Re: Fw: Bee's swarming

In a message dated 99-05-25 02:15:53 EDT, you write:

<< Do domestic honeybees chase off yellow jackets or is it the other way
 around. I'm allergic (highly sensitive really) to honeybees, but they
 are of course much more friendly then them nasty yellow jackets.  Our
 old home (just 30 minutes away) had lots of yellow jackets, even
 about our dozen fruit trees.  >>

    Usually yellow jackets and honeybees ignore each other. Yellow jackets do 
not build up very large populations until midsumer to fall. In the fall the 
situation changes. All during brood rearing season, yellow jackets catch 
other insects to feed to the brood. The brood secretes sugars, which the 
adults eat. In the late summer/fall, when brood rearing is done, no more 
brood sugar is available and the adults get frantic for sugar (they need the 
energy to power their wing muscles).  At that time, they become major pests 
for humans and honeybees.

    A few yellow jackets trying to get into a hive are usually met with 
guards that kill them or drive them off. But, if they come in overwhelming 
numbers, or if the hive is weak, yellow jackets will overwhelm them and steal 
their honey. The hive dies.
 
    <<My father raised honeybees as a kid in 4-H, but he is deadly allergic
 to honey bee stings as well as my brother.  Neither of us fear bees
 though.  My son at 4 years of age called me outside one day to show
 me a ''trick''... waited for a Bumble bee to land on a flower and
 carefully petted it... it was just darling... I did have to get after
 him for ''trapping'' them into the foxglove blooms. Children!>>

    Lots of folks thing they are allergic when they are not. Has your father 
been diagnosed by a competent allergist?  If he really is allergic, there is 
a series of treatments to build up his resistance, and I would run, not walk, 
to get treated. After all, anyone outdoors is susceptible to a sting at any 
time.  But most allergy scares are just normal swelling, or some general 
practitioner trying to cover his butt, placing a scare story into a patient 
(you know, you could DIE, if you are stung again!).

    Some emergency room visits result from an interaction with pain medicines 
in the ibuprofen family. The only time I have ever had a systemic reaction, 
was when I was taking a pain killer after surgery and was stung once. Scared 
the daylights out of me, because this is my livelihood. When the medication 
cleared my system, I had no further problem.  Emergency room physicians often 
do not even ask about pain killer medicines, and do not recognize the cause.
 
 <<Here at our new home in Douglas Fir Forest land of Pacific Northwest,
 I was very surprised at all the mason bees and Bumble bees we have. 
 They love my flowers and old roses. Only a few yellow jackets and
 honeybees. Would an introduction of honeybees (only a few small fruit
 trees in my new garden and a dozen or so old homestead fruit trees
 within a mile or so)  chase off the lovely Bumble Bees? >>

    Generally honeybees and other bees work different niches, though they 
overlap some. They don't usually interfere with each other.  Many wild 
flowers are pollinated by wild native bees, while our main food crops, (which 
like the honeybee are introduced from other places) are honeybee pollinated.
 
 <<Basically, what's the ''pecking order" (if any) of these four bees? 
 Aren't Yellow Jackets pests or do they pollinate?>>

   Yellow jackets (and hornets) are valuable preditors on other insects for 
the early part of the season. They'll keep your cabbage patch clean of 
cabbage worms.  In the fall, when they go for sugar, they will visit flowers 
and accomplish some pollination. They are nowhere near as fuzzy as a bee, so 
not as well designed for pollination.

    They can be major pests, especially the introduced german yellow jacket 
in the fall, when the populations are high, and they are crazed for sugar. 
They are the ones that'll get into your Kool-Aid at the Labor Day picnic, 
into your garbage can, dumpsters, etc.
 
 <<Dried Rose Geranium or Lemon Geraniums leaves soaked in fresh honey
 is most yummy.  >>

    Never tried that. You just eat them that way, or make a tea, or what?

Dave Green   SC  USA
The Pollination Home Page   http://www.pollinator.com
The Pollination Scene   http://members.aol.com/pollinator/polpage1.html

Jan's Sweetness and Light Shop on the Internet  (honey & beeswax candles)
http://members.aol.com/SweetnessL/sweetlit.htm
Other Mailing lists | Author Index | Date Index | Subject Index | Thread Index