Thank you. I'm going to keep this and make notes.
Bumblebee: Will build a nest under my step into my storage shed. Will become agitated when I bounce the push mower off the step. Will sting me twice. Will chase me as I run away and sting me twice more while I'm running and twice more when I stop. Will chase me as I run approximately 70 yards away (that's a really long way for an older guy with bad parts) and sting me three more times when I stop again. After finally escaping into the house, these bees will gloat over me being sick for two days from the stings. i don't try to pet them.
The rest of the list is dead-on accurate.
Many years ago, I ran over a yellow jacket nest with a lawn mover. They chased me running back to the house and I couldn’t return to the still-running mover for a couple of hours. They hold a grudge.
The poster is correct about the big, fat, slow bumblebees, but apparently whoever did it has never encountered the littler, really nasty version that will sting--hard--at the drop of a hat.
cdayton wrote:
Many years ago, I ran over a yellow jacket nest with a lawn mover. They chased me running back to the house and I couldn’t return to the still-running mover for a couple of hours. They hold a grudge.
We have a large landscape box made of railroad ties. We have a tree planted in it. A few years ago, a yellow jacket stung me on the ankle as it was mowing past the box. I got a couple of cans of wasp and hornet spray that shoots about 7-8 feet. I very patiently squatted down near the box and saw the opening between the ties where they were coming and going. I would nail them as they came out and went in. I went through two cans of the spray and part of a third and had a nice little pile of them when they quit flying in and and out, probably a double handful. No more problems. Thought that might make you feel better.
So true about the yellow jackets. Really nasty little critters.
You can spray them with diesel fuel or kerosene too , as they breathe through their bodies.
Bigmike1
Loc: I am from Gaffney, S.C. but live in Utah.
I have never tried to pet a bumble bee and don't think I want to try. I have had plenty of experience with yellow jackets. They thrive in the south where I grew up. Their sting is very painful. I love honey bees. I raised them before I left South Carolina. I took the top off a hive once and was watching them and got too close when one of them flew up and popped me right between the eyes.
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