|
Post by rdback on Oct 20, 2022 12:05:05 GMT -5
Long ago I bought a little “smoker”. It's a small, propane fired, Brinkman. It was eventually replaced and got retired to the pole barn, where its been for at least 15 years. In early May I noticed a few honey bees flying around it, and didn't think much about it. By early June, there was a steady stream of bees, coming and going. They were going in and out of the bottom vents on the smoker. Since the Kubota is parked about one foot away, and I use it almost daily, I figured something needed to be done. I've toyed with the idea of keeping bees, but I'm still not there yet. I had read about the creation of an apiary in a local State park that opened recently. I thought they might be interested in rescuing these bees and, sure enough, they were. The following week a lady from the county beekeepers group (they manage the apiary for the park), along with a helper, came out. She took the cover off the smoker, but couldn't get the lid off. The bees were being really cool, so I grabbed a piece of 2x4 and used it to pry the lid loose. Here's what we found: The bees had built their honeycombs on each of the bars of the smoker grate. And they built all of this in about 30 days. I was quite surprised. The beekeepers transferred the comb to the hive racks, holding it in place with rubber bands. The bees were getting more and more agitated, so every few minutes I had to take a step or two back. Then, all of a sudden, a bee landed on my right ear, ran into the ear canal, and stung me. Rat bastard! I then vacated the area pronto, lol. Sorry, no more close-up pictures. It took a few days for the bees to transition to the new hive. Then the beekeeper came back one evening right at dusk (almost dark) and moved the hive to the apiary. Last I heard they're doing great!
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Oct 20, 2022 12:21:06 GMT -5
I am so happy that you found a beekeeper. Some people are quick to kill bees. I worked with a man who told us a story about how he had a similar group of bees who made a home under his grill cover so he doused them with Raid. I had a few choice words for him!
We no longer keep honeybees but we have a local beekeeper whom we have called to remove swarms. They are very happy to get the bees.
|
|
|
Post by Laura_in_FL on Oct 20, 2022 12:38:01 GMT -5
Cool story and pictures, rdback! But ouch - my sympathies about getting stung in the ear canal!
|
|
|
Post by september on Oct 20, 2022 15:10:19 GMT -5
What an interesting story and good outcome! (Sorry for the sting!)
Much better than my experience with yellow jackets building a nest under the plastic cover of my grill! I had to leave it alone until fall when I could dismantle it after they went dormant. No way to see underneath for which end to spray into, and they would come barreling out when you even touched the cover. I had not used it that often, so it wasn't a big deal. Another year I had chipmunks using the side burner for a food storage stash.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Oct 21, 2022 8:18:24 GMT -5
rdback , I missed the part about the sting. The same thing happened to me several years ago. I was mowing the grass on my riding mower and mowed too close to the bees. DH told me not to do that but I thought that I was far enough away. Wrong! The guard bees came after me. Somehow one got into my hearing protectors and into my ear. I was screaming "there's one in my ear" and DH told me to calm down it was not in there but then he saw it trying to back out. I must have swatted or something and it stung me. That really hurt so I feel your pain. We had several hives at the time and sometimes they can get aggressive. It has something to do with the queen and the solution is to kill her and put in a more docile queen. This will produce calmer progeny. Isn't that interesting? I was not into the bee care and I hated working with them. The bees were hubby's pets. I just mostly took care of the honey. We quit keeping bees after a few healthy hives died out. We think that there are just too many people spraying poisons on their lawns and we hated seeing the bees die so we sold everything and just buy honey from a local farm when we want it. september , we had a deer mouse nest in our grill at our cabin. DH opened the grill and saw her nursing the babies. He took out birdseed for them. He is such a softie. They ate the food and left the next day. After that I cleaned the entire grill and then heated it really hot. I feel like it is clean again. Yellow jackets would not be allowed in the grill. they are just too aggressive. Luckily they die in the Fall and only the queen survives. She will burrow underground somewhere and start a new hive in the spring. We feel like this is why they are so aggressive in the Fall. They know that the end is near!
|
|
|
Post by september on Oct 21, 2022 11:06:21 GMT -5
brownrexx , last year the yellow jackets made a nest in my canvas kayak cover. During the summer, I have the kayak suspended from some old wood fence posts near the lake. The canvas was old, and something had chewed holes in it, so the nest was actually inside the zipped cover. Unsuspecting me, went to unhook the straps keeping the kayak up, and out came the "bees" I got several stings as I raced for the hills! I went back that night with a flashlight and killer spray and got my revenge.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Oct 21, 2022 12:33:17 GMT -5
september , last year I backed into the weeds in my utility vehicle to dump some debris and when I got out I must have stepped onto a yellowjacket next. I was wearing shorts and they found my legs real easily. I don't know how many stings I got but I know that I got out of there quick and did not go back until they were gone for the year. It was not close to the house. It is just an area at the edge of the woods where I dump things that I do not want in my compost pile like weeds with seeds or old tomato plants with leaf disease. Those little guys are nasty and they come after you too.
|
|
|
Post by september on Oct 21, 2022 14:46:32 GMT -5
brownrexx , It's odd how some years yellow jackets are all over. Last year there were also several ground nests along the edge of my garden deer fence. So I had to be careful when trying to pull thistles later in the summer to watch for activity at their holes. This year, I had no problems and don't remember having any run-ins at all.
|
|
|
Post by pepperhead212 on Oct 21, 2022 22:30:15 GMT -5
I haven't had a problem with underground yellowjackets since that time, many years ago, when I accidentally discovered a nest in a row of tomatoes, and got stung over 20 times. I killed them by waiting until late at night, when they would be underground, and dumped some 20% acetic acid down both holes. I haven't seen any since then. This year, I had a nest of mud wasps (looked very much like honeybees, not yellowjackets), which I was thinking of dumping something on, to kill, but they really weren't aggressive, so I left them there. I'll clean it out when it gets really cold out.
|
|
|
Post by brownrexx on Oct 22, 2022 9:59:47 GMT -5
september , since the queen is the only one who lives underground during the winter, I think that she must choose a new site for the underground hive the next season. I had an underground hive at the edge of a flower bed last year. I saw the yellow jackets going in and out so I was real careful to avoid that area. It was not close to the house so it was not a problem. This year they did not use that same area so I am just guessing that they pick new areas each year. I only kill any bees if they are close to the house and aggressive. Even the aggressive ones kill a lot of insects so I leave them alone unless they are likely to cause trouble and sting me. We have mud wasps that live in the overhang at our front door but they never bother us so they can stay. This year I had about a dozen of those Cicada Killers digging in my front flower bed. They were not aggressive and fun to watch. They only seemed to dig for a couple of weeks and it was interesting to see them backing into the holes they made to lay eggs. I will probably have a lot more of them next year. This is the first year I have ever seem them digging like this. Cicada Killer by Brownrexx, on Flickr Cicada Killer Burrow by Brownrexx, on Flickr
|
|