How do you normally handle bees?

[CrazyConure]

When I see one flying around the garden, I won't come close. I feel like they'll chase me and try to sting. Are you guys a little fearful of bees? How do you handle it? Does it prevent you from checking the garden?

 

[Fernsdaddy]

Most bees won't chase you unless they think your going to hurt them. I love to be out in the garden with the bees, I love the sound of them buzzing around,I'm allergic to bee stings but that won't stop me from being in the garden.

 

[CrazyConure]

Really? I rather dislike buzzing sounds. I'll wince if I hear it. Luckily, it's much better than when I was a kid. I would scream and shake from external disgust.

 

[Beth_B]

I was swarmed and badly stung all over when I was a kid so I have a mild phobia (is that an oxymoron?) about bees. But I have learned to override that fear, at least in neutral spaces such as the garden.

Bee in the vehicle while I'm driving? Total freak-out, pull over, flee vehicle flapping my arms like a madwoman.

 

[Rajesh Sethi]

I read it somewhere I don't remember but bees are attracted to some aroma like banana, lemon etc..they are also attracted to dark color, so usually when I see swarm of bees I cover my head and get rid of dark color stuff and run indoor, if one of them sting you other from swarm will do the same.Try to remove the sting gland ASAP as it ll be still be pumping long after being separated from the bee.

Crazy but true bee dies after it sting. Brave soldier, isn't it?

 

[MaryMary]

Nah, bees don't bother me. I leave them alone, they leave me alone. Bees aren't really interested in people much, they usually only attack if they feel threatened.


Helpful hint - If you do get stung, first get the stinger out. Try to scrape it out flat against your skin. If you push down and scrape, you are just pushing more of the venom in.

Then make a paste out of plain, unseasoned meat tenderizer and a little water, and apply it to the sting. As much as possible, try to get it in the wound. I thought it was just a rumor, an old wives' tale - but it's true, I stepped on one with bare feet, and it worked in less than a minute! The venom is a protein, and meat tenderizers work by breaking down proteins.


Wasps, hornets, and yellow jackets, on the other hand? They will chase you.

 

[Becky]

I don't mind bees at all, I love seeing them buzzing around. I don't like wasps but I do my best to ignore them and eventually they go away.

Next time you see a bee maybe watch it from a distance for a bit. You'll probably find that it's just buzzing around getting it's work done just like you are

 

[Chuck]

I just ignore them. If I don't bother them they won't bother me. What I do hate about them though is that they have a bad habit of crawling into my beer can while I am not looking.

 

[roadrunner]

I've been stung quite a few times, but most of the time it was an accident. Like the time I was pulling weeds I inadvertently grabbed a bumblebee and it stung me. I've been stung by wasps when I got too close to their nests, I have tons of them under my roof's eave. The only time I've been chased by a bee was when I got stung next to a bee hive when my father was checking for honey, once that happened they just kept coming after me, because of the excited state and the pheromone scent.

However, I've never been chased/stung by a bee in my garden, nor by a wasp and I have tons of wasps, because I have many plants that are hosts for caterpillars (not just milkweeds) and they are always in there hunting. Wasps are scary looking and when I first started gardening I did avoid them as much as possible (I was stung by wasps twice when I was very small, so I had a little bit of a phobia). Yet, when I started reading about them (and bees) I started forcing myself to not run and I've even got to the point where I will put my finger in their face and I've never been stung. I've also found out that if you go near a nest when they first start building them, they will get use to you, but I never have gotten the nerve to put my hand near them when they are tending to their nest

Although, a couple years ago I accidentally carried a wasp nest around my yard; it's kind of funny how it happened. I was relocating one of my bird feeders, which was hollowed out in the center and the wasps built a nest in that center. I always noticed a lot of wasps when I went near that feeder, but I thought the nest was in the low-hanging branch of my live oak tree; I looked, but could never find it. Until one day I decided to relocate the feeder, I notice that the wasps were following me, I was starting to get a little freaked out, but remained calm and tried to get further away from the branch which I thought the nest was located, but they stuck around, finally I just placed the feeder in a location just so I could get away from all the wasps. I later came back and noticed that they were still there, so I looked underneath and that's when I noticed that there must be a nest under there. I lifted the bottom of the feeder slowly and sure enough, a guard was looking straight at me. I eased it down and walked away

