This has to be a guy from here

[SIK1]

Funny... I have never been stung by a 40lb Dodge Caravan trailer hitch.   

 

I'll bet those guys watched Idiocracy and didnt think its about them.

      

[fbEagle]

too bad there wasnt a hive cuz a 12guage works quite nicely at helping bees remodel. He also seemed to be in a suburb of some sort so i gues that wouldnt work...  Im outa ideas!

[morfiend]

Just an fyi....

The honey bee decline was caused by a parasite that was getting into their (for lack of a better word) air intake.  They are treating the bees to prevent the parasite from killing them and having remarkable success.  My uncle raises bees and has around 30 - 40 hives last time I checked.  He was real concerned for awhile, but feels that the corner has been turned.

 That is good to know!







   

[Blackwulf]

Unfortunately in many states, calling for a beekeeper to pick up the hive is pointless, as they will refuse.  Due to the paranoia about Africanized bees, many keepers assume the worse in a wild hive and won't take them.  I had to destroy a hive that was taking over a storage shed about 10 years ago, after contacting several beekeepers in the area (Arizona) and getting that same answer. 

As it was still a bit chilly in the mornings, I just went out at dawn while they were still too cold to do much about it, walked into the shed, set off a bug bomb and came back in an hour or so. If they had taken up residence in a better spot, I'd have been happy to leave them alone other than to collect a bit of "rent" every year    I wasn't too happy about the whole deal, but I did what I had to do.

Wasps I generally leave alone unless they are causing damage, and have never had any problems.  But carpenter bees are a whole 'nother story.  Those things cause big damage fast, and I have a constant battle with them.

[Puma44]

Is it okay to blow up wood bees that attack your dogs?

Attacking your dogs?!  Nuke em til they glow! 

[Tupac]

  score 1 for America!

[CAP1]

i have issues with bees. been stung waaayyyy too many times. one time was my fault.......the rest weren't.......don't like em, don't care if they vanished off the planet tomorrow.

[mechanic]

Just like if you get ho'ed in AH, if you get stung by honey bees, it's always your fault.

[Dichotomy]

I beg to differ.

I have been attacked by bees and I wasn't doing a dang thing to them.  Granted they were wood bees which are nasty soul less creatures (like the muppets) who attack without provocation.  But they attacked none the less. 

So I nuked them with 2 gallons of gasoline and a match.  Fortunately I ran really fast before I got a crosstie enema. 

[mechanic]

You didn't notice the swarm of insects coming for you? Your Fault! 

Once when we disturbed a wasp's nest outside my bedroom window my younger brother and I killed a queen or someone important because 200 wasps swarmed into the space between the double glazing as the outside window was open on one section but luckily the inside slide panels were closed. After ten or so mins they stopped coming and were all buzzing around in the double glazing space so we opened the inside section a crack and sprayed bug killer in there and watched them all slowly dying. It was brutal and evil but they were after our blood vTard style. We christened it Wasp Auschwitz. We were pretty high at the time.

[Dichotomy]

I could be wrong but I don't think you're supposed to sniff the bug spray

[b4o2s9s]

Can of WD-40 and a lighter does the trick pretty nicely 

[Nypsy]

I am all for live and let live as far as bees are concerned but when you have a swarm like that guy had you have to do something.

[Sonicblu]

When I was a kid we had a swarm of bees about three times that size on a tree limb.

Step dad got a bee box from neighbor set be box under swarm .

I was then told to climb ladder and scrap bees of limb with bare hand.     Huh?

Anyway my brothers were to put lid on the bee box after,  " the bees just fall straight down into the box"

 I was more afraid of wooppin than getting stung after trying to argue against the idea. I was told I wouldn't get stung..

So I scrape the bees off limb and they dropped right into box queen and all.

I did get stung twice though.

Anyway turns out they just more interested I surrounding queen. Queen escapes and the bees surround her to keep her from getting away.
 

[Babalonian]

When I was a kid we had a swarm of bees about three times that size on a tree limb.

Step dad got a bee box from neighbor set be box under swarm .

I was then told to climb ladder and scrap bees of limb with bare hand.     Huh?

Anyway my brothers were to put lid on the bee box after,  " the bees just fall straight down into the box"

 I was more afraid of wooppin than getting stung after trying to argue against the idea. I was told I wouldn't get stung..

So I scrape the bees off limb and they dropped right into box queen and all.

I did get stung twice though.

Anyway turns out they just more interested I surrounding queen. Queen escapes and the bees surround her to keep her from getting away.
 

I believe I've heard that those type of swarms are colonies on the move or a new colony and queen splitting off from a larger and older colony.  They are simply taking a breather/break while a few of the bees scout out the local area for a nice new home.  You are right though, the majority of them are purely interested in just surrounding and huddling up around the queen.  They cluster up on the queen to keep her warm and safe until they've found a new home and moved in, during the "warmth of love" hug they're pretty unagressive, unless disturbed and threatened enough.  I forget if this is all instictive or if the queen is triggering it via hormones or something.

The most recent article I read was earlier this year was on this type of swarming and how during these type of swarms the scouting bees go out and on the hunt for the best new home of the entire hive.  If they find something they like, they return to the swarm that's hanging out and waiting somewhere, and they do a "dance" that does two things - gives directions to the others and rates the potential home (think of a 1-10 scale scoring system).  If they give it a high rating, other scouts and bees in the resting swarm take notice and follow the direction to check it out.  Once they've checked it out and have come to their own bad/good/great/fantastic personal judgement, they return to the swarm and repeat the dance (if it's good enough to go back and brag to the others about, so to say).  This in turns gets more scouts and bees to notice, and so even more go to check it out and then come back and give it their rating. 

This goes on and on, until eventualy this rather primitive democratic proccess has persuaded most of the swarm and queen to pay attention to the directions and go check it out for themselves, and finally with the queens decision to move in and establish it as the new home (likely for the rest of the queen's life) and best choice for their hive.