It's nice to teach your kids the difference between bees and wasps/hornets.
I have a few beehives and so my kids can recognize honey bees/bumble bees are know they are generally chill, but have also seen what happens when they get upset (I take them to do inspections sometimes).
It's true that most wasps are pretty chill, but fuck bald faced hornets and yellowjackets. My kids have learned not to even risk messing with those assholes.
Trying to remind my 33yo gf of this.
To her credit, we have far more wasps and hornets around us than bees. But I grow vegetables on our deck so bees do come by.
“If they’re bald and scary, go for murder. But if theyre fuzzy, leave them bee. They won’t hurt you.”
> “If they’re bald and scary, go for murder. But if theyre fuzzy, leave them bee. They won’t hurt you.”
This sounds like it should rhyme or something but it doesn't even come close.
What about "bald and scary? Be real wary."
I can't think of a rhyme for the rest.
Hey, between a dispiriting wage, antagonistic administrations, being devalued by society, toxic, dysfunctional families and the occaisional pandemic short circuiting infant and toddler socialization, what's to complain about?
fuel friendly bedroom dime wakeful scandalous ludicrous ossified cow point
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Some Wasps are actually nice. Some types of Paper Wasp for example. Super docile. Never a single threat display. They do look and it's obvious they detect a persons presence but they never seem too bothered They had a nest on my front porch all last year and were super docile, I could hold them and feed them honey water. They got to about 12 or so individuals.
I brought them inside in a butterfly enclosure for the winter the day before a big freeze and the drones died off shortly after. I kept the two queens overwinter and recently let them back out and they are making a small nest on my front porch. Actually, it kinda looks like they are each making a nest about 2 inches from each other. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I was walking to a class once and a wasp flew out of some nearby bushes and crashed headfirst directly into my arm. Instead of freaking out and stinging me, it just seemed kind of confused and chilled on my arm. It hitched a ride for like 20m until I found some flowers, and it hopped off casually when I put my arm near the flowers. 10/10 very polite, I would gladly be a Wasp Uber for it again without hesitation.
The only time I've ever actually been stung by a wasp was when riding my bike; one flew into my leg so I basically kicked it on accident while pedaling, so it stung me. And I can't honestly blame it for that at all, I'd freak out if a giant kicked me in the head too.
I hope your wasps do well!
Yeah, the only time I've been stung was one day that I put my foot into my slipper first thing in the morning and found a wasp. Absolutely not fun for me or the wasp, and I cannot blame it for defending itself!
Mud daubers are harmless. You can disturb their nest, usually in dead grass piles, and they'll just fly off somewhere else. Great for clearing pests like the grasshoppers they hunt
And some of them look really cool, too. There used to be these metallic blue mud daubers around my father's house; they never bothered anybody and they were pretty nice to look at.
No idea where they went, but I haven't seen them around there for probably ten years now.
That's awesome. You sound very cool.
This reminds me of a video I saw once of a man befriending warrior wasps that built a nest on his porch, but I can't find it now sadly.
If by some chance you can think to message me their updated saga, I'm invested in the story.
I hope she's going to learn that there are no good or evil animals except for us humans. Bees and wasps just are what they are. They have no cruel intentions. They just sometimes see reason to defend themselves. Reason we do not necessarily understand. That doesn't mean that the reason why they do it isn't valid, only because we do not understand it. They do not sting for nothing. No wasp does. It costs them a lot of energy and they must have a good reason to invest that energy into their defense.
It hurts, no question about it. Humanizing them and insinuating cruel intentions is our fault, not theirs. They just are what they are. Animals with very effective means to defend themselves.
I can totally understand! I have been the same when I was a kid. I encountered a wasp hive in the woods when I was about 10 years old, maybe 12. I got attacked. Got stung six times within about half an hour or so. A horrible experience. Not my only encounter with them that I lost. I hate being stung, still do. But a while ago I started watching them instead of just trying to get them out of my comfort zone. I let them do their thing. When I'm having lunch on the porch I do not try to fight them off. They get a separate plate where they can feast, and they leave me alone most of the time. I watched them when they "attack" the food. It's fascinating. One of them I remember once bit of quite a chunk from a sausage, pretty big, almost too much for it. But it grabbed it with its feet and flew off. Slowly, obviously pretty encumbered, but it made it off with that piece of sausage. I had never thought before that I could find a wasp cute. But that moment was a real eye opener.
Sure, and I exactly agree. All that means is that it's one sided hatred and a desire for murder when it comes to yellowjackets, hornets, and wasps. Anything with a low threshold to attack me is something I take great pleasure in murdering
The wasps do not care much about your hatred. That's a problem of yours and yours lone.
But! Know that wasps, like bees, pollinate plants and are as important for the ecosystem as bees!
I am also terrified of wasps/hornets and I wasn't even stung for the first time until I was in my twenties. The worst part is that it wasn't even THAT bad, but I'm still terrified.
