Hi todandewithwolves,

Reading your post brought back memories of a nightmareish and quite hellish encounter that I had with an insect that I would be willing to bet was of the same type that you encountered! I was pulling some tall grass from around a small tree at my old place when I saw what I thought was a honey bee. It was short like a bee... round bodied like a bee... yellow and black like a bee... but something just didn't "feel" quite right about it! I had on a pair of sandals and just about the same time that the latter of the afforementioned thoughts ran through my mind... BAM!!!!! In one of the exposed areas of the top of my foot, I suddenly had a sensation as though someone had driven a railroad spike clean through it! As soon as I was able to regain some control over my now pain-racked mind, I took a look at my foot and saw that the assailant had left his harpoon and the rear most part of his anatiomy very securely attached to my foot!

In my life, I've been stung by bees, hornets, wasps of all sorts, and a couple of other things that I didn't (and still don't) know what they were. But this time, I experienced a pain and a swelling that, to this day, has yet to be matched, much less topped by an insect! That was almost 6 years ago, and I still have a sizeable scar on the top of my foot where the little creature from hell left his calling card!

Positive that I had been stung by one of the dreaded, lethal KILLER BEES (Africanized Bees), I contacted my local Agricultural Extention Agent. In my panic stricken voice, I told him that I thought I had been stung by the killer! "Well, what'd he look like?" He asked me as though he either didn't believe me or could care less! I hurriedly described the insect to him. "Uh-huh," he grunted. "And there's a whole nest of them in the ground," I franticly told him. Then he burst into laughter! That made me MAD! I asked him what the H@## was so funny. He told me that it sounded to him like I had found a nest of Yellow Jackets. Unwilling to take his "site unseen" identification of the beasts, I convinced him to come and take a look at them.

"That's what I thought... Their Yellow Jackets," he said as he choked down a grin. He went on to tell me that he knew of no strain of honey bee that nests IN THE GROUND! He also gave me a web address that tells some things about Yellow Jackets. They also have a picture of one on the site.

I'm sure you've heard the old saying, "Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned!" I am here to tell you; after having seen both, a scorned woman has NOTHING on a PO'd nest of yellow jackets!

If you want to check out the site that I mentioned, click on the "Yellow Jackets" link below.

I hope that finger gets better real soon. As soon as it does, I'd be trying to convince these guys to take up housekeeping some where else!

By the way, just covering them up with dirt will do NO good! They will tunnel back out in less than 24 hours. I went out at night (when they are the least active), quickly and gently placed the end of my water hose at the entrance of their nest, fixed it where it would run a pretty good stream of water, and left it turned on around the clock for about 5 days to drown them all!

Good Luck,
beebiz

Here is a link that might be useful: Yellow Jackets

Hold it!!! Hold it!!! HOLD IT!!!

Before anyone pounces on me, I am quite aware that the Africanized Bees (also known as "Killer" Bees),though potentially dangerous, are very rarely LETHAL (21 deaths since 1999 in people 66 yrs. old or older, according to the University of California Riverside Department of Entomology) (see link below)! I meant that in a purely "toung-in-cheek" way.

Thanks,
beebiz

Here is a link that might be useful: Africanized Honey Bee Information In Brief

Beebiz - thank you for the good laugh. I can just visualize your conversation with the
agricultural agent. Honestly I was a little panicked after having heard about the killer
bees, but don't they attack as a swarm?

From what you described sounds similar to what I experienced being stung. Darn
finger is still swollen twice in size, the pain is terrible if I touch anything cold.

Just goes to show ya, when you try to help you get stung (LOL)

Edna

Hi Edna,

They say, "Laughter is the best medicine!" Howevere, whoever said this had apparently never been stug by a Yellow Jacket! But, I'm glad I was able to bring a smile to you.

