Another danger of Surveying

Damn bees......I hate the bastards. Usually it's the yellow jackets that get me around here. Seems like they like to setup shop right where the monument is.

We don't see too many honey bees anymore, although I've been seeing more of them the last two years I would say.

I used to tell my employees that ground hornets were the biggest occupational hazard we face -- driving pins can certainly stir them up. But nowadays I'd say ticks (which only showed up in Maine about 10 or 15 years ago) are a larger threat.

Come to FL! We have pythons, gators and panthers to add to the list!

I can't outrun bees anymore, I have to sacrifice anyone within distance by detaining them till I get beyond the b@$^@(&$.

Sure wish people would learn to burn correctly and all those varmints will move away.

B-)

I can tell you I watch out for cotton mouths until the first yellow jacket sting. Then I turn into a human bulldozer trying to get away.

We run into honey bees regularly. If you don't bump the hive, you can usually stand about 2 feet away from them.

I keep bees for honey. Getting stung is just par for the course, no big deal, until one gets you in the eye or throat, and then as your eye or throat starts to swell shut, then you learn to have a bit more respect. Lousy way to go. Any colony of disturbed bees or hornets can do a guy in under the wrong circumstances.

davis118, post: 331611, member: 811 wrote: ..We run into honey bees regularly. If you don't bump the hive, you can usually stand about 2 feet away from them.

That is generally true. Most folks that wind up getting attacked by an entire hive are guilty of inadvertently disturbing the hive somehow. A non-threatening human can usually stand next to the hive and not be attacked. They even light on you and don't attack, probably just sniffing your aftershave. Trouble is when we go to swatting at them and screamin' and dancin' like a six year old girl, they take that as a threat.

Also, the Africanized bees have interbred with the honey bees over the years (and are continuing their move northward) and most bees (in Oklahoma, anyway) are a bit more aggressive than say 10 years ago. Be careful what you whack with the machete and keep an epi-pen in the FAK.

If you look right by Big Help Number 2's right elbow, and to the left, you can see where I had JUST cut with a chain saw! After cutting, and getting the GPS shot, we looked around, and SAW this swarm! I have worked bees before, and I knew that during swarm, they USUALLY are full of honey, and aren't usually on the warpath... We called a local bee keeper, who got a CARDBOARD box at a local store, and I helped him load them. I got 2 stings. I just watched them sting me. I learned NEVER panic. The bees smell the Adrenalin, and it can excite them. It was just a small swarm.

Nate, How old is Big Help now? For that matter, what are the ages of your baker's dozen?

Dan Patterson, post: 331526, member: 1179 wrote: Damn bees......I hate the bastards. Usually it's the yellow jackets that get me around here. Seems like they like to setup shop right where the monument is.

We don't see too many honey bees anymore, although I've been seeing more of them the last two years I would say.

You Better HOPE you keep seeing bees, wasps etc.
They pollinate our crops.
Without pollination we don't have crops.

Without crops we don't eat.

Kind of hard to live without eating.

Just left a jobsite this morning when the landscaping crew guys came out tell me they ran into a big bee hive. I'm allergic and don't think anyone's property line is worth dying for. Snakes, gators, and spiders don't bother me but I'm super careful around any kind of bee/wasp.

What a terrible way to go for that guy. yikes.

Stephen Johnson, post: 331747, member: 53 wrote: You Better HOPE you keep seeing bees, wasps etc.
They pollinate our crops.
Without pollination we don't have crops.

Without crops we don't eat.

Kind of hard to live without eating.

I didn't advocate exterminating them......just don't like them. We may be part of the same ecosystem, but we aint friends....

I am allergic to bees and I used to be really bad about carrying an epipen, until I was locating a fence post one day and didn't realize I was standing on a yellow jackets nest. I ended up being stung four times. The scariest part was after I got away from the nest and thought I was in the clear, I looked down and realized my jeans were covered in yellow jackets, it looked like hundreds of bees were on my pants. Luckily, for some reason when I left the office that day I did not put my boots on, because I was in tennis shoes I was able to slowly slip my shoes and then my pants off and I was only stung two more times. If I would have had to bend down and untie boots it would have been ugly. Twenty mintues later I was getting a rescue squad ride (without pants and wallet and cell phone that were in my pants) to the hospital. That was the last time I went in the field without my epipen.

