# Getting stung just working in my back yard!!!



## GBov (May 4, 2008)

And they are NOT my bees doing it!!!

My son got a bee in his hair two days ago and it stung him. Well, I thought, it might just have gotten tangled up.

Then yesterday I was strafed by several bees.

Today I am sporting two stings under my upper arm and one on my back.

I had to kit up totally with gloves and veil and boots and jacket to just finish feeding the rabbits, most of the time one or two bees were aggressively trying to get into my head gear.

Standing right beside the flight path of OUR bees they would swerve a bit to fly past and then into the hive. Not aggressiveness at all but all the time, one or two of these mega nasty bees were having a go at me.

What the HECK is going on?!?

Why are we getting stung in our back yard with no hive other than our calm bees in sight?

One of the nasty bees flew up from the little wildlife pond we have for the bees to drink from safely and its near there that I am picking up my strafe-rs. Are they guarding the water? Or what?

And most importantly of all............................

WHAT DO I DO ABOUT IT????

Three piglets, 50ish rabbits, 9 pigeons and 8 quail all live in the back yard, along with three small kids who play out there. Its really important we sort this out!


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Sorry about the multi posts, the computer kept telling me it hadn't posted gre:

If anyone can delete the other two threads on my problem I would be grateful.


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## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

hmm, thats a lot of animals and activity around hives. in general, bees don.t like any kind of fur. are you sure they are not from your hive? are your hives on high alert?,,highly guarded at the entrance? is robbing occuring? any rapid or jerky movements are liable to cause aggresion. any strong smell,,,,good or bad? anything vibrating the hives?


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## galee (Apr 29, 2008)

You may have a feral hive in the woods nearby. They may have africanized genes making them more aggressive. See if you can find out where they are coming from. Maybe put down something sweet and try to follow the feeders backwards. If you find a feral hive, IMHO I would not try to capture it but destroy it instead. Your "calm" bees could be africanized if they make a new queen and she meets with the feral drones on a mating flight, then your calm hive will get hot fairly quickly. We have problems with this in our area of S. FL. That is why we requeen every 6 months and split regularly to try to avoid swarming. We never try to capture a swarm unless we see it leave one of our hives. Good luck---I hate "hot" bees--ever since I was bush-hogging near the hives(15 ft) and threw something out that hit the hive and they chased me across the pasture all the way to the house. I was stripping clothes off as I went and was nekkid by the time I got inside. Needless to say my DH was surprised.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

ace admirer said:


> hmm, thats a lot of animals and activity around hives. in general, bees don.t like any kind of fur. are you sure they are not from your hive? *are your hives on high alert*?,,highly guarded at the entrance? is robbing occuring? *any rapid or jerky movements* are liable to cause aggresion. any *strong smell,*,,,good or bad? anything *vibrating the hives*?


I watched the hives for a long time - once I was in full gear - and they dont seem any different than normal. They just go in and out, in and out, in and out. If they were in high alert wouldnt there be more guards at the door, rather than the normal five or six checking in the bees? 

It was hard to tell but a few times a bee would land and another bee would confront it, they would walk in circles and then I would loose them in the crowd. I dont know if they were seen off or let in, its hard to keep track.

And none of the above. Either standing looking at the pond, walking gently between rabbit cages so as to not upset any new mums or, well, just the same kind of things we always do. Eldest son was stung while watching me turn loose a frog into the tiny wildlife pond where the bees all drink.



galee said:


> You may have a feral hive in the woods nearby. They may have africanized genes making them more aggressive. See if you can find out where they are coming from. Maybe put down something sweet and try to follow the feeders backwards. If you find a feral hive, IMHO I would not try to capture it but destroy it instead. Your "calm" bees could be africanized if they make a new queen and she meets with the feral drones on a mating flight, then your calm hive will get hot fairly quickly. We have problems with this in our area of S. FL. That is why we requeen every 6 months and split regularly to try to avoid swarming. We never try to capture a swarm unless we see it leave one of our hives. Good luck---I hate "hot" bees--ever since I was bush-hogging near the hives(15 ft) and threw something out that hit the hive and they chased me across the pasture all the way to the house. I was stripping clothes off as I went and was nekkid by the time I got inside. *Needless to say my DH was surprised*.