As far as the Africanized Bees are concerned, their daily activities and routines are the same as those of any other honey bee. As a matter of fact, from what I have read (and I've put in hours upon hours reading about them), everything about them is identical to any other honey bee with one major exception. All honey bees will sting when provoked (their hive is disturbed, they detect quick movement such as flailing of the arms or something running, or they feel vibration from something such as the sound of a mower, weed eater, ect.) When the bee stings, she releases a pheromone that, to the other bees in the area, says "HELP, I'M UNDER ATTACK, HELP, HELP, HELP!!" Sensing this "alarm" pheromone, all bees will immediatly go into a "defense" mode. Here is where the difference comes in between the Africanized Bees and other honey bees. Typical honey bees will usually send only a few female workers (the only ones that have the ability to sting) to answer the 911 call, and they will usually only give chase for a relatively short distance. On the other hand, about 15 SECONDS after the Africanized Bees get the 911 call, the girls take to the air in MASSIVE numbers and are bent on driving their harpoons deep into something! Couple this with the fact that they will usually give chase for distances of 5-6 times that of a typical bee, and that is what makes them Africanized Bees more dangerous!

In most cases, the only ones that need fear death caused by the Africanized Bees are the elderly (usually don't move away quick enough), people or animals that are trapped and can't get away from them, and people or animals that have a deathly allergic reaction to bee stings.

They are by no means my first choice for bees! But, people in South America have been living, with few major incidences, among Africanized Bees for years. We may just have to learn to do the same!

beebiz

Jezzz . . . thank God I hadn't opened the hole after all. Imagine what those ungrateful
BAS@#$DS would have done.
I still love them though. They are incredible to watch and so smart.

My favorite is the big fat black bumble bees that dance around my garden. They are
so cute. Where do they build nests?

I'm working hard this year preparing my garden to be more of a natural habitat, hoping
to attract more bee's and butterflies.

Edna :-)

Unfortunately, I know a lot less about "bumble bees" than I do about honey bees. However, what I do know I will be glad to share with you!

A few years back, I was at my mom and dad's house and helping them do some much needed yard work. Behind their house they had a fenced area that was at one time home for a pooch. The grass inside the pen was rather tall (12"-14") and needed to be mowed. Having ruined one push mower in my life by running over a large stone that was well hidden in some tall grass, I felt that it would be in my best interest to make a quick inspection of the area and remove any and all "mower unfriendly" objects. During my inspection, I came across a piece of cardboard about 18"x36" that had been lying on the ground in the same spot long enough that it was well matted to the ground. Knowing that the cardboard would be easier to pick up now than it would after the mower got finished with it, I bent over, firmly grasped a sizeable piece of it, and with one quick motion, pulled it up from the ground. "Glad I did..." was about all I had time to think before a cloud of the fat bodied little SOB's came pouring out of the ground! They were p_ssed and I was the object of their anger!! Before all was said and done, I had been stung about 10 or 12 times! Didn't kill me (though some people wish they had!) or make me deathly sick, but to this day, I refuse to quickly pick up cardboard or anything else that has been lying on the ground for any length of time!!!

There is another bee that folks mistakenly call a "bumble bee!" Instead, it is a Carpenter Bee or more commonly known as a Wood Bee. You have probably seen them before. They love to drill holes in any and all types of wood. Most of the time the damage that they do to wood is rather incidental. But with a large enough colony, they can eventually weaken a piece of lumber. I can't remember if it is the male or the female, but one of them has the ability to sting; yet rarely does. If you get stung by one of them, don't come back here and raise thunder with me about it!!! Remember I said, "RARELY!"

Anyway, I hope this has brought another small ray of sunshine to you in the form of a smile (though it was NOT funny at the time!). And, I hope that finger heals quickly!!

beebiz

Hi Wilsons

I know that it is true that most of the time a Yellow Jacket doesn't leave its stinger behind, therefore enabling it to sting you multiple times. But, the incident where I was stung on the top of my foot was an exception to the rule. I didn't have a sock or any other type of material covering my foot, but when I looked at the area where I was stung, the stinger was still there. I got it out with the edge of a pocket knife; in the same way that you would a bee's stinger.

