My boss brought this small crate of bees to the office. He said it’s for his honeybee hive.
I however watched waaaayyyyy too many killer bee movies back in the '70s.
This will not end well…
Okay, what’s the chance of those things getting loose?
I hope not large.
They’re all staring at me with their beady little compound eyes… ‘WE WANT TO STING YOU!!! STING YOU TO DEATH!!!’
Two of my neighbors keep bees. They are pretty amazing little creatures.
I benefit because they pollenate my citrus trees. And I get lots of honey from their keepers.
I don’t exactly remember, but there are at least three groups in a hive with different jobs.
Wasps and yellow jackets are a different story. I hate those guys.
Very true Bill. And I like bees just fine.
Just outside and in smaller numbers… NOT A THOUSAND ON MY BOSS’S DESK ABOUT TEN FEET / THREE METERS AWAY FROM ME.
Gaurenteed social distancing. Try not to panic…they smell fear.
I’ve been interested in starting a hive for years but have never been stung so don’t know if I’m allergic or not. I’ll add that I’ve lived in the burbs/country for 30 years and have been a gardener the entire time, so I’m always around stinging critters. I don’t bother them and they don’t bother me. It’s worked for 66 years so maybe they just don’t like my smell or something.
Many bees hang around my garden during the morning, so I usually stay away until afternoon when they have left. The bees are busy doing their work, so they don’t bother anyone.
Now, Yellow Jackets are a whole different ball of wax (ha ha). They are really aggressive, mean SOB’s, especially during mating season, which seems to be all Summer long. Last year I was pulling weeds and disturbed a Yellow Jacket nest that was underground. They went right after me. One stung me in my hand. I looked at my hand and that thing was pumping and pumping away. It felt like someone poked me with a hot poker. Then my hand went numb. Nasty.
Years ago I was driving to the flying field to fly my RC planes when I felt a hot poker go thru the back of my neck. I let out a scream that was heard 3 counties away. I pulled off to the side and slapped the back of the neck when this HUGE Yellow Jacket landed next to me. That sucker stung me 3 times on the back of the neck before I was able to kill it. I had three large welts on my neck that were on fire for a couple of hours till the swelling went away. Thank God I’m not allergic to bee or hornet bites otherwise things wound have been different.
That is both cool and disturbing at the same time. I’ve been stung/bitten a bunch of times. Amazing amount of pain from a tiny creature. I pay attention to bees behavior. If they are hovering in front of your face or even bumping in to you, go the other way. They seem to have a way of warning you.
Nastiest thing I’ve ever seen flying out here in SoCal is a tarantula hawk. Google that. Not aggressive but super scary and if you bother them they will sting and it’s supposed to be second only to a bullet ant in terms of pain.
I’ve been stung more times than I can count. Yellowjackets are just plain mean. And Hornets especially the bald face/white face will go out of there way to get you.
Honey bees and I get along fine. Yellow jackets not so much. I was on a campout as a kid and went to “water a bush” There was a yellow jacket nest in the bush. One fo the little bastards zapped me in the knee and as I straightened back up from wacking him, his friend got me in the upper lip right below my nose. I screamed so loud, my dad thought I had encountered a bear. Flame throwers are a minimum effort to get them.
John
I’ll send some “Help” …
You guy’s decide…
Which is worse …
Littletimmy, I’ll take my chances with the bees LOL. GOOD TO HEAR FROM YOU MY FRIEND!
Wasps when I am powerwashing the house. I am too old to be jumping off ladders.
I once walked into a swarm of bees - I think part of their colony was moving out or something. I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, but stopped when I noticed buzzing that sounded more like a rock concert about to begin. Fortunately, I remembered seeing something about bees swarming, so I just stood there for a moment and soaked in the experience of being surrounded by hundreds of flying bees. I noticed the plants near me were black and sagging with bees. It was kinda neat.
I don’t have any nice stories about yellow jackets. They all end with “…and the sting hurt like the bejeezus!!!” Got it in a finger joint, back of the neck, etc.
Oh wait, one ended without me getting stung. I was doing yard work and noticed a yellow jacket heading straight for me. In a panic, I turned to run and swung my rake at it in a feeble attempt to ward it off. There was a satisfying bonk and the feel of a baseball home run in the rake handle. I turned back just in time to see my would-be assailant falling to the ground.
Like others, I like bees. Wasps not so much.
When I was in Boy Scouts we had a saying: If you see a bee, let it be. That’s true (be prepared).
Thankfully my boss took his little buddies home and put them in their hive.
So hopefully things are okay now unless he decides to bring them to ‘come to work with daddy day’…
And thanks Little Timmy, I watched a Thai horror movie last night, and it wasn’t anywere near as scary as that.
I might have to get Castelnuovo’s friend to bring his weiner roaster if they show up here.
A few years back we vacationed in San Francisco, rented a car and went up to the vineyards in the wine country up in the hills. I remember hearing the buzzing sound of thousands of bees out by fields covered with lavender plants. These suckers were HUGE but were very passive. They flew by and around you but at no time I felt they would sting me.
Here in my backyard I have a large Orchid Tree and when it’s in full bloom, it attracts hundreds of bees. You can hear the buzzing from a few feet away and again, they leave me alone as I stand there watching them do their work a couple of feet away.
What is really amazing to watch are the tiny Humming Birds. How fast and agile those little guys are. I love to see them just hover as they look for the right Orchid to pick.