Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum

BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DISEASE & PEST CONTROL => Topic started by: BjornBee on October 26, 2008, 03:22:53 pm

Title: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: BjornBee on October 26, 2008, 03:22:53 pm

This is a bald-faced hornet that was trapped by the bees. Found it interesting and snapped the photo today with a bunch of others.

And what a great hive with all that propolis!  :-D

(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x236/BjornBee/beepictures203.jpg)

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: TwT on October 26, 2008, 03:52:21 pm

I have seen SHB's trapped like that but thats a first with a hornet I even heard of, nice pic

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: Cindi on November 03, 2008, 09:55:40 am

BjornBees.  Nice picture.  Wonder how the bees got it to stay still long enough to trap it, hee, hee.  I killed a queen Bald-Faced Hornet last week, just before she tried to slip in a crack to hibernate.  Figured that would help me out a little bit for the upcoming year, they are nasties, and man can they pack a whollop of a sting!!!  They scare the dickens out of me, I ran into one of their nests a few years ago when I was climbing my cherry tree, thank goodness the workers didn't see me before I saw them!!!  Have a wonderful and most awesome day, Cindi

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: BjornBee on November 03, 2008, 10:23:49 am

Cindi,
Thank you for the comments.

I actually think the bees propolized the hornet after it was killed. I think based on the amount of propolis, which is much, that the bees prefer to propolis a problem rather than remove it. They actually had dead bees propolized in little circles. (And as TwT mentioned, doing this with SHB is commonly seen.) With that in mind, this hive will get poor grades in evaluation next spring when looking for queen stock. I would rather select from a hive that removes such problems.

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: Cindi on November 03, 2008, 10:48:27 am

BjornBee.  Have you seen this thread where I had a propolized slug in the entrance of one of my colonies?  You'll get a kick out of this, check it out!!!  The bees have amazing capabilities, eh?  Have a great and wonderful day, great health wishes to us all.  Cindi

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,17726.0.html

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: BjornBee on November 03, 2008, 11:34:39 am

Cindi.
Thank you. That made me laugh. :shock:

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: ikeepbees on November 09, 2008, 10:57:01 am

Great picture Bjorn - thanks for sharing. I've not seen that before!

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: fjbee on November 10, 2008, 06:40:15 am

I would like to build a SHB trap using #7 woven wire that would pass beetles thru and into a cookie sheet of vegetable oil....
    But cannot locate a source for the #7 wire.  Please advise if
    you are a know of a vendor that sells rather small quantities
    of the #7 wire.

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: pbaumeister on November 28, 2008, 05:11:21 am

Great job Bees!
It is nice to see the bees defend themselves from these scavengers.

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: TimV on January 08, 2009, 10:10:38 am

This bee managed to get a lock on the yellow jacket's leg, and took it with her.

(http://www.pbase.com/beekeeper/image/31552504/original.jpg)

Title: Re: Bees taking it into their own hands!
Post by: BjornBee on January 09, 2009, 03:48:42 pm

That ant looks cool looking right at the camera.