As for swelling, I have never been allergic to bee, wasp, hornet, or other flying insect venom. But my foot swelled up like it had been broken. I don't know; it may have had something to do with the Yellow Jacket having left its stinger in me. I know that if a bee leaves its stinger behind, the venom sack continues to pulsate, thereby pumping more venom into you. But I don't know if the same is true of Yellow Jackets who leave their stingers behind.

Have a great weekend!

beebiz

Most people who report an allergic reaction to bee or wasp stings have no such thing. "Allergic" indicates that the victim has a generalized immune system reaction to the venom (usually protein components) that's disproportionate to the amount of poison injected. A localized swelling and pain do not indicate an allergic reaction. Something remote from the site of the sting, like disorientation, accelerated or greatly slowed heart rate, numb lips or swollen/constricted throat would be a better indicator.

Yellowjackets and other wasps are hunters that kill animal prey (e.g. caterpillars) to feed themselves and/or their offsping. Therefore they need to use their stingers multiple times on a day-to-day basis. They have smooth-sided stingers for injection of venom, then withdrawal, equivalent to a hypodermic syringe. Their stingers are very unlikely to pull out from their bodies, whether they sting into a glove or your skin.

Bees, with few exceptions, are vegetarians that do not need to sting their food. Honey bees and some other types of social bees have barbed stingers. When they sting, the stinger remains anchored in the skin, together with attached poison gland and muscles that remain contracting. This maximizes delivery of pain to the recipient of the sting. Honey bees usually sting to protect their hive or in individual self-defense, as a last resort after escape has failed. After losing its barbed stinger and part of its guts, the bee dies. Most of the many types of bees (>20,000 worldwide), and even honey bee queens, have smooth stingers that can be used multiple times without harming the bee. Although reactions to venoms are individualized and perception of pain subjective, most other bees don't cause nearly as much pain to the person stung as honey bees, because they don't inject nearly as much venom.

If you have just been stung, make a little bit of paste of meat tenderizer (e.g. Adolf's or generic with papain ingredient) and apply that directly to the wound site, after removing the stinger by scraping ACROSS the skin surface. If it has been applied soon enough, before the venom has a chance to diffuse into surrounding tissues, the tenderizer will break apart the proteins in the venom, and they will become less toxic. Other products should also help, such as baking soda or ammonia solution.

The best way to eliminate yellowjacket colonies, if you need to, is to apply a small amount (1-2 tbsp) of powdered insecticide (carbaryl or pyrethroid types are standards in use) to the nest entrance, then leave it alone. Do it at night when wasps are inside the nest. Workers will track the poison into the nest and poison everything inside over a period of a few days. Liquid insecticides won't work nearly as well, if at all.

Yellowjackets and other wasps are important garden predators and should not be destroyed unless necessary. They also provide some pollination services, although not comparable to bees for most plants.

Thanks again for the good chuckle Bee Biz. Started off Monday just right ;-)

I appreciate every ones advise. I learned quite a bit with everyone's experience and references. Thankfully I am not allergic to bee's. My brother is, any bee sting is fatal for him.

As for the the nest I tried to save is still intact. I yell at anyone who goes near it "leave my bee's alone!" ;-)

Thanks everyone! Edna

I've been stung by a yellowjacket ONE time and that, thank you very much, was once too many. I have NEVER felt pain like that! I got hit on the lower leg and had a palm sized bruise and swollen area that stayed that way for weeks. I am not now nor have I ever been allergic to bees, wasps or hornets but everyone I know who has ever been stung by them has had a similar reaction.

Nest Sites of Feral Honey Bees in California, USA.
Gambino, P. and Hoelmer, K. et al.

