I love bees...

[Darkwind]

I used to catch bees as a kid. Watch them in a jar for a bit then release them. I still love watching them move from flower to flower and I never understood why people don't educate themselves on simple things. Such as the fact, unlike a wasp, a bee won't sting you unless at extreme risk, as their stinger is hooked and they will die afterwards. Unlike a wasp who has a straight stinger for the record.

Yep. Bee's have nothing but a defensive reflex. They are all about protecting the hive. They react intensely to pheromones and sight. Today's honey bees will sting you, but in reality, they are actually quite docile.

 

[Natural Citizen]

Bees can only sting you once. It's a larger stinger than wasps or yellowjackets and hurts worse, but bees' guts come out with the stinger when they sting. Bees do not sting multiple times.

No, it depends on what kind of bee it is. soem of em will keep stinging you.

 

[Natural Citizen]

My sunflowers get loaded with honeybees. I have some pictures some place I took of em. They never bother me if I don't tinker with em. It's neat to look at, but that's as far as I get near them.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Bees can only sting you once. It's a larger stinger than wasps or yellowjackets and hurts worse, but bees' guts come out with the stinger when they sting. Bees do not sting multiple times.

No, it depends on what kind of bee it is. soem of em will keep stinging you.

Honey bees only sting once, afaik. Ooo, I just read Bumble bees can sting repeatedly. Ofc yellowjackets can sting repeatedly, I hate them.

 

[Darkwind]

My sunflowers get loaded with honeybees. I have some pictures some place I took of em. They never bother me if I don't tinker with em. It's neat to look at, but that's as far as I get near them.

Yep, they are endlessly fascinating to watch.

 

[WinterBorn]

We had one hive for a few years. They are amazing. Apparently our hive was healthy, because it split every year. We'd worry that the whole hive was swarming away, and then realize half were still in the hive. Loved having bees. The honey was a tasty bonus.

Then the ungrateful bitches left.

 

[Darkwind]

Bees can only sting you once. It's a larger stinger than wasps or yellowjackets and hurts worse, but bees' guts come out with the stinger when they sting. Bees do not sting multiple times.

No, it depends on what kind of bee it is. soem of em will keep stinging you.

True. A honey bee can only sting you once, then it dies. Other types of bees have a different stinger and can sting multiple times.

 

[shockedcanadian]

Bees can only sting you once. It's a larger stinger than wasps or yellowjackets and hurts worse, but bees' guts come out with the stinger when they sting. Bees do not sting multiple times.

No, it depends on what kind of bee it is. soem of em will keep stinging you.

Yes, I suppose it depends on where you live. 95% of bees I have seen are Honey Bees, once in awhile a Bumble Bee, very rarely a narrow bee, I forget the name of them now, but they almost look like a wasp.

Anyways, where I am from, I have no worries of being stung. Like DragonFlies which some people are afraid of and I wonder why. They eat mosquitos and flies, they have no interest in you. Some just see a "scary looking, weird moving" creature and they want to harm it. Sad really.

 

[Darkwind]

We had one hive for a few years. They are amazing. Apparently our hive was healthy, because it split every year. We'd worry that the whole hive was swarming away, and then realize half were still in the hive. Loved having bees. The honey was a tasty bonus.

Then the ungrateful bitches left.

They 'swarm' when they're hive becomes too crowded or does not have the resources to support it. They do this by creating a few 'Queen' cells to replace the leaving Queen.

When the time is right, they abscond with their Queen and leave behind a few nurse bees and a whole lot of brood in the brood box. When they hatch, they then start the cycle all over again with a new Queen.

The best way to prevent a swarm is to divide the hive, crush the queen cells, and then introduced a new queen to the new hive, one that has been mated and is ready to lay eggs!

You then have two strong hives instead of one overcrowded one.

 

[Marion Morrison]

Bees can only sting you once. It's a larger stinger than wasps or yellowjackets and hurts worse, but bees' guts come out with the stinger when they sting. Bees do not sting multiple times.

No, it depends on what kind of bee it is. soem of em will keep stinging you.

Yes, I suppose it depends on where you live. 95% of bees I have seen are Honey Bees, once in awhile a Bumble Bee, very rarely a narrow bee, I forget the name of them now, but they almost look like a wasp.

Anyways, where I am from, I have no worries of being stung. Like DragonFlies which some people are afraid of and I wonder why. They eat mosquitos and flies, they have no interest in you. Some just see a "scary looking, weird moving" creature and they want to harm it. Sad really.

I rescued some shiny-dark-green-and black bee looking thing out of the water yesterday, hope I don't regret that. Never seen anything like it.

 

[Darkwind]

Bees can only sting you once. It's a larger stinger than wasps or yellowjackets and hurts worse, but bees' guts come out with the stinger when they sting. Bees do not sting multiple times.

No, it depends on what kind of bee it is. soem of em will keep stinging you.

