Learn How to Identify Stinging Insects
Become a better gardener! Discover our new Almanac Garden Planner features for 2024. It’s easy, fun, and free to try!
ADVERTISEMENT
Every year wasps build nests in my chicken coop, so I have to navigate by them to collect the eggs. What I've found is they'll dive bomb me the first couple of times I go by then they leave me alone. I usually get a couple of sting before they realize I'm just a giant nobody who likes to have them around. I consider the sting a kiss, and just blow it off.
Bees aren’t vegetarian. They’re omnivores. Their meat is microbes. Scientists spent 4 years proving that microbes are an essential part of a bees diet, and did an experiment where they took 84 male bee larvae and separated them into groups of 7. They sterilized half of the pollen and fed different mixes of sterilized and unsterilized pollen to the groups. As the percentage of sterilized pollen increased so did the larvae’s likelihood of dying. The larvae also weighed less and took longer to grow. Thus proving that microbes are an important source of nutrients for the bees.
Source: https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/surprise-bees-need-meat/
We have a lot of flowers and flowering trees and shrubs, so we have lots of bees. They absolutely love the lavender. My grandsons know that they're friendly and beneficial, and are not afraid of them. In fact, on Easter, someone put a couple of Easter eggs in the lavender bushes, and one of my grandsons reached in through the buzzing bees to get them.
What are the big black bees? I had one buzzing around me while I was harvesting seeds. It's large and fuzzy, like a bumblebee, but all black.
You can remove a small bee or wasps' nest safely without killing the bees or wasps. Unelss you feel totally confident do not attempt this procedure. Cover yourself head to foot wearing long sleeve shirt and long trousers or jeans and boots. For added protection cover yourself with loose fine meshed netting and wear a wide brim hat and thick leather gloves to protect your face, ears, neck and hands. Use tape around your wrist to stop them flying in through your arm holes. Wait until dusk when they are at their most docile. You can pick up the nest from its attached point or take the whole branch with a pair of long nose pliers, you can capture the nest inside a plastic bag or large jar to remove and transport the nest to a new location. Just leave the nest in a tree or bush and slowly walk away. The bees or wasps will find their own way to reattaching the nest. Hornets are more aggressive than bees or wasps so without a proper beekeepers outfit it is unwise to try to move a hornet's nest. Otherwise just kill the nest by spraying it with WD40 and remove it when they have died.
Several years there was a Bald Faced Hornet grey paper "death star" nest each year in the Magnolia at the back of my garden. I was never stung, however I was given a warning shot twice, probably by a rookie (hit on the head by the insect itself, which warns and "marks" you so the others know who to attack if necessary) They are not aggressive (if you don't bother them) and are ferocious efficient predators. One year the nest was only 8 ft up, 10 ft back from the garden. They patrol & monitor your activity (even remind me of cops-their eyes look like aviator shades!) seemed to recognize me after a while. I just moved slow, close to the ground and quietly said "Long live the queen" when I saw them. As long as their queen wasn't threatened, they let me work. I read if they are attacked the entire regiment will give chase up to 1/4 mile.
We have red paper wasps that have made our porch their home and they are super chill. We've never had a problem with them, I think the only time that came close was when a couple were flying around me a lot ( normally they don't even acknowledge our presence) then we realized they had made a nest on the back of the chair I was in and I was LITERALLY TOUCHING IT!!! I have a garden that ranges from potted items on the porch to a couple herb gardens, a berry patch and a little wildflower garden so I really appreciate what they do for the garden and I like to think they appreciate me too ☺️
Bees (and wasps and hornets, of course) are beneficial but their population has been drastically decreasing these years due to urbanization. This is harmful for the global crop production too as honeybees are responsible for almost one third of the world's food production. If applicable, I would suggest you to contact the bee savers or related organizations near by that help to relocate the bees, rather than kill them yourself (it is safer, too)
Bee's stings are an "acid" but, conversely, Wasps' stings are a "base" so,(aside from someone who gets stung AND has a known sever reaction to stings, in which case they require immediate expert medical care) treatment differs in that you must neutralize the respective sting. Bees' stings, being an acid composition, requires the addition of a "base" to neutralize the pain (ie. baking soda mixed with a tad of water to make a paste); conversely, Wasps' stings are a "base" thus it requires the addition of an "acid" (ie.vinegar, lemon juice, pickles) to neutralize the pain the recipient of the sting will be experiencing. ....excerpt from a basic first aid manual.
Good to know!
I think the Bumblebee is the most whimsical and I believe it’s the type that “Babbs” sung about her good omen...