What's your bee story?

2720wes · Sep 7, 2009

Out doing some "dozer" work with the 2720 yesterday afternoon, clearing some overgrown land to turn into yard, while pushing some small logs I felt something sharp poke my arm. Looked down to see yellow jackets swarming up. I HATE yellow jackets!! No where to go backwards, forward would have put me right in the middle of them so I dove off, rolled about 5 times down hill, hopped up and smashed a few clingers. Thats 1 reason I don't like to disconnect safety switches. The tractor cut off and sat until I moved it after dark.

In all they got me 7 times. Needless to say 'that HURT'. @%#^% bees!! Makes me think of a poor fellow bush hogging under the power lines many years back who hit a nest and got stung 45 times.

Things like this make me think how nice it must be to have a cab. Sitting inside laughing and making faces

at the bees as they swarm around.

Its that time of year, be careful out there. I should have observed the area for any activity before I started. Also everyone is invited to a yellow jacket roast today

Wes

sunnyside360 · Sep 7, 2009

I've been smacked by bees, mostly yellow jackets, many times during the past 50 years. Most stings at any one time was five and that was 4 years ago while spot spraying brush along the field when I stopped directly over a nest -- broke my glasses swatting them off my face. Worst stings were on the lip and on the eye lid.
I now sit in the tractor cab and watch the bees try to sting the tractor.

Sorry I won't be able to make it to your yellow jacket roast.

woodchuckcanuck · Sep 7, 2009

True story. Last year I had ordered from Sears one of those sweatshirts with a hood, zippered up the front. 'Hoodies' I think what the kids call them these days. I unwrap the plastic bag it came in and proceed to put one arm in, then the other. Then do the shoulder shrug to get it to fit just right...ZAP...ZAP...I scream out OW! OW! , the wife looks at me like I'm crazy. I think its a safety pin or something. Pull off the jacket and there's a bee on my shoulder blade. Slap it, kill it, and stand there in utter amazement at how a bee couple have gotten in there. The hoodie was Made in China so maybe it was a Chinese bee.

Tig · Sep 7, 2009

Worst injury was a few years back. I was swinging an axe at a tree I wanted to remove. Seems I disturbed a nest in a nearby tree and I got stung in mid swing. I spun around to make an exit and smashed my leg on a tree. Staggering to the side I collided with another tree and bruised my ribs quite nicely. That really annoyed me because I know all to well how long ribs take to heal. I collected myself and limped away as quickly as I could, while my wife tried to figure out what had just happened.
This year the bees came after me while I was on the tractor. I shut it down rather calmly, hopped off and looked before I ran away with one still burrowing in my hair. Two weeks later I got again stung again in the same place.
I don't like bees.

Thomas · Sep 7, 2009

Brush hogging..up pant legs..OUCH..down shirt OUCH..in hair OUCH..one could play connect the dots..I believe tractor cannot out run mad wasps.

WH401 · Sep 7, 2009

Well, 2 weeks ago when I was cutting grass I had a ball faced hornet fly right into my face and thankfully because I have to wear a respirator because of my allergies, I was able to brush him aside and not get stung. If I hadn't of been wearing it, as well as sunglasses, it wouldn't have ended up so well.

RalphVa · Sep 7, 2009

I ran into a yellow jacket nest with my Gravely and its front brush hog. It has no safety kill switches. I had to just let it sit and run while I went back to the house and got some kerosene to take care of the yellow jackets.

On my JD now, I suit up when running the brush hog in warm weather, complete with an Aussie hat with drop-down netting all around. Otherwise, I usually ride on it naked.

Ralph

irwin · Sep 7, 2009

My son came by to "help" I told him he could cut down a few trees. When I checked on him he had about 20 trees down, about eight had fallen on top of one another. I was in the third hour of limbing this snarl when I got stung near my right eye, then on my ear..whoa! they're over me and I'm straddling one tree in the middle of a mess of bushy limbs and trunks of many other trees.

The first 2 stings were less than a second apart, the next 6 or 7 stings were while I was swatting and hopping to get out of the jungle. (Thomas) I smacked my glasses off trying to hit em (didn't break

) and dropped the chainsaw at about the same moment.

After I stopped running, I killed the one stinging the back of my head and went to find the hornet/wasp spray. Gave the hive about 15 minutes to calm down then did a sniper stalk back to the area. (easy to find with the chainsaw still there) A white faced hornets nest (alittle smaller than a volley ball) with my foot print crushing part of it.

It took a while to find my glasses

JANDG · Sep 7, 2009

Those **** white faced hornets/aka Ball faced hornets are something I fear.I have hit many nest of them,with tractor, brushblades , chainsaws etc, they literally attack all my 5 kenneled dogs all summer, they try to kill my humming birds & have seen one rip the head off a yellow jacket he just scored. While FEL digging a stump out this summer, I seen a blackcloud & attack of the loader bucket, I jumped & ran like a little girl, tractor ran for 2hrs then I went back to kill the bastards. The one thing I can't truely stand in life is white faced hornets & they get freakin huge around here. Intrestingly I do not remeber even seeing ball faced hornets in SW Washinton in the 80's..now it seems all I have & lots of them . Finding 1-2 basket ball sized nests in the pine trees on my 5.8 property each year in all to common.I Patrolby looking upin the trees all summer long looking for the **** things so I can kill them earlly before they get out of hand. My worst sting was a ball faced & couldn't use my right hand @ work for 3 days, this was just 1 sting to top of hand..wow......I am convinced that getting the full fury from a mature nest would kill a man with ease.
Joe

EAGLE1PAR3 · Sep 7, 2009

I was at a local Kubota dealer here in Bucks County Penna., while test driving a new tractor I felt a quick pinch and the back of my arm, then another on my wrist, by the time I realized I was being stung, I had been stung three times, by the time i got the tractor parked and got off another 2 stings, Turns out they were building a hive under the left side control fender.

Greg in Pa.