I did get up the nerve and come back for a pic, see below

 

[marlingardener]

We keep bees, and they are generally pretty calm and non-aggressive. However, when we lift the lid of the hive to check for honey, we are suited up. Bees aren't happy about someone taking the roof off their home and peering in!
MaryMary's advice on getting the stinger out and applying the tenderizer paste is spot on. We have an anti-venom solution in case my husband gets stung (go figure, a beekeeper who is allergic to bee stings!) and it removes the pain and swelling.
Wasps are a whole different story. The only stings I've received are from wasps, and they hurt! If I see wasp activity I try to locate the nest and give it a good spraying. And we never, never put our hands into a space we can't see into.
I love seeing our bees working the vegetable and flower gardens, and if I move slowly, I can harvest, prune, pick with the bees on the same plant. We have Italian bees, so if I hum a few bars of Santa Lucia or O Sole Mio, they seem to appreciate it.

 

[MaryMary]

sure enough, a guard was looking straight at me.

Yes, yes he was!! That last picture kind of creeps me out - it looks like the eyes are glowing yellow!!

I notice that the wasps were following me, I was starting to get a little freaked out,

This had me laughing out loud - first laugh of my morning, so thank you! I think it was nice of you to take them for a little tour of the yard!



CrazyConure, maybe this will help:

It takes about 556 worker bees to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers. The average honey bee will make only 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime (6 weeks). http://www.apexbeecompany.com/honey-bee-facts/

Just work around them, they really don't have time to mess with you!

 

[Daren]

Love Bee's That what I say & the more the better ....The odd Sting's are a price worth paying to share the garden with them. If I'm Bare foot I watch where I walk lol that the only time I normally get stung must of taken of them at work bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz
here a just a few of many snaps I

 

[Beth_B]

@roadrunner, your photos literally gave me a fright! I have a hard time even LOOKING at photos of bees or wasps.

I do leave the bees in my garden in peace and am glad they are there.

But I work outside a lot in summer, and have been stung plenty of times*...Bee stings don't really hurt much. But wasp and yellow jacket stings do. I had a wasp nest in the ground several years ago near my front porch. The guy who was doing my lawn ran over it accidentally and got stung all over. Sorry to say...I sprayed the crap out of it, then lit a small fire over the hole.

*I'm a painting contractor...Wasp nests are so common here that most paint stores sell foaming wasp spray. I always have some in my work truck.

 

[JBtheExplorer]

When I see one flying around the garden, I won't come close. I feel like they'll chase me and try to sting. Are you guys a little fearful of bees? How do you handle it? Does it prevent you from checking the garden?

Some people have an unnatural fear of bees, but they're quite harmless. In fact, almost no bee will chase you even if they think you're going to hurt them. They'll flee as fast as they can. It's mainly just wasps and hornets that will chase you. Colony bees, like Honey bees, will sting to defend themselves and their colony, but most native bees would much rather fly away than sting. I brush against hundreds, if not thousands of native bees every year while messing around in my native garden and haven't been stung even once by them. One of the many purposes of my native garden is to help bees and other pollinators. Not only do bees not prevent me from checking my garden, they're one of the reasons I go out to check it out!

While I've never been stung by any native bee species, I've heard from those who have been stung by certain species that it feels more like a bite than a sting, and is really nothing to fear. I'm sure that varies from specie to specie. Similarly, some bees would rather bite in defense before they'd sting. I have, on the other hand, been stung more than once by Yellowjackets. They're aggressive. They love to chase. They love to sting.

but enough about the evil Yellowjackets. Here are some of our docile bee species:

 

[LIcenter]

As JB said, most of the bees here just want to go about their business doing what nature programed them to do. I do have my fare share of paper wasps here which tend to make their nest in some sort of protected area, like under the eaves of your house. The ones that worry me the most are Bald faced hornets, which are really a wasp in a different getup. They are very fast nest builders, and as Jane says, pay attention to where you are putting your hands. But for the most part, they like to build in the branches of a tall tree. It really comes down to simply paying attention to your surroundings while you are out and about.

Bald faced hornets nest in a branch above my driveway.

Paper wasp ran outta spit.

This is where you need to be careful. Six foot ladder that normally stays out the entire summer. Looky what's under one of the steps.