Jack T.
Member
This isn't really hunting, but it was so cool I wanted to post a pic. I got home from work today and mom called me to come over and look at one of their trees. This was what I found. . .
Swarm of bees!
- Thread starter Jack T.
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Pretty cool, unless they're killer bees 
Had a swarm of em show up in our yard like that once. Mass of em bigger than a basketball hanging in a blue spruce.
Luckily, we were friends with the guy who was the county currator for bees. He came over with a portable hive, basically a box with picture frame like combs you could slide in and out. Put some cottonwood bark in a little oil can lookin thing to smoke them with and proceeded to dig the queen out of the middle and put her in the hive. The rest followed and he was out of there in about 2 hours. It was pretty cool.
Had a swarm of em show up in our yard like that once. Mass of em bigger than a basketball hanging in a blue spruce.
Luckily, we were friends with the guy who was the county currator for bees. He came over with a portable hive, basically a box with picture frame like combs you could slide in and out. Put some cottonwood bark in a little oil can lookin thing to smoke them with and proceeded to dig the queen out of the middle and put her in the hive. The rest followed and he was out of there in about 2 hours. It was pretty cool.
Greybeard
Member
Good pix. ' Hope it was with a zoom lense!
gun-fucious
Member
wheres my WD 40 and bic lighter?
standingbear
Member
never attempt to knock down one of those hornets nests that look like a volleyball.i did early one morning thinking it was too cold for them to fly.immediatly learned they will swarm on anything that irratates their nests and they can move quickly even on a cold morning.was almost fatal.
Steps for removing a hornets nest:
materials-tree trimming pole ( 20ft is good), 1 quart jar or large bottle, duct tape, paper towel,gasoline, matches.
1. duct tape bottle to end of pole
2. fill bottle with gasoline
3. pour over top of nest
4. Stuff paper towel halfway into bottle
5. light towel
6. make the nest go WOOOSHHHHH!
Obviously, you don't want to do this on your house. Out in a tree, providing its not a high risk of starting an out of control fire (like a drought, tons of pine needles underneath etc.) This is the most effective thing I've ever done. Sprays take time to work and have to soak in enough to get on all of them. A little "spontaneous" combustion is nearly instant, POOF!
A heat shrink torch is pretty fun for yellowjackets/wasp nests too. The little fellas burn surprisingly well.
materials-tree trimming pole ( 20ft is good), 1 quart jar or large bottle, duct tape, paper towel,gasoline, matches.
1. duct tape bottle to end of pole
2. fill bottle with gasoline
3. pour over top of nest
4. Stuff paper towel halfway into bottle
5. light towel
6. make the nest go WOOOSHHHHH!
Obviously, you don't want to do this on your house. Out in a tree, providing its not a high risk of starting an out of control fire (like a drought, tons of pine needles underneath etc.) This is the most effective thing I've ever done. Sprays take time to work and have to soak in enough to get on all of them. A little "spontaneous" combustion is nearly instant, POOF!
A heat shrink torch is pretty fun for yellowjackets/wasp nests too. The little fellas burn surprisingly well.
They look like honey bees to me.As the number of bees in a hive increases the hive will then split, half the bees leave with a new queen and look for a new home. They are very docile at this time and a bee keeper can easily catch them and put them in a hive.
45-auto
Member
Mete has it right.
They look like ordinary honeybees to me.
They're just looking for a new home and are usually pretty mellow while they're swarming like this.
They look like ordinary honeybees to me.
They're just looking for a new home and are usually pretty mellow while they're swarming like this.
Gordy Wesen
Member
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- 422
My brother-in-law and I went after a nest of bald faced hornets like that one evening. I ued a hornet spray several times and then they came out. My oh my. We beat it for the door and made it into the house un-stung. In the morning we found hundreds of them had forced themselves as far as they could into the cracks in the windows, doors and siding. Spooky.
standingbear
Member
ive seen them attack a bird and kill it in short order.there was a crow flying around erratically last summer then i saw that something was after it.everywhere it went,they followed and caught it in a bush.its amazing that they dont give up but chased the crow until it stopped and finished it off.after the commotion had died down and i thought it was safe enough to sneak over there,there lay the crow with dozens on them still crawling around it.was kinda funny watch the crow at first but after i saw what was going on,i got inside and watched from the car.are bees normally that agressive?
