I was trying to get home but got swarmed!

Morgans wrote:

Bee swarms are a different animal than what Hollywood presents. All
the bees are interested in the Queen, and the Queen only. If the
wingtip was removable, you could have walked up to the plane, taken
the tip off, and walked over somewhere else and given it a sharp rap
against something, and the queen would have fallen off, and everyone
would have followed her. No protective equipment, no stings, or
anything.

Intellectually, I know and believe that. Emotionally, I was unable to
even get near the plane in a sealed car until I was convinced the queen
and her court had left. But knowing how they operate was the only thing
that allowed me to get in and fire it up despite the FBO's staff belief
that some must still remain in my ventilation system waiting to sting me.

Maule Driver wrote:
Morgans wrote:

Bee swarms are a different animal than what Hollywood presents. All
the bees are interested in the Queen, and the Queen only. If the
wingtip was removable, you could have walked up to the plane, taken
the tip off, and walked over somewhere else and given it a sharp rap
against something, and the queen would have fallen off, and everyone
would have followed her. No protective equipment, no stings, or
anything.

Intellectually, I know and believe that. Emotionally, I was unable to
even get near the plane in a sealed car until I was convinced the queen
and her court had left. But knowing how they operate was the only thing
that allowed me to get in and fire it up despite the FBO's staff belief
that some must still remain in my ventilation system waiting to sting me.

I'd have to say it depends a lot on what part of the country you're
in. Here in Central AZ, most wild bee colonies are africanized. If
you try Morgans trick on one of their swarms you're likely to end up in
a hospital for a few days. Morgans is correct that all the bees are
interested in is the queen, but for an africanized colony, they're
mostly interested in protecting the queen with their lives while
enroute to a new hive. You don't even have to be bothering them.
Just being within 50 ft. of an africanized colony on the move will make
you a target. They're not the stuff of the 70s movies, but they do
command a great deal more caution and respect than european bee swarms.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)

"John Galban" wrote in message
ups.com...


Maule Driver wrote:
Morgans wrote:

Bee swarms are a different animal than what Hollywood presents. All
the bees are interested in the Queen, and the Queen only. If the
wingtip was removable, you could have walked up to the plane, taken
the tip off, and walked over somewhere else and given it a sharp rap
against something, and the queen would have fallen off, and everyone
would have followed her. No protective equipment, no stings, or
anything.

Intellectually, I know and believe that. Emotionally, I was unable to
even get near the plane in a sealed car until I was convinced the queen
and her court had left. But knowing how they operate was the only thing
that allowed me to get in and fire it up despite the FBO's staff belief
that some must still remain in my ventilation system waiting to sting me.

I'd have to say it depends a lot on what part of the country you're
in. Here in Central AZ, most wild bee colonies are africanized. If
you try Morgans trick on one of their swarms you're likely to end up in
a hospital for a few days. Morgans is correct that all the bees are
interested in is the queen, but for an africanized colony, they're
mostly interested in protecting the queen with their lives while
enroute to a new hive. You don't even have to be bothering them.
Just being within 50 ft. of an africanized colony on the move will make
you a target. They're not the stuff of the 70s movies, but they do
command a great deal more caution and respect than european bee swarms.

John Galban=====N4BQ (PA28-180)



Yeah, the africanized bees are a bit on the scary side. Place i used to
hunt at in Texas had an old farm house we used as our deer cabin, had a nice
large colony of bees in between some of the walls of the old house, but they
never bothered us, assumed they were the nice and gentle mannered eurobees.
Within a few weeks that changed drastically. I was minding my own business
outside, nowhere near the entrance to the nesting area, and doing nothing
threatening when i got stung on the forehead.... didn't take long before a
rather large group of them was headed my way.... nedless to say I hauled ass
and got away with only that one sting. Dad and I decided to go ahead and
pull out of the house and tentcamp in a different area, and as we are
pulling out my dad gets hit, and as he's running my way there are at least
40 bees circling his head, he got hit twice. They are kind of a double
doozie... they are quite agressive... Carbon dioxide is a threat scent for
them, so they seem to get ****ed off for us and other critters to simply
breathe in a manner that they can smell it. Second is the sting, the
phermone emmited by the venom is a like a "Sting here! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!"
sign, and although eorubees have this same phermone, it is not anywhere near
as strong as the afrobees. That aside they can be fairly easy to escape
from, a good run away trick works wonders, they don't really seem to chase
as far as the "Killer Bee" scare tends to portray, in my case a good 50
yards and I was in the clear. If I was to see a bee-ball on an aircraft i
was flying, I would be quite disenclined to commit to aviation that day,
especially out here in central AZ where you are just as likely to stumble on
afrobees as eurobees. I really don't want to take that chance. If they
seem to want to hang around call the ag extension office, see what they
suggest, if anything, besides waiting them out. I would only hit the
chemical warefare tactic IF i had good protection, full bee suit etc.

Well, the afro/euro bee thing was what everyone was concerned about in
this case. There apparently were several stories in Tampa about an afro
bee invasion. The line crew said the bees starting hitting the car
whenever it got close. They also said that when they started to close a
nearby hangar door, the bees collected there.

Like I said, I stayed at the FBO desk and the restaurant. Personally, I
don't discriminate and try to stay away from both Afro and Euro types.

Mauledriver, aka Bill Watson, aka Foureyes

nooneimportant wrote:
"John Galban" wrote in message

Yeah, the africanized bees are a bit on the scary side. Place i used to
hunt at in Texas had an old farm house we used as our deer cabin, had a nice
large colony of bees in between some of the walls of the old house, but they
never bothered us, assumed they were the nice and gentle mannered eurobees.
Within a few weeks that changed drastically. I was minding my own business
outside, nowhere near the entrance to the nesting area, and doing nothing
threatening when i got stung on the forehead.... didn't take long before a
rather large group of them was headed my way.... nedless to say I hauled ass
and got away with only that one sting. Dad and I decided to go ahead and
pull out of the house and tentcamp in a different area, and as we are
pulling out my dad gets hit, and as he's running my way there are at least
40 bees circling his head, he got hit twice. They are kind of a double
doozie... they are quite agressive... Carbon dioxide is a threat scent for
them, so they seem to get ****ed off for us and other critters to simply
breathe in a manner that they can smell it. Second is the sting, the
phermone emmited by the venom is a like a "Sting here! GOD SAVE THE QUEEN!"
sign, and although eorubees have this same phermone, it is not anywhere near
as strong as the afrobees. That aside they can be fairly easy to escape
from, a good run away trick works wonders, they don't really seem to chase
as far as the "Killer Bee" scare tends to portray, in my case a good 50
yards and I was in the clear. If I was to see a bee-ball on an aircraft i
was flying, I would be quite disenclined to commit to aviation that day,
especially out here in central AZ where you are just as likely to stumble on
afrobees as eurobees. I really don't want to take that chance. If they
seem to want to hang around call the ag extension office, see what they
suggest, if anything, besides waiting them out. I would only hit the
chemical warefare tactic IF i had good protection, full bee suit etc.

"John Galban" wrote

Here in Central AZ, most wild bee colonies are africanized. If
you try Morgans trick on one of their swarms you're likely to end up in
a hospital for a few days.

You are correct; I am talking about non africanized swarms.

I was not aware that the African bee problem had advanced so far. Wow.
--
Jim in NC