We have very aggressive ground dwelling bees in my area. I am highly allergic and have to carry an EpiPen with me at all times and had to use it on Thanksgiving Day. The swelling finally left on Saturday after carrying around a lump on my arm 8 inches long and 3 inches wide with a lot of fever in it. Just so happened to visit friends yesterday and they had a super trap set up. A big jar with about 3 inches of apple juice in the bottom, with a funnel sitting on top. About 100 of those ground bees had climbed in, couldn't get out and drowned. I set one up on the deck yesterday and so far have about a dozen in there. I am resting a lot easier now, and thought I would pass it on to anyone else with little ones around or biggun's that are allergic.

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), November 26, 2001

Answers

those arent bees,, they are wasps,, sounds like yellow jackets

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 26, 2001.

Lovely Idea! I'll try it next year when the blackberries are ripe. I KNOW they have a big nest there: I just have no safe way of finding it!!!!!

-- terri (hooperterri@prodigy.net), November 26, 2001.

yellow jackets, hornets, mud dabbers, wasps, etc are NOT part of the (bee)Apis Genus, they are Wasps... Bees are bees and Wasps are wasps. Wasps are carnivorous, bees are not.

Sorry, but as a beekeeper, It gets rather old for bees to take the bad rap for wasps. Off the top of my head, I cannot think of any bees that are grounds dwelling.

-- Laura (LauramLeek@yahoo.com), November 26, 2001.

THANK YOU Laura. I,m sorry about people having an allergy to bees,BUT Like the lady said bees are bees and wasps are wasps, In this case it sounds like yellow jackets They die off in the fall after a hard frost The queen overwinters in a wood pile ,bark etc.

-- Bill (Billshsfrm@aol.com), November 26, 2001.

Another important difference between Bees and Wasps is that Bees are NOT aggressive, unless you directly attack the hive itself. Bees do NOT build hives in the ground or in paper nests. They only colonize cavities in rotted out trees, stumps, logs, buildings, etc. Rarely they will build comb out in the open. The comb is only made of wax and hangs straight down. It requires strong support because when loaded with honey it becomes very heavy. Honey bees that are "out and about" collecting nectar and pollen will not sting you unless they accidently get caught in hair or clothing and you start to squish them. They will then curl up and sting in self defense. A honey bee loaded with pollen or nectar can barely fly. If you are standing in her flight path, she may not be able to navigate around you and may accidently bump into you. If this happens, just let her be and she will get back in flight on her own.

-- Skip in Western WA (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), November 26, 2001.

If you find the hole put a hand full of 7 dust on it and it will get them all within a day. In your case have someone put it on the hole.

-- Mel Kelly (melkelly@webtv.net), November 26, 2001.

Carole--so sorry about your allergy--that's very scarey.

I do hope that people who are not allergic will not be trying this method because there is already such a need for pollinating creatures.

I used to be terribly afraid of bees until I spent alot of time working on our barn. I noticed that they were "smelling" me and that they would gradually leave me alone--something I'd never considered me. I didn't get stung once--although I was working near nests.

One thought though: I hope you are careful not to use any scent (even in shampoo or lip gloss or hand lotion) and that you wear white as much as possible outdoors (or at least now flowery looking colors) as that attracts stinging insects.

-- Ann Markson (tngreenacres@hotmail.com), November 26, 2001.

SKip,, your incorrect,, some bees WILL nest in the ground,, bumble bee for one,, but getting stung by a bumble is very rare,, I grab them from the air,, and seems like you cant make them sting

-- stan (sopal@net-port.com), November 26, 2001.

Bees/Wasps - This reminds me of the time I used the words graze and browse interchangably with unexpected results! :) Anyway, there are pictures in the Epipen literature showing the difference between bees, wasps, hornets and yellow jackets. These looked like bees to me, but I could be very wrong and for certain I will look them up on the net to be certain. Normally they buzz around and check me out or walk around the rim of what ever I happen to be drinking. I don't bother them, they don't bother me ( but I shake in my boots. I hate emergency rooms, hate going into shock and really REALLY hate giving myself a shot) This one didn't attack me, it was sitting on the rail of the deck minding his own beeswax,(ahem) and I layed my arm down on top of it and it did the natural thing. Hm. wonder where that expression" now isn't that the beesknees!" came from. Anyone know?

-- Carole (carle@earthlink.net), November 26, 2001.

I'd surmise (but don't know for sure) that the "bee's knees" saying originated when pantaloons were in style. Bees have (during the pollen season) very GORGEOUS big yellow fluffy knees - at least while they're flying slowly back to the hive, which is when people notice them.

-- Don Armstrong (darmst@yahoo.com.au), November 27, 2001.

Carole, I had yellowjackets eating the ceiling of my livingroom. They made a large nest, as a matter of fact, three large nests where found. The exterminator explained that the traps don't get rid of the nests because the queen is still there. As a matter of fact, he said, they draw more bees because they come for the food and communicate that to others. The queen has to be killed, nest removed and access denied. In my case, I have chemical problems and found someone who used a green product called ECO. If like Mel said, you can get someone to put Seven in the nest, it will be totally destroyed, not just getting a few at a time that the queen replaces.

-- Dee (gdgtur@goes.com), November 27, 2001.