Bumble bees

[monroefiles]

When we moved into our house over a year ago, there was a flower bed next to the back porch. The porch was concrete and we have since built a deck over top. I dug up the bulbs and planted them out front.

 

Now we have a huge bumble bee (those green/yellow ones) that just hovers over the deck. Do bumble bees go to the same flower bed year after year? It really seems like he's flying around scratching his head thinking to himself, "I KNOW there were flowers here...where the heck did they go?" I watched him for at least an hour yesterday. He'd fly off really quick and be back with in 5 minutes and just buzz around in a lazy circle. Very strange. There are other bumbles of the same kind and they aren't putting on this display of behavior. Weirdo.

 

Is there any way to get him to go some where else? hubby says they won't bug you if you don't bug them...but my luck I'd walk out the back door and run right into him.

[Georgie_girl]

Try to trap him and take him to the flowers?

[jettavwdrvr]

Monroefiles -- I have the exact same situation with the bumblebees at my house!  We can't even sit on the front porch or the back deck without getting buzzed!  The big bees just hover, scurry away and come back for more hovering.  We also have a screened in porch with lattice across the bottom...the bumble bees get inside the porch and get trapped in the lattice and die.  So far this Spring, my boyfriend has already picked out 13 bumble bees from inside the lattice. WOW!  He seems to think that the hovering is a form of protecting a source of nectar and possibly a mating ritual.  If you pay close attention, you'll see another bumble bee hover over and they will get into a tussle and buzz around until the other one is run off.  

 

It is true that they won't bother you...I don't even think bumble bees have stingers, but it is still scary to see these fat bees buzzing and hovering around the house!

 

I'm glad you posted this thread as I'm interested in other replies.

[eimilesmom]

.

[lavender]

Honey bees do a "honey dance" that leads other bees to the source of nectar. Whether this works with bumblebees and whether they retain the memory for any length of time, I do not know.

[debhar]

 

Bumblebees can sting, at least the queens and workers can, and their sting is not barbed like that of the honeybee, so they can sting more than once.

 

Male bumblebees cannot sting as they do not have a sting. In males the part of the body that becomes the sting in females becomes the genital capsule  in males, so is used in mating.

[jettavwdrvr]

In speaking to someone at work about this, they mentioned I might be thinking this is a  bumblebee when it is actually a carpenter bee. They mentioned that carpenter bees hover around wooden structures, much like I find on my front porch and back deck, especially the screened in deck with all the lattice.

[Guest mickeyvixie]

LOL...Don't feel bad, I have a nutso carpenter bee/bumblebee/whateverthehugesuckeris  that thinks my antenna topper is a flower or a pretty girl bee or something.  It is constantly flying around in this bizarre dance near the topper.  

 

The topper itself has sparkly fluff (no comments , I like it and makes it super easy to spot the car in a parking lot) on it so I can see why the PITA thing thinks it is something pretty, but GEEZ LOUISE, LET ME IN MY CAR ALREADY!    I can't avoid the annoying thing either cause if I go one way it follows me and if I go to dart around the front of the car it will dive bomb me that way.  Can I borrow your flyswatter Emiliesmom? :X

[Pompeii]

;D ;D ;D ;D

 

 

[WMJ77]

we had them in the ground in our flower beds last year and some how they were getting into our basement(not a good sign).....four or five different holes.....I know I killed at least 30....sorry for you bee lovers and I know they do a service.....but there was still more

[Petee]

Carpenter bees live in holes they drill into unpainted wood so look for sawdust and check to see if they're guarding a home site.  I use the 20 foot shot can.  Just check to make sure you're upwind so you don't spray yourself, and once the dirty deed is done rinse off surfaces that may have accumulated the spray.  Plug the holes with wood putty, then paint, so moisture doesn't start rot.

 

Bees that live in the ground are mean and can be dangerous in that they sting numerous times.  For them, locate the hole in daylight.  After dark very carefully pour a trace of gasoline into the hole, go wash up, then stand way back and toss a match.  If you live near any underground gas lines then you might want to consider some kind of poison although an explosion will also get rid of them and the garden! :-)

 

[Petee]

Bumblebees:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee

[Petee]

Bumblebees:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee

                       http://www.pestproducts.com/bumble-bees.htm

Carpenter Bees:   http://www.getridofthings.com/get-rid-of-carpenter-bees.htm

[sscamaro]

Carpenter bees live in holes they drill into unpainted wood so look for sawdust and check to see if they're guarding a home site.  I use the 20 foot shot can.  Just check to make sure you're upwind so you don't spray yourself, and once the dirty deed is done rinse off surfaces that may have accumulated the spray.  Plug the holes with wood putty, then paint, so moisture doesn't start rot.

 

Bees that live in the ground are mean and can be dangerous in that they sting numerous times. For them, locate the hole in daylight.  After dark very carefully pour a trace of gasoline into the hole, go wash up, then stand way back and toss a match.  If you live near any underground gas lines then you might want to consider some kind of poison although an explosion will also get rid of them and the garden! :-)

 

 

good for the enviroment right?