Apidologie. 21: 35-45
Abstract:
Nest site characteristics are described for 94 honey bee nests
in trees, 17 in the ground, and 82 in man-made structures. Nests
were in trees of mean diameter of 85 cm primarily in live hardwoods,
especially oaks. Entrances were mostly single knots or cracks in
the main trunk at ground level and up to a mean height of 2.5 m.
Most nests in the ground were in treeless areas; half had partially
exposed combs, possibly aiding ventilation. Nests in buildings
differed from those in trees by having smaller entrances. Compass
orientation of comb in natural nest sites was commonly from
145o-195o.
Full article available. (English)
Key words:
Apis mellifera
Feral colony
Nidification
Nest site

I found a similar nest in the ground when I was removing some big shrubs. Being a wimpy vegetarian who hates to kill things, I got the top of an old kitty litter box ( You know, a plastic hood with a hole in one side) and stuck it over the nest entrance with the opening pointed away from where I was working. It took them a day or two, but they figured it out eventually. I only got stung once, when I was shaking the bush as I tried to pull it out of the ground. Also, it seems they are early risers. Since I am not, we pretty much avoided one another. By 3 PM they seemed to all be back in the nest and I didn't have to watch out for them at all.

On a related note, I spent a couple weeks in northern Ontario with a group studying the pine forests. We hiked around quite a lot, and the biggest danger in the woods up there seems to be the wasps that nest in the ground. One guy stepped in a nest and the wasps chased him all the way down the hill - he jumped in one of our canoes and paddled out into the lake and waited for the rest of us there. Apparently it is too far north there (near Sudbury) for honeybees, but there were plenty of little wasps and flies pollinating the flowers. I hadn't realized that honeybees were neither native nor present in all of North America.

WW

Swelling is part of a normal reaction to venemous insect stings. Even a softball sized hand or a finger like a knockwurst is still in the range of local reaction.

Allergy tends to make a systemic reaction like the hives on your chest ,belly, groin, or a tight throat swelling tongue. Don't fool with a systemic reaction get help.

Bought a house a couple of years ago that had an infestation of carpenter bees in the wooden deck on the back of it. At first I thought they were bumblebees but as bold as they acted they never strung me. Finally figured out what they were and relaxed. Spent a summer with them before we finally got them killed out. Must say I missed them after they disappeared as they are masters at hovering in front of your face and acting belligerent. They never harmed us in any way and provided entertainment all that summer.

I was searching the internet for advice on surviving a yellowjacket attack and I found your posting and had to tell my story. I work for the Florida State Parks, so much of my work is outdoors. This past summer I was planting long leaf pines out in the woods, and my co-worker stepped on a yellowjacket nest. I didn't realize what was going on until I had been stung a few times then looked down at my legs. I was covered up to my mid-calves with them. I couldn't even see my pant legs or boots through the layers of yellowjackets. My co-worker ran in one direction, I ran in the other. I tried to brush them off my body, but my hands were stung so many times that they were too swollen and hurt too much to continue. They clung on to my clothes so tightly, that I realized that the only way I was going to get them off of me was to take off my clothes so I continued running through the woods tearing off my clothes until I had only underwear and bra on. Fortunately most of the yellowjackets stayed with my clothes and boots. I then ran half-naked through the woods to find my co-worker (who was kind enough to lend me his boxers) so I could get back to the vehicle for my inhailer (and a shirt) and then to the hospital. He had also been stung multiple times and one of his eyes had swollen shut and he had many large lumps on his face. We experienced a lot of stinging, swelling, joint pain, itching, and extreme restlessness. An emergency room visit, 5 prescription drugs, and a weeks later all I had left were some scars. One of the funny things about it is that both my co-worker and I had our birthdays that weekend and we were both in too much pain to have our parties. My husband was also out birthday shopping for me when I called him crying on my way the the ER. Despite the humorous elements on the story, it was definately the most painful and one of the most frightening experience of my life, and now I am deathly afraid whenever I hear something buzzing around my ears. So be careful of the things. They sting multiple times, and they get VERY angry if you mess with their nest, and they will follow you. Also, if anyone has good advice on the best way to escape an attack like that, please let me know. I hope that it will never happen again, but if it does I want to be better prepared.