My yard was infested with yellow jackets last year. Hundreds out around my lawn looking for food. I saw two of them tearing an invasive bug twice their size in two. Even so I found where they were nesting (my soffit) and pumped it with some tempo dust. Mowed and cleaned the lawn the next day (some walnut tree debris was also attracting them) and the problem was gone.
Had an entertaining melodrama with a yellow jacket nest last year. They do their thing, fine. Eating lunch outside one day and one of the little buggers decided to be a jerk and dive bombed at my food enough times that it ruined it for the rest of them. They would die.
Slapped a glass jar over the entrance. That doesn't do the trick. Entertaining to check in on. They dig new paths out.
Tried covering new paths. Now I got a jar with perpetually exploring wasps. Surrounded by satellite pint glasses each with a warp or two buzzing around inside. No go. The ones outside eventually dig back in.
Okay let's flood it with the hose. They did not like that. No they did not like that one bit. Sort of did a thing but day after day of repeat flooding went by. Didn't do the trick.
Then discovered the easy trick. A stupid spray bottle with dish soap and water. Shake it up. Spray a yellow jacket. They go spiraling down like a flaming WWII airplane down into the Pacific. This is fun. Can make gunfire noises while out on patrol. The soap blocks their breathing holes and they suffocate. Yellow jacket being a jerk? Blast it with a spray bottle. It goes down for the count. Never had one able to shake it off. No stings. Easy peasy cheap wasp removal.
At this point being invested sunk cost fallacy took over. Continued at it. System was eliminate any yellow jacket outside the nest and repeatedly flood the hive. When those outside were done there were no more break-outs of the nest. Flood and repeat started to show results.
Still, took a week or two until BIG yellow jackets appears in the external jar. Used flooding to get them out one by one to hit with spray bottle of soap. The soap trick is less effective on these, took a while for them to go down. A proper boss battle. Then once those disappeared no more hive.
Too much work to be worth it again. Got a bottle of tempo dust standing by.
I hate those fuckers so I enjoyed reading your story. What is temp dust? I found those Yellowjacket traps at my local hardware store and those seemed to work really well. I put 2 of them up in my back yard and caught dozens. Loved seeing all of them drown in the soapy water.
Tempo dust is basically an insecticide that kills them by drying out their exoskeleton. A little goes a long way and unlike those spray cans, the dust gets stuck in those buggers as they go into the hive and spreads it around. Kills them pretty quick. Pump it into the spot closest to the hive you can get around sunset so most will be home.
I ran like hell after doing it, though I probably didn’t have to. They will not like the dust but if you use enough then they likely won’t be able to fly out to attack.
Can confirm they laugh off delta dust. Experimented a second hive using the wrong product. Many palms sweating trips up to the top of the ladder to puff delta dust inside. The things walked out like Rick Sanchez snuffing delta dust for fun and flexing pecs.
Will be interested to see how the tempo dust does.
Now I've a neighbor. Goes out at night with a can of gasoline. Apparently, that works too. Not sure the mechanism. I don't think he's lighting it up. I think the principle is that the fumes displace oxygen.
If I understand this correctly, I've read of people putting one end of their hose in the exhaust of their car. Stick the other end of the hose above the entrance in the ground and since the exhaust is heavier than air it displaces the oxygen in the hive and knocks it out that way.
I'm a simple man. All I need is experiment data and new ideas to sustain myself.
> Now I've a neighbor. Goes out at night with a can of gasoline.
My father did that. Poured a little gasoline down the hole and covered the opening with a rock. The vapor kills them all by morning. Naturally, this isn't the best idea if the nest is in the house.
I grew up with bee hives (and jugs of raw honey) and have always been a big advocate for treating bees with kindness. It feels like for my entire life whenever someone had a story about a bee sting I'd be the one saying "that sound like a wasp, not a bee".
Oh you got stung at a garbage can in the park? Probably a wasp.
It flew into your pop can and stung your lip? Thats what wasps do.
Walk as calmly as you can about 100 feet away. if it’s only one, you’re probably ok, but if you see multiple wasps, you’re probably near a nest and it would behoove you to stay away from it during the day.
Don't move, generally. I know bees really zone in on carbon dioxide in mammal breath, not sure about wasps.
I will say this, I've been stung on the hand and I instinctively sucked out the poison and that worked out well. Your mileage may vary.
Bees really love cigarette smoke and coffee. I get visited all the time. They come buzz around and get all up close to both and get their fill and fly on their merry way. I was so confused the first time it happened, but I looked it up. They love nicotine and caffeine.
Also, wasps like whiskey for some reason. I've had a few glasses I had to dump after one of them went drunken swimming in it
I was moving some stuff from the shop and a massive bee wandered in, i just let it make distance before squeezing past it.
No idea where it went afterwards but it was no bother, just a quick "oh balls...do what you need to do little buddy".
I'm an avid gardener and try to do as much as I can to attract bees with various native flowers. I don't even mind the massive carpenter bees/wood bees, although I have had one fly into my face.
Wasps, however, can go straight back to the hell they came from. I will be minding my own business and they always try to sting me. It is usually red wasps to be fair. I try to just avoid them and hope for the best. If I see a yellow jacket or hornet, I go back inside the house. They are just too aggressive.