So was mine as I went blasting past stripping my shirt off yelling for the vaccuum to get the bees out of my hair lol.


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## mtnmenagerie (Jun 16, 2007)

Sounds like a feral hive that's close by. 
To track feral bees my Grampa, when he was a young boy, used to dust the bees with flour so that he could spot them flying (I've used powdered sugar).


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

mtnmenagerie said:


> Sounds like a feral hive that's close by.
> To track feral bees my Grampa, when he was a young boy, used to dust the bees with flour so that he could spot them flying (I've used powdered sugar).


Ugh, JUST what I DONT need!

So to track them do I put down a saucer of honey, dust the bees with flour or sugar adn then watch them fly off to check the direction they go?

Then what?

My gut feeling is that they are coming to our bees source of water, a heavily planted wildlife pond. We filled it with plants so the bees could walk down and drink without any risk.

Why are the feral bees killing themselves to sting us when we are no where near their hive and just going about our normal business?


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## ace admirer (Oct 5, 2005)

hmmm, bees sting to protect THEIR hive from what they perceive to be a threat in varing radius from the hive depending if they have been drawn out by threats. this could be a 100 yards or so if threat was recent.

bees sting individually, remote to hive when the bee individual is threatened physically.

the african,,,,,i have no experience with,,,nor do i want to....


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## mtnmenagerie (Jun 16, 2007)

That's just it, I think they would have to be somewhere very near there. So, yep, track them down and as bad as I hate to say it... with bees that are that aggressive, they may need to be done away with. You can't be attacked for being in your back yard!! And if it does happen to be your bees, requeen right away!
I hope someone else chimes in with a better solution!


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

After the livestock auction tomorrow I am going to suit up and do a walk through of everything I did right before the attack.

I washed the pool filter and filled the little pond up and wham, that is when they got me.

But with protection I will be able to watch them and see what is going on.

I will set out some honey and mark some bees on Sunday when I have time to watch them.

The kids fed up today with their normal noisy selves and the bees didnt give a toss but we left it very late so it was cool and dusky dark.


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

You don't need to mark them. set out some syrup then fallow them as far asy you can with your eyes. then move to that point and follow them farther. You can even move the syrup to the point you last seen them. 
It is about the same steps as the old timers used called lining to find bee trees and such.

Sure sounds like a colony of afh bees around the area.

 Al


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## earthdance (Dec 31, 2011)

A few summers ago when I lived in a house with a rather small yard, I had similar issues. Usually it was after I had 'entered' the hive for maintenance reasons that the bees would be 'on alert' for about three days afterward. During that time I had to be careful while I was in the yard. One day they chased me right back into the house and tried to get inside. A bit unnerving. That particular hive was pure Carniolan bees. Now I have ten acres and know better to have put my hives too close to the garden or house. They are out near the barn, surrounded be a high privacy fence on all sides to make a 'bee yard'. They have swarmed so many times in the last two years that they are no longer pure Carnie but a mix of native too. Whenever I suit up and get in the hive I personally think they are more aggressive than 'normal' bees, certainly more than Italians, but they do well and give me lots of honey. I tried Italians one time and they didn't last the winter. So I'm not sure what to tell you if you can't have the hive quite a distance from your outside activities, and it isn't some feral hive (don't understand why they would attack either), your only other option is to re-queen on some sort of schedule I suppose, or sell the hive for now. Sorry to hear about the problem, its no fun to not be comfortable in your own yard, always on edge and ready to duck and run. More concerning is for your children and the joy they should get from being outdoors, not being in fear. I hope you find a solution you can all live with.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

earthdance said:


