Squiddiddler Loc: Phoenix

Yep their crazy.

bahmer

All are good there Squid thanks for these.

teabag09

Hey Squid, did you know you could reach right into the swarms of honey bee, grab some and not be stung? I did it as a kid when my Dad told me to catch some bugs for bluegill fishing. Pretty sure he meant grasshoppers and crickets but I say the swarm in the back yard and put a bunch in a jar with holes in the lid. don't you know that NONE were used for bait. found out later that they don't sting while swarming. Mike

Mikeyavelli

Didn't know that. Thanks for the info. But I don't think I'm going to test that bit of t***h.
We knocked down a hornet's nest some 60 years ago. Came right out in a funnel cloud just like in the cartoons. We kids ran and rolled but we all got stung at least once and one kid almost died from being picked out by the hornets and stung. He survived, and we all have a lot of respect for hornets.

teabag09

Those were Honey Bees swarming. Hornets are a totally different animal. Especially Bald Faced. DO NOT EVER PUT A PAPER HORNETS NEST IN THE HOUSE DURING THE WINTER. They hibernate and will wake up with the heat and you'll have hornets all over your abode.

Honey bee are pretty docile unless stepped on or you mess with their hive. When they swarm they are taking a new Queen to make a new hive and why they don't sting during this time I don't know but I do know they don't.

I was about 5 at the time and like you I don't think I'd try it now. We're suppose to get smarter or maybe more cautious with age. Mike

Squiddiddler Loc: Phoenix

[quote=teabag09]Hey Squid, did you know you could reach right into the swarms of honey bee

I worked one summer for one of my uncles who was in the Bee Business, upstate N.Y and Hemstead Fl. Have been stung a few times I have.

teabag09

[quote=Squiddiddler]

While a swarm was leaving the hive to begin a new hive else where? I've been stung many times myself but not by a swarm. Still, at my age I wouldn't stick my hand into a swarm. I was 5 when I did that, I'm 69 now, wouldn't do it. Mike

JoyV

I would bet they weren't Africanized Honey Bees! Last 2 years here in AZ we had several human deaths and an unknown number of livestock and pet deaths across the state when someone got too close to a swarming mass of bees. How close is too close is one of those things which can't be answered ahead of time. Some swarms you can get within a few feet of. Some you can't get within several yards of. You'll know your too close when tens of thousands, or even hundreds of thousands, of bees attack! A friend of mine had her mule stung to death in their pasture next to their house. She saw the mule so engulfed you couldn't tell it was anything but a writhing mass of bees. There was no hive but instead a swarm which moved on the next day.

Some bee professionals say the g****l c*****g trend has made the bees more aggressive. Clod snaps threaten them.

Some of these stories are of hives and some of swarms.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/northamerica/usa/11151083/Swarm-of-800000-bees-k**l-man-in-Arizona.html

https://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/top-10-k**ler-bee-attacks-in-arizona-6652144

https://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/arizona-landscaper-k**led-2-injured-bee-attack-article-1.3374484

okie don

I got hit one time in back of head.
Almost knocked me down.
They are vicious.

EN Submarine Qualified Loc: Wisconsin East coast

Interesting post. I am amazed at the people who don't know the difference between bumblebees, honey bees, wasps, yellow jackets, hornets, etc. Up here everyone mentions 'bee bites". They look confused when I tell them that isn't the end they need be concerned with.

Also note how people panic when they see a wasp. I tried to reassure one lady by telling her all of nature's critters are primarily interested in eating and reproduction and I doubt he could eat you and darn sure not interested in reproduction with you.
Adding one little thing to this. The flying critters are pretty set on protection of the "colony" not necessarily in a "hive" Wherever the queen hangs out is the place to protect.