Persnickety bees?
Question:I get along really well the with bees, hornets and yellow jackets in my yard. I have a juice trap to keep the hornets from building nests in the doorway, but aside from that, they have free reign. I have always been able to work around them until the past 2 summers. There's one area right in the center of my garden where, if I try to work, one big bumblebee will come out and start browsing. That's fine, but if I don't leave the area within a few minutes after that, it'll bonk me. It doesn't seem to matter what time of day, and it's only ever one bee. I can't hear buzzing elsewhere, although I can't rule out a ground nest because the area is pretty heavily vegetated with a few small decorative structures. I was hoping it would be a one year deal because I heard they move their nest every year, but this is the second summer. If I stay and ignore the bee, will it eventually sting me? Is there a nonviolent way to keep it as bay until I get my work done?
Answers:
I've had the same "one bee" problem with my honeybee hive. I'll be working in the yard and out of 60,000 bees, ONE decides to start bonking me. Sheesh! I just catch her in a cup and let her go when I'm finished. Never been stung.
Like you, I don't mind all our little pollinators. However, if the bee is bonking then it is warning you to leave or it will sting. Bees really only do this if there is a hive around so you might want to see if you can get hold of your local bee keeper to come a have a look for you. Most, not all, bee keepers will remove a hive as a community service because it is a win/win for both parties. Bee keeper gets new bees and you get rid of them. Anyhow, if the bee is warning you then stay away because it will probably sting. Good luck
You might try working early in the morning, or after dusk when bees are supposed to be asleep. If you plan to move the hive yourself, there's a trick you need to be aware of. Bees memorize the distance, and nearby objects, to and from their hive. So if you move it, you have to 'tell' the bee that something is different, so it knows to memorize a new path back to the new location. Otherwise, it'll go out as normal and then fly back to where it thinks the hive is, and continue to bother you. Here's what you do: after you move the hive, stick a dowel rod right in front of the entrance, maybe 1-2 inches away. The bee will see the rod, know it's something new, and memorize a new path back. That's how you move a beehive. Besides, they are great pollinators, so you want them around.
Bumble bees are very, very, very, very, reluctant to sting. Here in the UK Bumble bee stings are virtually unknown, and in my many years of interest in them I know of just one incident,( when silly kid squeezed one in his hand). Bumble bee `bonks` are also unknown, they occur only rarely with hive bees, or commonly with Africanised bees of USA, where attacks are en-masse! Bumble bee Queens overwinter in a fertile condition, and will often return to the `garden of their birth` to begin another colony.Such behavior as you describe is not how UK bumble bees behave. Other than suggesting a veil, please be sure you are describing Bumble bees (Bombus) and not Hive bees (Apis). Here, the Bumble bee is a docile thing that flies around you and always leaves man alone.
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