Yes, I suppose it depends on where you live. 95% of bees I have seen are Honey Bees, once in awhile a Bumble Bee, very rarely a narrow bee, I forget the name of them now, but they almost look like a wasp.

Anyways, where I am from, I have no worries of being stung. Like DragonFlies which some people are afraid of and I wonder why. They eat mosquitos and flies, they have no interest in you. Some just see a "scary looking, weird moving" creature and they want to harm it. Sad really.

 

[Marion Morrison]

I had a big hive that left, then a smaller hive moved into their spot. They left for like 2 weeks, then came back for a couple days, then took off.

 

[Darkwind]

I had a big hive that left, then a smaller hive moved into their spot. They left for like 2 weeks, then came back for a couple days, then took off.

Sounds like a nearby hive that is robbing the abandoned hive for the honey.

 

[Darkwind]

 

[Darkwind]

LOL. Okay, I haven't seen this one before.

 

[WinterBorn]

We had one hive for a few years. They are amazing. Apparently our hive was healthy, because it split every year. We'd worry that the whole hive was swarming away, and then realize half were still in the hive. Loved having bees. The honey was a tasty bonus.

Then the ungrateful bitches left.

They 'swarm' when they're hive becomes too crowded or does not have the resources to support it. They do this by creating a few 'Queen' cells to replace the leaving Queen.

When the time is right, they abscond with their Queen and leave behind a few nurse bees and a whole lot of brood in the brood box. When they hatch, they then start the cycle all over again with a new Queen.

The best way to prevent a swarm is to divide the hive, crush the queen cells, and then introduced a new queen to the new hive, one that has been mated and is ready to lay eggs!

You then have two strong hives instead of one overcrowded one.

We really only wanted one hive. And twice when they split we were able to capture the new hive and give them to other beekeepers. The other year we didn't see them until it was too late. I'm sure the new hive found a good home and kept doing what bees do.

 

[WinterBorn]

We found dead hornets outside the hive a lot of times. Yeah, the hornets are bigger and are badasses. But the numbers will win.

 

[Darkwind]

We had one hive for a few years. They are amazing. Apparently our hive was healthy, because it split every year. We'd worry that the whole hive was swarming away, and then realize half were still in the hive. Loved having bees. The honey was a tasty bonus.

Then the ungrateful bitches left.

They 'swarm' when they're hive becomes too crowded or does not have the resources to support it. They do this by creating a few 'Queen' cells to replace the leaving Queen.

When the time is right, they abscond with their Queen and leave behind a few nurse bees and a whole lot of brood in the brood box. When they hatch, they then start the cycle all over again with a new Queen.

The best way to prevent a swarm is to divide the hive, crush the queen cells, and then introduced a new queen to the new hive, one that has been mated and is ready to lay eggs!

You then have two strong hives instead of one overcrowded one.

We really only wanted one hive. And twice when they split we were able to capture the new hive and give them to other beekeepers. The other year we didn't see them until it was too late. I'm sure the new hive found a good home and kept doing what bees do.

True. Whether they swarm or abscond, they'll keep shaking their bee-thing. lol

From all the literature I have read, in order to have one good hive, you should really have two hives. Depending on where you live of course, but winters can decimate a hive. Along with varroa and nosema.

 

[WinterBorn]

We had one hive for a few years. They are amazing. Apparently our hive was healthy, because it split every year. We'd worry that the whole hive was swarming away, and then realize half were still in the hive. Loved having bees. The honey was a tasty bonus.

Then the ungrateful bitches left.

They 'swarm' when they're hive becomes too crowded or does not have the resources to support it. They do this by creating a few 'Queen' cells to replace the leaving Queen.

When the time is right, they abscond with their Queen and leave behind a few nurse bees and a whole lot of brood in the brood box. When they hatch, they then start the cycle all over again with a new Queen.

The best way to prevent a swarm is to divide the hive, crush the queen cells, and then introduced a new queen to the new hive, one that has been mated and is ready to lay eggs!

You then have two strong hives instead of one overcrowded one.

We really only wanted one hive. And twice when they split we were able to capture the new hive and give them to other beekeepers. The other year we didn't see them until it was too late. I'm sure the new hive found a good home and kept doing what bees do.

True. Whether they swarm or abscond, they'll keep shaking their bee-thing. lol

From all the literature I have read, in order to have one good hive, you should really have two hives. Depending on where you live of course, but winters can decimate a hive. Along with varroa and nosema.

We read the same thing. Maybe thats why they bailed out on us. The best thing about bees is that they only require attention at select times, as long as you have a good location. Winters in Atlanta aren't too severe.

 

[Darkwind]

We found dead hornets outside the hive a lot of times. Yeah, the hornets are bigger and are badasses. But the numbers will win.

Yep. Honey bees are strictly defensive, but the girls get pissed when they are invaded.



Ummmm....warning. if your squeamish around nature, look away!?!