We have pleanty of BEES!

annie oakley · Post by **annie oakley** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:19 pm

We came home from work tonight and saw a swarm of bee's hanging off a mesquite tree limb that is about the size of a home made loaf of white bread. Now that'snot a large swarm...but they real close to the front door. They may fly off this evening or in the morning and look for a hive or a place to bulid...ifin not....michael will get out some soapy water and spray the little darlings away, my nieghbor has hives b ut these bee's are 15 feet in the air and he's not young. anyway not all the bee's are dead yet. Love Oma

annie oakley · Post by **annie oakley** » Thu May 03, 2007 5:22 pm

After thought here.....do ya think their hive may have been wrecked during the storm? Oma

Post by **tex** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:49 am

Hard to say. Could be - or they might just be looking for "greener pastures".

Love,
Tex

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri May 04, 2007 9:07 am

Well, we've got lots of bees or at least something similar. They're taking up residence in the ground in the strip of grass between the sidewalk and street. Very strange though and has me wondering what exactly they are as I've never seen a nest like this. There are various holes that they go in and out of all along the ground for yards up and down the strip of grass. Supposedly the neighbors had it last year and they have it again this year. Anyone know what these are? They look kindof like bees, they like flowers, but they look like a cross between a bumble bee and a regular bee. So not as large as a bumble, but similar in color.

Mike

Dee · Post by **Dee** » Fri May 04, 2007 11:47 am

Bumble bees make their nests in the ground. So, I'm assuming that's what they are, just another species.. Those ground ones are the ones that I really am paranoid of because they don't lose their stinger when they sting you, meaning that they
can keep stinging.. If they become a nuisance, take some Seven Dust and sprinkle all around the openings in the ground. I have grandchildren so I use this if I spot some out in the yard.
My Father raised bees when I was growing up. He had about 10 hives..
He'd get alot of calls from people that would have a swarm around their properties and away he'd go in his beekeeper garb and his smoker to get them into the hive.. Home he'd come with them in the back of a station wagon....
I have actually watched hornets make their mud nests.. They are remarkable workers and work from dawn to dusk making their mud nests until it is a completely round, very solid structure.. You can not even imagine the amount of eggs that are in one of those nests.. Unbelievable!!

Dee~~~~~

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Fri May 04, 2007 12:31 pm

Dee wrote:Bumble bees make their nests in the ground. So, I'm assuming that's what they are, just another species.. Those ground ones are the ones that I really am paranoid of because they don't lose their stinger when they sting you, meaning that they
can keep stinging.. If they become a nuisance, take some Seven Dust and sprinkle all around the openings in the ground. I have grandchildren so I use this if I spot some out in the yard.
My Father raised bees when I was growing up. He had about 10 hives..
He'd get alot of calls from people that would have a swarm around their properties and away he'd go in his beekeeper garb and his smoker to get them into the hive.. Home he'd come with them in the back of a station wagon....
I have actually watched hornets make their mud nests.. They are remarkable workers and work from dawn to dusk making their mud nests until it is a completely round, very solid structure.. You can not even imagine the amount of eggs that are in one of those nests.. Unbelievable!!

Dee~~~~~

Thanks Dee. Boy you had me pondering for a second there, I thought you were telling me to bring the alternative rock band by to help get rid of the Bumblebees.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sevendust

I'm guessing you meant this instead. :D
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbaryl

Thanks,
Mike

Post by **tex** » Fri May 04, 2007 9:33 pm

Mike,

If you can see many entrances to dens, those are probably some species of digger bees, which are more solitary operators than most bees and wasps. Rather than live in a "community" nest, they build individual nests.

http://www.ozane.com/profiles/diggerbee.html

We used to have a lot of carpenter bees, which looked like bumble bees, but lived in places such as big cedar posts that were part of pole sheds, and I even remember one colony that lived in an old wooden wagon frame, for years, back when I was a kid. I think that the imported fire ants have just about exterminated most of the carpenter bees, and even the bumble bees, that used to be so common in this area.

Tex

mle_ii · Post by **mle_ii** » Sat May 05, 2007 10:16 am

tex wrote:Mike,

If you can see many entrances to dens, those are probably some species of digger bees, which are more solitary operators than most bees and wasps. Rather than live in a "community" nest, they build individual nests.

http://www.ozane.com/profiles/diggerbee.html

We used to have a lot of carpenter bees, which looked like bumble bees, but lived in places such as big cedar posts that were part of pole sheds, and I even remember one colony that lived in an old wooden wagon frame, for years, back when I was a kid. I think that the imported fire ants have just about exterminated most of the carpenter bees, and even the bumble bees, that used to be so common in this area.

Tex

Thanks Tex! Those look very much like what I'm seeing. I'll have to take a closer look today to see exactly.

annie oakley · Post by **annie oakley** » Sat May 05, 2007 11:40 am

Ok the bee's have moved now. Don't know where they went, hard to tell, Love Oma

Carol Arnett · Post by **Carol Arnett** » Sat May 05, 2007 10:34 pm

Speaking of bees.....my sister just told me today about a friend who had to go to the doctor for bee stings and he gave her an antihistimine plus something topical but told her if her only problem was swelling and stinging of the immediate area that next time she should tape a penny to the site for 15 minutes and all the swelling and stinging would leave. It happened again and she tried the penny, rather sceptically, and it worked. Must be something to do with the copper in the penny. Sounds strange, but true. Love, Carol

JJ · Post by JJ » Sun May 06, 2007 12:24 am

Hi...I have gotten rid of warts with spit on a penny.... applied twice a day or so for a few weeks...the wart went away and it was a bad one on my cuticle.

JJ