[PSTeach]

I saw a carpenter bee hovering twice today, in two different places. my MIL has had a problem with them in the past.

[Petee]

 

 

good for the enviroment right?

I would never say that's the best thing for the environment to destroy them but when someone has allergies to bees, or gets stung repeatedly when mowing the grass then it's time for the bees to go.  Otherwise then leave them alone.

 

I've had staredowns with the carpenter bees for years but when one gets aggressive then it's the bee or the hospital.  I hose them out of the greenhouse all the time with the hose on mist.  

[monroefiles]

After looking at the links I'm pretty sure it's a carpenter bee. ehh. Gives me the heebies just thinking about it! We ate outside tonight and hubby came in complaining about the bee on the back porch. He gave him a thud with his hat and the bee was temporarily trapped under it while he went to get a shoe but it flew out. He didn't come back after that, but I ate in a huff and didn't stick around.

 

The wood we used for the deck was originally from a swimming pool deck. Not totally sure if it was treated at one point in time. The wood has to be about 20 years old, give or take.

 

BUT. We are in the middle of remodeling the kitchen and cut wood outside on the back deck. There's tons of saw dust. Maybe that's what has him acting so crazy. ?

 

I have seen two of the bumbles get in a tumble. But they are so quick I can't tell if it's the retard that was dancing over top of the deck or not. I'm not a huge fan of bees (never was) and my Dad is deathly allergic. I've never had any severe reactions from past stings, but I don't like taking my chances either!

 

I'm glad others have seen this weird behavior and it just wasn't my pregnant mind playing a trick on me! I've been a little on the paranoid/over protective side as we get closer to the due date  ;D

[Guest snellma]

We have the same thing only our bees must be on steroids.  They are about three times that big.  They really don't get anywhere near us so I don't worry about them.  We can sit on the deck and they just hover, fly away, and come back and hover.  I keep watching them thinking they are going to start building a nest or digging a hole but so far nothing.

 

We do the gasoline down the hole at night trick but we don't burn it.  We just pour a larger amount of gas down the hole.  One of the biology professors where I worked in VA told me about that trick.  I was nervous the first time I did it but absolutely nothing happened.  The bees go into the hole at night so that is why you have to do it at night.  They never know what hits them

[eimilesmom]

LOL...Don't feel bad, I have a nutso carpenter bee/bumblebee/whateverthehugesuckeris  that thinks my antenna topper is a flower or a pretty girl bee or something.  It is constantly flying around in this bizarre dance near the topper.  

 

The topper itself has sparkly fluff (no comments , I like it and makes it super easy to spot the car in a parking lot) on it so I can see why the PITA thing thinks it is something pretty, but GEEZ LOUISE, LET ME IN MY CAR ALREADY!    I can't avoid the annoying thing either cause if I go one way it follows me and if I go to dart around the front of the car it will dive bomb me that way.  Can I borrow your flyswatter Emiliesmom? :X

Oooo baby - you're so fine - never seen one quite like you! Buzzzzz...LOL!

Carpenter bees are the bane of my existence! You CANNOT get rid of them, we used to have a hive in our garage at my old house and pay an exterminator to come EVERY YEAR, and the next year they came right back! Our garage collapsed in the snow and now those suckers have no home - MWA HA HA it was almost worth it! There are two, just two, that live on the porch of the house where I am at now. They come every year. You can hit them with a bat quite successfully, BTW. Bug spray doesn't work, they're the size of a small chihuahua.

[Tiramisu]

My mom's house had carpenter bees really bad.  I remember the year they showed up and I was about 12.  I showed my dad and thought he should do something about them.  He didn't.

 

  After about five years there were holes drilled EVERYWHERE under the edge of their roof the whole way around their house.   I was the only unfortunate one to actually get stung by one.  I stepped on it and it seriously drilled a hole in the bottom of my toe.  The scream I let out scared my mom half to death because I grew up with boys and got shot with a bow and arrow and pulled it out myself,  and I went two weeks with my arm broken in three places until I finally got a cast so I had a high tolerance for pain.  Let me tell you...that hurt like CRAZY!   My mom had to get the stinger out because it was drilled in and didn't want to come out.  You could see the hole it left in my toe without even trying.

 

WD40 has a straw attached to it now for a reason...lol!   Hubby shoots that in the hole if he sees one starting and the bee immediately falls out of the hole dead.   It smells better than bee spray too.

[monroefiles]

 

Bug spray doesn't work, they're the size of a small chihuahua.

Bahahaha  ;D

 

Bees are the only thing I don't like about summer!

 

I'll have to keep an eye out to see if there's a hole some where. do they only burr into wood? What about in the ground?

[Petee]

Carpenter bees are always in wood, ground wasps are always in the ground.

[Guest snellma]

Brake fluid works wonders and is much cheaper than bee spray.  It kills them as soon as it hits them.

[monroefiles]

I only saw one bumble buzzing around today and he wasn't out for long. I think he's still trying to re-coop from being rocked by my husband's hat yesterday. That and the weather was cucky today.

[sscamaro]

Brake fluid works wonders and is much cheaper than bee spray.  It kills them as soon as it hits them.

great for the enviroment also :-/