Beeez!

[abnormaltoy]

Surrounding my house is a natural amphitheater. Right now the creosote bushes and a lot of other plants are blooming...profusely.

Literally the hills are abuzz with bees, you can hear them at about the same volume as normal conversation. Yesterday, it was fairly windy. All of a sudden a huge gust came out of nowhere...the buzzing stopped momentarily, then started even louder than normal. I go walking up the hill outside of the garage to see what was going on...maybe not the smartest thing I've ever done. All of a sudden hundreds...thousands, maybe brazillions, of bees started coming together. I hightailed it back into the garage and looked out the window. They were just probably making sure the hive was OK and trying to figure out if they were in danger. From my perspective the cloud of bees was about 12 feet high and 25 feet long  As soon as they came together, I guess they figured out everything was cool, 'cause they all went back about their business. It was kind of spooky.

Just thought I'd share 

[Stocker]

Honey bees good.....  killer bees very bad


Had some bees working in our pear tree the last couple days.

I've never seen a huge swarm like you describe. Which is fine by me.

[abnormaltoy]

I've seen clumps before, groups starting out new hives, but...nothing like this before.

I've heard that there are no un-africanized bees in Az.

[unclejpl4x4]

we only have carpenter bees and wasps ............ I go there a lot more cans of 2+2 in the summer then winter 

[abnormaltoy]

2+2  Bee killer?

[unclejpl4x4]

gum cutter http://www.berkebileoil.com/cleaners_page.htm

[kneedownnate]

The fuel stabilizer    That's a ton of bees man!  With the nice weather lately, there have been bees all over the bushes and trees around here, which is good cause that draws them in to my garden and to the 40-50 strawberry buds I have right now    If I owned this place I'd clear out a lot more of the 37 acres and stick bee boxes all over the place!

[abnormaltoy]

I'd need a tanker plane to spray them. As funny as I'm sure it was to see (I'm old, pudgy and have bad knees) running was my best option!

[Rocksurfer]

Last week I had just parked a car after working on it, as I was walking back to the shop I noticed that there were a couple bees flying to my left. Nothing big you think until I got a funny feeling and looked to my right and a swarm was casually flying about five feet from me at just about the same pace as I was walking. I quickly changed my direction.

[NorCalToy]

i got my quadstuck last summer in a "creek" about 1/8th mile from a stack of bee boxes. could barely talk to my buddy who was helping me get it unstuck. thousands of bees swarming over all the water and of course im in a tshirt. but surprisingly i didnt get stung at all...

[kneedownnate]

You weren't a threat    I've found bee boxes while hunting on blm land, but noticed the bees didn't seem to care.  I've always been paranoid about getting stung, but since having a garden I've had no issues with them.  They'll buzz right around me while I'm tending it or picking fruit.  I worry more about the occassional wasp or hornet that drops in for a drink while I'm watering. 

[Stocker]

Never has any real trouble with wasps....  but watch out for hornets!  They can get meeeeeaan!!!

[kneedownnate]

Still wish I'd gone back in the winter and found that monster bald face hornet next tim and I found while hunting a little past musser hill. 

[Cheesemaker]

I usually have a can of Bee Bop with me.  I get it at our local loggers supply store.  It will take out a hive real quick.  Plus it shoots a stream up to 20' away. 

But the only time I've experienced swarms of bees, is when a nest/hive has been disturbed. 

[kneedownnate]

20'    I remember stocker getting into some bees while woodcutting, but the memroy ends there.  I was probably more interested in making pretend tacos out of madrone bark and sawdust