Nov 2012 06:21pm - Edited by: Martian
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Russ, take an ole teeshirt, towel, whatever and put some sugar water (boil water and desolve the sugar) on it and lay it somewhere away from the cabin. Keep it wet. That will attract the bees without you worrying about them drowning in a liquid.
Tom
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