MD Surveyor, post: 331761, member: 10081 wrote: I am allergic to bees and I used to be really bad about carrying an epipen, until I was locating a fence post one day and didn't realize I was standing on a yellow jackets nest. I ended up being stung four times. The scariest part was after I got away from the nest and thought I was in the clear, I looked down and realized my jeans were covered in yellow jackets, it looked like hundreds of bees were on my pants. Luckily, for some reason when I left the office that day I did not put my boots on, because I was in tennis shoes I was able to slowly slip my shoes and then my pants off and I was only stung two more times. If I would have had to bend down and untie boots it would have been ugly. Twenty mintues later I was getting a rescue squad ride (without pants and wallet and cell phone that were in my pants) to the hospital. That was the last time I went in the field without my epipen.

Those buggers will hold on with their mouth parts and sting you again and again. I've had more encounters than I've time to recount. Fortunately I'm not allergic, they just hurt like the devil.

Bees are very misunderstood.
Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets have nothing in common other than their outward appearance.
I too keep bees, they are mellow creatures and never attack. They defend their hive, and they will sting when there in no other alternative.
My understanding is that very few people are actually allergic... meaning that a few stings do nothing other than cause a little pain and discomfort, not life threatening.
My wife is afraid of them, so now my hive is outside of the garden about 50 feet from the house. I often begin my day sitting on an upturned bucket watching them come and go about their daily tasks.
so, meet my girls over here... [MEDIA=youtube]c9grXnVlaLs[/MEDIA]

This is a cel phone video, taken from just a couple feet away from the hive.

You are correct Peter, I use the terms bees generically but I am not actually allergic to bees. I am extremely allergic to wasps, which is what a yellow jacket is. I stepped on many honey bees running around the yard barefoot as a kid and other than some local pain and minor swelling I never had any problems. Bees sting as a last resort because they die after stinging, a wasp on the other hand can sting multiple times. Wasps have put me in the hospital three times in my life. I am hoping there wont be a fourth but between surveying, fire wood cutting and everything else I do outside I know it's most likely going to happen again.

Gimme all the bees and wasps you got, but you can keep the ground hornets. Never considered stepping on a piece of plywood would've ended up with me a block down the street, with a couple of bright red ears (the red neck was already in place), still fighting the things off.

I get stung extracting honey from my bees more than walking next to the hives or working the bees. The little buggers crawl up in the comb and I end up stinging myself more than them stinging me.

That said, we are not allergic and I have friends who have Epi-Pens in their pockets when they come over.

By far and away, the most docile of the stinging insects, with a VERY close second being the bald faced hornet. Red Wasps are the water moccasin of the stinging insect world being naturally pissed off for no apparent reason. I routinely commit genocide on Red Wasps, ground hornets/yellow jackets, miner bees, and just about anything else. Honey bees and bald faced hornets and black wasps (mud dobbers) get a by because they kill the spiders and such and don't hurt me or my family.

Very sad this individual died from them.

The interesting thing is that you cannot tell the difference in Afracanized bees vs. honey bees, unless you have a microscope. You CAN fix an afracanized hive by re-queening the hive (most of the time); however, some hives are so aggressive, that they must be put down. Otherwise, if you have a bee keeper that can catch them, remove the queen and put a new queen in, then you can fix the issue and not kill that which is chiefly responsible for most of the food grown in the world. Only about 5% of the afracanized hives cannot be fixed. VERY interesting stuff to be sure.

When we extract the honey, I don't have a suit on or even a vale. I still wear one when getting frames and such out of the hive, but my son has gotten so good, that he has a vale and no gloves. The more you work with them, the more they don't sting.

2 cycle motors, for whatever reason, will piss off even the most docile of hives. I suspect that the pitch is to blame (I routinely mow right up to my hives but I NEVER WEEDEAT at them) and the news stories revolve around the 10% of hives that are afracanized.

Nate The Surveyor, post: 331624, member: 291 wrote: If you look right by Big Help Number 2's right elbow, and to the left, you can see where I had JUST cut with a chain saw! After cutting, and getting the GPS shot, we looked around, and SAW this swarm! I have worked bees before, and I knew that during swarm, they USUALLY are full of honey, and aren't usually on the warpath... We called a local bee keeper, who got a CARDBOARD box at a local store, and I helped him load them. I got 2 stings. I just watched them sting me. I learned NEVER panic. The bees smell the Adrenalin, and it can excite them. It was just a small swarm.

Nate, swarms are the most docile of all because their function is finding a new home. Very cool stuff!!!! I caught one this year also! About as big as a football in a peach tree.

Damn photo wont work.