Does anyone know much about bumble bees? I have a pond and each year there seems to be a large number of bees drinking or collection water from my pond. This year they have started some kind of den in the ground. My grandmother has a neighbor that has them in the side of her house so many she cannot go in the back yard at some point during the day and it would require a lot to have them removed. Knowing this is a concern to me. Can anyone give me some advice? The numbers of bees get more and more each year I have noticed.
Lori
Bee's
I don't have the talent to link but, www.bumblebee.org may give you some info, and if you call your AgriLife extension agent they may know the way to contact help...
I found some websites with more information on bumble bees. We used to have them in our yard when we lived near Cincinnati. If we stood still when we spotted them, they went about their business and didn't bother us. They will sting, but are not as likely to do so. Given that they use a nest only one year, the nest you have now will be gone next year. Like regular honey bees, they help pollinate plants so are very useful. Maybe your grandmother's friend is willing to co-exist with them and avoid that particular part of the day. Since honeybees are disappearing at an alarming rate, bumble bees should be encouraged if at all possible.
http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/bbumbleb.html
http://insects.tamu.edu/fieldguide/cimg340.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bumblebee
If you have to get rid of them. maybe your local AgriLife agent will give you information for a do-it-youself eradication project.
This is the first year I have had bumble bees in my yard here and I have to say it...they are definately bigger in TX! The ones in MI were about 3/4 the size of these mammoths or even less. I haven't seen any nesting and they haven't bothered me in any way. Right now they are attracted to the cosmos and dont really seem very aggressive to me.
C
Carpenter bees drill holes in wood, never stung us, but then as kids we were using them as baseballs, chuckl, the ground nest is normal, and they are the ones that take a whim and get nasty, chase you when you are plowing for no other reason than you probably tilled their home under, chuckle, glad tractors pull slowly, straw hats help with distraction when you are in full hard retreat...Bumbles. I was always glad to see 'em more interested in my wisteria than me.
Lori, I have a lot of bumblebees in my back yard. No idea where their nests are, but I've actually planted things to attract bees and wasps. One of them is a big Rose of Sharon right outside my back door that the bumblebees just adore, and when they are clumped right there at the door, it can be kind of scary just to go outside. All I can tell ya is that I go out anyway, and work in my yard, and I tend to ignore them and do whatever I need to do, and I've never been stung. I don't think the bees are a danger unless you stumble on and disturb their nest. The wasps may be a different matter.
When I am out at the pond I can not hear them but if I move around or disrupt the pond they get loud. One pegged me in the temple but did not sting me, The nest in the ground this is the 1st year, I just worry about the small children in my family that find the fish pond fascinating. as long as they stay in small numbers i welcome them. I did not know if there was away to encourage them to a different location like a hive at the far back of my yard.
Lori
Cowtown has honeybee relocators, they are usually attached in some way to professors in the colleges I've discovered, see if you can find one in the yellow pages and rattle his chains (pick his brains?) for your fears. Kids are far more allergic and inquisitive than adults and in more danger as a usual rule, and they will speak to you...