Honeybee Questions

[roadtrip]

MudDucker is right.
Why risk it with a child around? She might be allergic to them as well.

[big bend gyrene]

Don't want to come across as a smart @$$, though guessing I still will... but here are my thoughts as relates to the risks.

We live on 5 acres, as do all our neighbors, with all of us having yards with fairly diverse plantings. I have muscadines, blueberries, figs, kumquats, persimmons, pecans, and a long hedgerow of about 70 guavas I'm glad to see will be visited! With the tree in a back corner of the yard, and probably a hundred yards or so from her outdoor play area, I can't help but believe we (us and the bees) can largely get along.

DO think I'm going to put a fence up around the tree just to make sure no one strays too close.

My wife or I are always with our daughter when she's outside... always. Overprotective, maybe, but speaking the truth... a BAD incident when she got covered with fire ants when she was about 2 and we were just yards away has us STILL watching her like hawks, though she has since well avoided fire ants.

As for risks of bee stings, no matter how hard I work taking them down, paper wasps seemed determined to share my garage with me. They're the only bee that has stung me since we moved here 10 years ago, once when I pulled the garage door down and basically grabbed a nest, and another time when getting my canoe down after a year or so with no use. We've got big azaleas that draw seemingly thousand bumblebees during early spring, have had a hornet nest high in one of our trees, and by the grace of GOD I survived a monstorously big yellow jacket nest I discovered after running over it with the tractor and seeing a funny looking flying cloud my next round. Miracle they didn't tear me up, and I have to confess I DID give THEM the PA FUTCHCAIRO napalm attack treatment.

Daughter has been around for all of this and STILL hasn't gotten a SINGLE bee sting... again, fire ants VERY different story (and would napalm them ALL if I knew they wouldn't be right back).

Going to at least give it a go to see if we can coexist a while, with us giving them space, them hopefully giving us our distant space too. And again, we have an epi-pen at the ready.

[loki2]

a fence will also force the bees to fly a higher flight path, helping to avoid unintended contact.

[Harmsway]

I believe that pine needle smoke calms bees down. There's no telling what one of your cigars would do to them.

Fishin' is the mission.

[MarkM]

Maybe you can get some boxes and move them to the boxes, where you can actually harvest the honey . I am sure the Tallahasee bee society and whatever county extension agency would be glad to help you. I don't think a 3' fence would be any problem for you or the bees. If I was going to have bees I'd want to be able to get at the honey.

[MudDucker]

Don't want to come across as a smart @$$, though guessing I still will... but here are my thoughts as relates to the risks.

Yep, you made it!

My wife or I are always with our daughter when she's outside... always. Overprotective, maybe, but speaking the truth... a BAD incident when she got covered with fire ants when she was about 2 and we were just yards away has us STILL watching her like hawks, though she has since well avoided fire ants.

As for risks of bee stings, no matter how hard I work taking them down, paper wasps seemed determined to share my garage with me. They're the only bee that has stung me since we moved here 10 years ago, once when I pulled the garage door down and basically grabbed a nest, and another time when getting my canoe down after a year or so with no use.

Different creatures, different risks. Now just so you know my credentials, my old dad was a doctor, I worked in the emergency room in my younger days, I am trained in first aid and I stayed near a Holiday Inn Express last night.

More people seem to be allergic to bee stings than most anything else. I've seen and been told of people going to into anphylaxix shock, which can cause death. I have a nephew whom we found out the hard way that he was that allergic to them. I don't know that I've ever heard of wasp stings causing shock. So, you might want to get your child tested. She might be fine.

Going to at least give it a go to see if we can coexist a while, with us giving them space, them hopefully giving us our distant space too. And again, we have an epi-pen at the ready.

With the epi-pen handy, you have the best first aid tool, unless she is allergic to that as well. Don't ask me, I would have to stay closer to a Hilton to answer that one!

[JIm Smith]

try using Bifen LP for the ants and other things on the ground. It has been one of the best deals going out of our store in newberry for ants ticks and redbugs. I use it at our cracker horse campsites when we meet and it is very reasonably priced, comes in a 25# bag

[lonesouth]

Had a neighbor go to the ER from yellow jackets after push mowing a little too close. Got about 30 stings yikes! Dad nearly fell off a ladder when a bald faced hornet got him in the middle of his back. Also the multitude of paper wasp nests that form around the house annually. Happened upon a couple of in ground yellow jackets through the years, always eradicated with an eight foot piece of PVC and some gasoline. One time I dropped the rear wheel of my brother's Tundra in a hornet nest, and got stuck...that was a harried recovery, but managed to not get stung.

All that said, I'd just leave them alone. Everyone is aware that they are there, a fence would be a cautious measure. The only times I've heard of honey bees getting out of hand was when they were provoked.