> A few summers ago when I lived in a house with a rather small yard, I had similar issues. Usually it was after I had 'entered' the hive for maintenance reasons that the bees would be 'on alert' for about three days afterward. During that time I had to be careful while I was in the yard. One day they chased me right back into the house and tried to get inside. A bit unnerving. That particular hive was pure Carniolan bees. Now I have ten acres and know better to have put my hives too close to the garden or house. They are out near the barn, surrounded be a high privacy fence on all sides to make a 'bee yard'. They have swarmed so many times in the last two years that they are no longer pure Carnie but a mix of native too. Whenever I suit up and get in the hive I personally think they are more aggressive than 'normal' bees, certainly more than Italians, but they do well and give me lots of honey. I tried Italians one time and they didn't last the winter. So I'm not sure what to tell you if you can't have the hive quite a distance from your outside activities, and it isn't some feral hive (don't understand why they would attack either), your only other option is to re-queen on some sort of schedule I suppose, or sell the hive for now. Sorry to hear about the problem, its no fun to not be comfortable in your own yard, always on edge and ready to duck and run. More concerning is for your children and the joy they should get from being outdoors, not being in fear. I hope you find a solution you can all live with.


Right now I am tending tward taking what honey they have made so far and selling both hives.

My kids and I are moving in with my mum for the next 9 months and hubbs doesnt eat honey so its a bit wasted to just put supers on and leave them to their own devices.

I know that bee stings get stronger the older the bee is so by the feel of my arm those two bees that got me there must have been about a thousand years old lol.


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## Queen Bee (Apr 7, 2004)

I know you are a beekeeper so this seems like a crazy question BUT are you sure they are not Yellow Jackets?? 

I had one hive several yrs ago that was HOT but they never bothered me unless I went into the hive..I requeened them three times and they were still hot.. I threatened to use Raid on them... They finally died out and it was the only time I was happy to lose a hive!! I hope you find them before they find you again... good luck.


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

Queen Bee said:


> I know you are a beekeeper so this seems like a crazy question BUT are you sure they are not Yellow Jackets??
> 
> I had one hive several yrs ago that was HOT but they never bothered me unless I went into the hive..I requeened them three times and they were still hot.. I threatened to use Raid on them... They finally died out and it was the only time I was happy to lose a hive!! I hope you find them before they find you again... good luck.


Not a crazy question at all as they act a LOT like these bees are doing! But I whacked one out of the air (after I put my kit on) and covered it really quick with my feed scoop. The plan was to cover it with a glass - quickly snatched out of the shed - and have a really good long look at it but it managed to elude me but it was, most definitely, a honey bee.

Funny thing is, before I put a proper end on our hose, I had honey bees each summer getting very possessive of the open end of hte hose and all those little crystally gunky bits that grow inside garden hoses here.


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## jakerobinson (Dec 3, 2010)

I just had a similar experience a few days ago. This is a colony place just over the fence in my small 1/4 acre lot (so my backyard is very small). I made an agreement with the neighbor farmer to place my hive on his side of the fence to make my wife a bit happier. Anyway, the hive that is there is the result of recusing a fairly large colony out of a lady's garage. Later, I rescued some bees from a tree and they abandoned the hive I set up and merged with the "garage" bees. This was last summer and they got along famously. I never had a problem coming up to their hive, weedeating around it... walking up to the edge of the hive to observe them coming/going. 

Now, it is still winter here in TN but on warm days they get really really busy... like, they beard up on the front of the hive and seems like they are getting ready to swarm.

This is a very strong hive. 3 medium supers and they are cram-packed. 

I decided to take a super of honey from the freezer I had stored and thaw it out and add it to the top of this hive in order to make sure they had plenty of room/food through the spring. 

I walked up to the hive with the intention to take a few photos of bees with lots of pollen on them. When I got within about 10' I was dive-bombed by about 3 bees... they "headbutted" me several times and I immediately froze in place and slowly started to ease away... Then 2 bees went into my hair and was buzzing really loudly.. not like a docil bee that may land on you and walk around then fly off... These bees were buzzzbzzbzzzzz as loud and hard as they can. I determined they intended to sting me... but I didn't want to try and knock them off too close to a ton of front porch bees with nothin' better to do but target me... so I was easing when I felt a sting to the underside of my upper are (I was wearing a short sleeve shirt) then one of the two in my hair tagged me... I still had to brush it out but it took 7 or 8 hand-slaps to get her off. I move a bit quicker and went inside and had to my pocket knife out and scrape my scalp to get the stinger out and the same to my arm. The 3rd bee either didn't sting or I just didn't feel it. I am certain if I had not retreated I would have gotten hit more than that.

