Aggressive black bees?

[The kid]

Okay I have been attacked like 6 times now and stung twice by these black colored bees. And they always attack my head/face. They are roughly the same size as a regular honey bee (have those too) except instead of being mostly yellow these are mostly black. you know if you see one flying past your face. No clue where the nest is and I always get attacked by a lone ranger.

I googled a little and most refer to accounts of a aggressive black bee as being a wasp. sorry we have mud dobbers, yellow jackets, and red wasps here and its not a wasp. wasps have a completely different body shape. This bad boy is aggressive too I would say more so then a yellow jacket. I can routinely walk past a YJ nest and not be bothered. I have yet to even find the nest of these black bees.

Maybe I need to try and catch one

this is in central tx.

Anyone know what these are called?

Sounds to be your dealing with hornets. They are in the wasp family. They are very aggressive once disturbed. When they do sting you it feels like you where hit with a sharp pointy hammer. It leaves a tiny stab wound but no stinger like a bee.

I got into a mess of ground yellow jackets and they will eat you up. I was on a riding mower when I was ambushed.. I took about a half gallon of gas and poured down the hole to rid them. -robert

[grnspot110]

Chief, Dottie & I "found" a Yellowjacket nest recently! I had finished taking out an old plywood sawdust bin for replacement. Sat down on a fence seat to pet the dogs a little, shortly Chief started "biting" something in the air, then Dottie (the 13 week old pup) started yipping. I soon found out why when I got hit 4 times! The seat is fastened to an old RR tie used to contain the raised garden, nest was in a crack in the tie. Time for the wasp & hornet spray, revenge is sweet!

Chief ended up with both ears swollen for a couple days, Dottie was more scared than anything, mine were painful, but no long-term effects.

[JDgreen227]

I have a bunch of these bald faced hornets hanging around my garden shed, I am not going to destroy the nest or kill them unless thy become too aggressive. For the meantime they just seem to flit around the roof edge and eaves of the shed but I cannot find any nest out there.

Thanks to the member who posted the link to the bald faced hornet informational site, I took the picture shown in the attachment below the other day, was going to inquire what kind of insect made it but NOW I already know.

I am very tolerant of bees EXCEPT for yellowjackets and will wipe those out with no provacation at all.

[joshuabardwell]

I am very tolerant of bees EXCEPT for yellowjackets and will wipe those out with no provacation at all.

I swear, y'all must be doing this just to get my goat.

The Difference Between Bees and Wasps | LoveLiveGrow

Bees and wasps are totally different. Bees is not the generic term for flying, stinging insects.

[JDgreen227]

I swear, y'all must be doing this just to get my goat.

The Difference Between Bees and Wasps | LoveLiveGrow

Bees and wasps are totally different. Bees is not the generic term for flying, stinging insects.

I STAND CORRECTED and thank you for the reminder....at least I didn't refer to a flying, stinging skeeter as a bee....

[mrpoppy58]

Okay I have been attacked like 6 times now and stung twice by these black colored bees. And they always attack my head/face. They are roughly the same size as a regular honey bee (have those too) except instead of being mostly yellow these are mostly black. you know if you see one flying past your face. No clue where the nest is and I always get attacked by a lone ranger.

I googled a little and most refer to accounts of a aggressive black bee as being a wasp. sorry we have mud dobbers, yellow jackets, and red wasps here and its not a wasp. wasps have a completely different body shape. This bad boy is aggressive too I would say more so then a yellow jacket. I can routinely walk past a YJ nest and not be bothered. I have yet to even find the nest of these black bees.

Maybe I need to try and catch one

this is in central tx.


Anyone know what these are called?

Here in Eastern Ky. We have a Native Black Honey bee. They are MEAN. The Yellow Bees have been imported from Italy. The Black Bees make lot more Honey. Also a grey Bee has been Imported. The Bee that You are seeing might have went wild and has a Beehive nearby.

[super55]

Back when I was working lawncare years ago. Bald face hornets built a huge nest on the side of a building. My co-worker not being the sharpest tool in the shed threw a big stick and broke the nest open. I can still remember him running away in a full sprint and watching his back arc as his was drilled by those things. One of the top 5 of funniest things I have ever seen. They are aggressive no question about it.

[Sedwick1024]

Apologies for the poor cameraphone focus, but this is what I found and felt between my knuckles:

If they like fruit, that would explain why they chose my raspberry patch. It's so dense that, unless I can find a beekeeper's suit, I'll just have to wait until after the harvest to rip out the fruiting canes before I can get a good look at the nest.

[joshuabardwell]

Apologies for the poor cameraphone focus, but this is what I found and felt between my knuckles:

If they like fruit, that would explain why they chose my raspberry patch. It's so dense that, unless I can find a beekeeper's suit, I'll just have to wait until after the harvest to rip out the fruiting canes before I can get a good look at the nest.

I can't speak to your experience directly. Maybe you had a mutant wasp with a barbed stinger. Or maybe the insect you caught (the bald-faced wasp) was not the one that stung you. It's odd that you say they're hanging out around the blackberry canes, because wasps are carnivorous. They might be living in the blackberry canes, but they're probably not actually interested in the blackberries themselves.

[radioman]

If any type of bees/wasp is not the honey kind - then I have zero tolerance for them. they gotta go and be evicted..

If the honey kind is in wrong location then an ad in craigslist goes up for safe/kind removal.

If I were OP- evict those black wingers ....