Honey Bees or Crap Bees

[Deere Dude]

I was sawing a a log pile up on my lawn today and when I went back after dinner I noticed that a ton of bees infiltrated a center portion of some chunks. The cameras didn't pick them up because I took the picture late in the day. I don't know what to do with them other than to run away. But I need to do something because they are in the middle of my lawn.

I cut down a tree last summer/fall and had a lot of bees in it and I thought I killed them all with gas. I am assuming this is the same tree.

From looking at the center of the 2 logs closely, it looks like it might be honey or mush of some sort. The chunk on the right on the second picture.

I have about 15 fruit trees a couple hundred feet away that will probably need pollinating so I hate to kill them if they are useful for that. But I have no problem killing nasty bees at all.

I thought about dousing them with gas because I know from my experience last year wasp killer spray don't work on them. They just kind of grinned at me.

Any ideas?

 

[ning]

If it's actually a swarm and they appear to be honeybees (got binoculars?), google "report swarm of bees" for your area. Someone will come out and collect them if it's a swarm of honeybees at no cost.

If they're yellowjackets, kill 'em with fire or whatever's handy I say, those things are evil.

 

[rustydollar]

The fire department usually has a list of swarm collectors.

 

[rustydollar]

The fire department usually has a list of swarm collectors. Swarms that go low to the ground are known to be nasty while those that settle higher up tend to have a better temperament.

It's possible that the bees from the original log cutting did not survive and that bees from another colony have discovered the honey. They'll soon remove it and bee gone.

Human honey hunters will place a small bit of honey in a saucer then observe which direction the bees are flying off, then follow that trajectory placing another saucer of honey this procedure is repeated until the wild hive is found.

Bees will travel up to three miles from the hive so be prepared to do some walking.

 

[Deere Dude]

The fire department usually has a list of swarm collectors. Swarms that go low to the ground are known to be nasty while those that settle higher up tend to have a better temperament.

It's possible that the bees from the original log cutting did not survive and that bees from another colony have discovered the honey. They'll soon remove it and bee gone.

Human honey hunters will place a small bit of honey in a saucer then observe which direction the bees are flying off, then follow that trajectory placing another saucer of honey this procedure is repeated until the wild hive is found.

Bees will travel up to three miles from the hive so be prepared to do some walking.

That I didn't know. I went outside a few minutes ago and they weren't swarming so I rolled them off to the side of the lawn so at least I can get to the pile of wood while the bees do their thing. I can wait them out until the take the honey out and move on.

 

[KYErik]

Foraging and swarming bees are pretty calm in my experience (at least in this part of the country). After I harvest honey, I lay the sticky frames out in the yard and it is impressive how soon thousands of bees show up and clean them off. I agree that there was some old honey in the tree. The bees should have it all cleaned up in 1-2 days.

 

[rustydollar]

Scientific approach to finding wild bees and their food stores.