I hope I can chalk this up to not having smoke... a shirt that was not white (but not really dark either)

Later, I appraoched my compost pile which is on the inside of my fence and thus, further away than my earlier incident. I was at least 20' away and I had to stop cause I got headbutted at least 3 times in a blink. I hightailed it out of there.

The next day it was much warmer (near 60 F) and I geared up smoker blazing and I was able to add the super with almost no interest from the bees... I didn't use gloves (never do) and I may have had one or two headbutts. So, who knows, maybe without smoke you are just asking for guard bees to do what they are tasked to do... 

Don't know if this is related, but maybe it is just spring fever... or risking results of not using a smoker... (yeah, i know you weren't working the hive and you were not that close -but bees will be bees)


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## GBov (May 4, 2008)

jakerobinson said:


> I just had a similar experience a few days ago. This is a colony place just over the fence in my small 1/4 acre lot (so my backyard is very small). I made an agreement with the neighbor farmer to place my hive on his side of the fence to make my wife a bit happier. Anyway, the hive that is there is the result of recusing a fairly large colony out of a lady's garage. Later, I rescued some bees from a tree and they abandoned the hive I set up and merged with the "garage" bees. This was last summer and they got along famously. I never had a problem coming up to their hive, weedeating around it... walking up to the edge of the hive to observe them coming/going.
> 
> Now, it is still winter here in TN but on warm days they get really really busy... like, they beard up on the front of the hive and seems like they are getting ready to swarm.
> 
> ...


I got bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzed yesterday so I suited up right quick but no interest after that so I stripped it off again, its just too hot!

But I moved what I was doing to the other side of the yard lol.

Set out honey plates yesterday and watched them for a bit. Many of the bees set out to the left of the yard and many more went straight out over the back fence so yep, more hives in the area than just ours.

But we are moving in two days for 9 months so I will worry about it all when we get back. Having to move 40ish rabbits on Sat. is enough to be worrying about ound:


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## thenance007 (Mar 18, 2013)

I had exactly the same experience about 2 weeks ago--3 kamikaze bees hit me without warning over a 10 minute period when I was working about 25 ft. from my bees. I chalked it up either to the new conditioner I used that day (Garnier Fructis Sleek & Shine) or the odor of my dog on my shirt. I've been buzzed once or twice since but not stung. There was not head butt warning--just bam! Maybe they are all new bees and don't recognize us from last fall? Although I've fed them for the past month. . .


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## jakerobinson (Dec 3, 2010)

alleyyooper said:


> You don't need to mark them. set out some syrup then fallow them as far asy you can with your eyes. then move to that point and follow them farther. You can even move the syrup to the point you last seen them.
> It is about the same steps as the old timers used called lining to find bee trees and such.
> 
> Sure sounds like a colony of afh bees around the area.
> ...


Al, just to pile on - you've heard the term "Make a bee-line" for something?

So, "lining" is also called making a 'bee-line' - to locate feral bees and find their hive so you could relocate them to your apiary... who'd thought?


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## jakerobinson (Dec 3, 2010)

thenance007 said:


> Maybe they are all new bees and don't recognize us from last fall? Although I've fed them for the past month. . .


Actually, bees only have a 3 day memory! They forget things over three days long. If you want to move a bee hive from one location to another... the rule of thumb is to close up the hive and move it but don't open it back up for at least three days... or else when foragers leave the hive they will return to the original location and not find anything their and not make it back to the new spot... so, as long as there is a repeat within 3 days (you come by every three days) they would at least know you from this 3 day -memory window... (at least this is what I understand)


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