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
standingbear, that sounds like the behavior of the Africanized bees. In what part of the country were you, when you saw this?
That's not common behavior for "normal" honeybees.
Art
That's not common behavior for "normal" honeybees.
Art
standingbear
Member
this was in ohio,last july.i didnt think those agressive type bees got this far up?maybe the crow was agitating them.dumb ol me had to see where they were living and ventured back in the woods.they had a nest inside a stump,i could clearly see the combs.they were everywhere,not in a flying clump as i saw earlier,just scattered about.what a sight.i avoided that end of the woods for the rest of the summer.
Preacherman
Member
Another bee story...
From the Kansas City Channel Web site (http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/2286651/detail.html):
Bees Swarm Highway After Tractor-Trailer Wrecks
Crews Work To Clean Up Millions Of Bees
POSTED: 6:49 a.m. CDT June 23, 2003
UPDATED: 10:38 p.m. CDT June 23, 2003
CLAYCOMO, Mo. -- Crews said about 25 million honeybees were inadvertently released after a tractor-trailer wrecked on an area highway over the weekend. Monday evening, about 12 million bees remained on the loose, KMBC's Bev Chapman reported.
The accident happened Sunday at Interstate 435 and Interstate 35 north when a tractor-trailer carrying more than 500 beehives, which carry thousands of bees each, flipped on its side. The cargo spilled all over the highway, forcing crews to shut down an off ramp for a time.
Bee handlers suited up to wrangle the honeybees back into hives. Workers said they would be able to capture most of the bees, but some would have to be destroyed.
"We're going to have 80-to-90 percent of them. Some of them are just going to have to be sprayed and killed in the long run," said Rheuben Johnson, a bee specialist working at the crash scene.
Paramedics in the area kept injections on hand in case anyone suffered an allergic reaction from a bee sting. As of Monday evening, no one had to be treated for stings.
Residents who live in the area said that they will be glad when the bees are gone.
"It just makes you nervous seeing that many bees in one area. I have two little ones and they are in the house right now and not allowed to come out," a woman told KMBC.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt. He was cited for careless and imprudent driving, Chapman reported.
An Iowa farmer owns the bees, which were being taken to Wisconsin to help pollinate cranberry bogs.
From the Kansas City Channel Web site (http://www.thekansascitychannel.com/news/2286651/detail.html):
Bees Swarm Highway After Tractor-Trailer Wrecks
Crews Work To Clean Up Millions Of Bees
POSTED: 6:49 a.m. CDT June 23, 2003
UPDATED: 10:38 p.m. CDT June 23, 2003
CLAYCOMO, Mo. -- Crews said about 25 million honeybees were inadvertently released after a tractor-trailer wrecked on an area highway over the weekend. Monday evening, about 12 million bees remained on the loose, KMBC's Bev Chapman reported.
The accident happened Sunday at Interstate 435 and Interstate 35 north when a tractor-trailer carrying more than 500 beehives, which carry thousands of bees each, flipped on its side. The cargo spilled all over the highway, forcing crews to shut down an off ramp for a time.
Bee handlers suited up to wrangle the honeybees back into hives. Workers said they would be able to capture most of the bees, but some would have to be destroyed.
"We're going to have 80-to-90 percent of them. Some of them are just going to have to be sprayed and killed in the long run," said Rheuben Johnson, a bee specialist working at the crash scene.
Paramedics in the area kept injections on hand in case anyone suffered an allergic reaction from a bee sting. As of Monday evening, no one had to be treated for stings.
Residents who live in the area said that they will be glad when the bees are gone.
"It just makes you nervous seeing that many bees in one area. I have two little ones and they are in the house right now and not allowed to come out," a woman told KMBC.
The driver of the tractor-trailer was not hurt. He was cited for careless and imprudent driving, Chapman reported.
An Iowa farmer owns the bees, which were being taken to Wisconsin to help pollinate cranberry bogs.
Art Eatman
Moderator In Memoriam
Wuz reading a few years back of the national-level concern over the decline in the numbers of bees. No bees, no pollination on many food crops. Blooms not pollinated, no "fruit"--whether cranberries or other crops.
The truckload of bees of which Preacherman posted is a result of the decline, buying and moving bees from where they are to where they used to be.
Art
The truckload of bees of which Preacherman posted is a result of the decline, buying and moving bees from where they are to where they used to be.
Art
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