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txgrdngal

Bee attack - information needed - please help

backyardmama
16 years ago

Until today, I have never been intimidated by the tens to hundreds of bees that have found my hummingbird feeders the last few months. I just wave them away and have been surrounded by 20 or 30 at a time with no fear of being stung. Indeed, my backyard bees have never stung me.

Today, hubby and I were on some heavily overgrown property in East Texas and when heading back to the car a bee of some sort stung me under my eye for no apparent reason. Another continued to buzz around my head and no amount of swatting would get it to leave. As I started to run to the car, I was stung on the stomach while being pursued by several more. My husband attempted to brush away at least 3 from the backs of my leg, yet these and several others continued to pursue me for over 100 yards. I finally had to resort to spraying OFF all over to get them to leave me alone. My husband said they looked very much like honey bees, but the yellow might have been a bit brighter and they appeared to be slightly larger. They seemed to be normal honey bees to me, yet much more agressive. One that entered the car looked like a regular bee to me.

Is it possible that African bees have made their way to within an hour of the DFW area?

What I really don't understand is that not one bee attempted to sting my husband or my dog who were within arms reach of me. They remained solely focused on me only.

I had planned on returning to the property in a couple of months to dig some trees for transplanting, but am now fearful of a more serious bee attack, especially since the property is rather secluded and out of town.

Any information or advice would be greatly appreciated.

Sherry

Comments (12)

  • tonybeeguy
    16 years ago

    Check with the locals as far as AHB being in your area. It's possible that they were yellowjackets whose nest you disturbed, but in either case it would probably have involved more bees. If there were stingers left behind in your skin I'd say they were honey bees. It could be perfume or deodorant you were wearing. I was out laying on the ground one day in shorts and tee shirt taking pictures of bees coming in on the landing board of one of my hives and they paid no attention to me. My son stopped over and was standing about 15 yards away and a bee promptly stung him in the side of the head and another one buzzed him. At first I thought they were bees from a friend's hive that was hit by a bear and we moved to my yard, but they weren't bothering me. My son had some fairly strong deodorant or after shave on and I think that's what did it, because on another occasion when we were working the hives he had the same problem and was wearing the same smelly stuff.

  • backyardmama
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Thanks. I know they weren't yellowjackets, but no stingers were left behind either. I probably just got too close to a hive since I was in an unfamiliar area. It was just so bizarre and frightening to be chased for such a long distance by such persistant little buzzers. Maybe the backyard bees don't sting me since I'm always filling the feeders. For awhile I was even giving them 1:1 syrup.

  • ccrb1
    16 years ago

    no stingers left behind mean they weren't honeybees - European or Africanized.

  • backyardmama
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    I must have brushed the stingers off then, because these looked just like honey bees. They were definetly not yellowjackets or wasps. Is there a bee that looks like a honey bee but isn't one?

  • beelover
    16 years ago

    yes, ahb are in your area.
    http://ceris.purdue.edu/napis/pests/ahb/imap/ahball.html.
    it's doubtful that you brushed any stingers off. the stinger of a honey bee is barbed and usually requires scraping to get it off but a small sliver will almost alway be left behind. i'm not too up on other types of bees, but there are some other stinging insects that resemble a honeybee.

  • russh_nepa
    16 years ago

    You seem to be asking two questions, which have different possible answers.

    1- Why would these bees sting and not the ones in your yard. The bees in your yard are foraging and with no hive to defend are typically much less aggressive. Even AHB. On this property you may have inadvertantly gotten too near a hive.

    2- Why you and not hubby or puppy. The perfume answer seems as likely as anything.

    Long pants and long sleeves should offer some protection if you do go back.

  • backyardmama
    Original Author
    16 years ago

    Sorry everyone for not getting back to this post before now.
    Russh - that sounds reasonable. After asking the question, the thought did occur to me that the difference would be that the backyard bees were no where near their hive.
    I guess I'm just going to have to be more cautious because there are some transplants on this property that I want to get this fall.

  • bandit_tx
    16 years ago

    In answer to your first question, most of east Texas now has some AHB population. Hunt County has not been certified, but all surrounding counties have, so we have them too. Here is the map from 2004. The counties in white haven't been certified, but that really means nothing. They just haven't had a sample submitted.
    http://honeybee.tamu.edu/local_images/maps/TXNOV%2004%20AHB.jpg

    Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:433830}}

  • barbara_muret
    15 years ago

    don't think they're honey bees

    but when returning to site - wear different clothing and no perfumes, chemical deodorants, hair scents... think natural, leave the chemicals behind, something you had on probably had an alarm scent

  • david_67
    15 years ago

    No sure how good your sense of smell but when honey bees sting it smells like a banana smell (Stung in bottom of foot recently). The smell informs other hb's to be on guard & to attack if necessary & locates the subject. HB's partly communicate by using scents or pheremones & our perfumes & man made scents can set em off. Lemon scents can signal queen/home or smell of beehive, thats why some keepers use lemongrass oil to attract/lure bees to traphives.

    AHB's these don't sound like as they attack in numbers greater & can chase for quite some distance so I've been told. Google images has picture library to look through to help identify the possible bee or wasp or hornet's that these could be.

    Good previous advise on use of no laundry scents & nonuse of fragrant personal hygiene products or perfumes & eating bananas is good to leave for another day, after tree hunting. Also color of clothing & vigorous motion might of been issue if you were solely wearing darker colors that bees mistake for bears or wild animals trying to rob hive. Lighter colors & calmer movements seem to not agravate so much.

    Cheers, David

  • faolson13
    15 years ago

    Well, whenever i put on a certain gel, the bees seem to buzz around me. I haven't been stung they just like to buzz around and stuff. Hope this helps.

  • bee-patch
    15 years ago

    If you are so unfortunate to get stung from bees or wasps you should use the new patch for this kind of treatment. It works on both adults and children.

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