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Nad R · 02-02-2011, 07:42 PM posted to rec.gardens

Billy wrote:
In article ,
Nad R wrote:

hollierose wrote:
Nad R;911836 Wrote:
hollierose wrote:-
Nad R;911766 Wrote: -
hollierose wrote:-
I filled in the questionnaire. I'd like to keep bees, it's just
time,
I don't have much of it and I don't have the right outdoor space, that
and I don't know very much about them either.. Although I do like
them.
They are lovely creatures.
-

Lovely creatures? Bees can KILL.

Yorkshire Terriers, now they are lovely creatures. Like a few other
creatures, they can only harm your heart and your wallet

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)-

Bees, unlike wasps, only sting when they are very scared.. And they
can
die when they sting too. So because they don't do it to be spiteful, I
don't hold it against them.
-

When near a hive, if ONE bees stings you, it can sets off a hormone
that
bees react to. If bees in the hive detect that hormone, Almost ALL the
bees
in that hive will come out and sting that same spot or nearby that
first
sting.

Now that is where that smoker comes in, it blocks that chemical hormone
so
other bees may not know about. The smoke confuses the bees. So one sting
or
two should have no effect on the other bees. Without the suit or the
smoker.... RUN if you can! Also carry an injectable drug called
Epinephrine, just in case.

One odd thing, the queen can sting as much as she wants without dying.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)

Thanks, I learnt something new there! To be honest even though I don't
really mind bees I would never approach a beehive. I find it odd that
the queen can sting as much as she likes without dying, am I correct
when I see she is significantly larger than the other bees? - that's
what I've been told, if so, that's pretty interesting too and I wonder
why that is. :S

Queens are larger but rarely seen. One queen to about thirty thousand
drones. If you see a swarm there is a queen in the middle. It will be a
young queen that does this. Once the colony finds a home, empty log or
another hive. The queen never leaves the hive, lives it's entire life in
the dark, becomes blind and makes more bees. The worker bees and drones
serve the queen, feeds it royal jelly and protects it.

In the north, honey bees typically will not survive the winter without a
hive. So many do not worry about swarms in the north. Honey bees are not
native to the Americas. Honey bees comes from Europe. The Italian bees are
the mildest and the most commonly used by beekeepers.

Now the most common bee one sees in the garden in the americas are bumble
bees, they do not produce honey for human use and are native to the
Americas.

To me the Bumble Bee is the cool one and probably the one that is in the
most danger of survival.

Just so we keep this in focus, "animals provide pollination services for
over three-quarters of the staple crop plants that feed human kind and
for 90% of all flowering plants in the world."
http://www.pmac.net/birdbee.htm

Man, them carpenter bees look like bad dudes ;O)

The mean ones are the yellow jackets here. Many call them wasp, I still
think of them as bees. However yellow jackets pollenate also.

--
Enjoy Life... Nad R (Garden in zone 5a Michigan)