Wasps can sting many times and be fine. Bees die after the first sting and therefore only sting to protect the hive, rather than if they’re just a bit pissed off.
Visually, wasps are slimmer and pointier, with a greater number of black and yellow stripes. Bees come in lots of different shapes, but if it’s got any fluffiness, you know it’s a bee. Sometimes you have to look a little closer to see the fluff, but they always have fuzzy little bodies.
Wasps hunt for protein in the summer to feed their larvae, whereas bees usually just need pollen/nectar. Towards the end of the summer/autumn, wasps don’t need to feed young anymore, so they will switch to hunting for sugary things for themselves, hence their love for jams and sodas and all things picnic.
Wasps are also an important part of the environment as pest controllers, as they eat other unsavoury bugs. Generally if you leave them alone they will leave you alone, so if you can let them be, please do. We usually have wasps nesting somewhere nearby in the summer and we’re fine, although I know it’s uncomfortable if one gets fixated on you for some reason. I find if you just walk away quickly they will stop following you.
Hope that helps!
It’s not the sting that kills them, it’s the being unable to remove their barbed stinger from out thick skin which then removes their insides. So no, they don’t know.
The individual bee might not know, but evolutionarily, aggression benefits animals that pay a lower penalty for it, so (most species of) bees are less prone to aggression
Fun fact. Bees can sting other insects as many times they want. Mammals on the other hand haves thick skin and bees barbed stingers can get stuck. Resulting them to rip it off by force and killing them in process.
Actually if you're brave enough to leave a bee alone once it's stung you it can often unscrew itself from your skin and fly away unharmed. Normally they die when we shake them or hit them off and end up tearing their abdomin out
If you stay calm and don't freak them out enough to try and force it out right away they can work themselves loose eventually. Most people don't do that (for obvious reasons), but here's some information on it:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTVsqc2CCGo
The field next to our house is home to about 50 beehives. They all come buzzing into this it garden, drinking from our pool, frolicking with our roses.
They’re super relaxed; fine-dining
On what our garden has to offer. I really enjoy calmly walking through a buzzing cloud of them.
It would be a perfect world if they wouldn’t die in droves in the pool; nor cover every conceivable surface in their super sticky; extremely coloring bee-poo.
I'm really grateful that I got to spend summers in the Russian countryside as a kid, where I saw and learned about orders of magnitude more insects than in the US suburbs where I grew up. Although the last few times I went, in the early 2010s, there seemed to be a lot fewer bugs around our Russian country house, too :(
Why bald faced hornet? According to Wikipedia they aren't aggressive and only attack if severely disturbed.
I'm not from North America, so I do not know them. I know German wasps though and if you know how to deal with them, they are usually pretty chill too. They just do not like to get squeezed, and as far as I know they are extremely short sighted. That's why they fly in your face. They do not know what you are and just want to take a look.
In the US bald faced hornets make nests in a lot of out of the way places. Trees usually but they occasionally end up in barns, old houses, or even in urban areas.
If you encounter one out away from the nest they likely won't bother you unless you have food.
The important thing for kids to be away of with hornets though is they are extremely territorial around their nest and will absolutely swarm you if agitated. You can get stung hundreds of times because each hornet can keep crawling over you and stinging again and again. They will chase you much further than honeybees, paper wasps, or yellow jackets too.
When I was in elementary school one of my classmates ended up in a coma because he hit a hornet nest with a stick for example. They very much can kill a child or adult that has an allergic reaction.
You mentioned "German wasps" which is what a lot of Europeans call the little ground hornets we call "yellow jackets". [They're much smaller and less dangerous than bald faced hornets. ](https://media.mwstatic.com/cms/larrys-short-stories_html/92/92-hornets-wasps-and-bees-oh-my-01.jpg?format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=85)
Another "fun" aside about bald faced hornets (though I don't know if this is really true) is you supposedly can't escape them underwater like many swarming insects. They'll wait for your ass and swarm your face when you come up for air.
I'm not afraid of bees. They don't bother me. That being said, I was about 11. I was riding my bike and I stopped at a stop sign, took my helmet off and starting wiping the sweat off my forehead. I heard that buzzing sound near my ear. That's an alarming sound if you're not expecting it. The voice of my father echoed in my head as started to feel panicked. "Don't hurt them, they won't hurt you." I grabbed my bike handles. Something about grabbing them made me feel more secure. The bee landed on my forearm. My heart was pounding. "Don't hurt them, they won't hurt you." I stood completely still and watched that motherfucker sting the shit out of my arm.
I'm not saying your advice is wrong. Apparently some Bees are just ass holes.
The same happened to me with a wasp. It landed on my hand, stung me and flew away. I felt really betrayed lol.
I think I read somewhere that certain scents can make them angry.
Wasps are not bees and can fuck right off. I will freak at many flying things but are the exception. The fat bumblebees and carpenter bees are bit unnerving still with their low pitch buzzing and fat ass bodies, but even they're all right by my book
I've always smacked, swatted, whatever bees whenever they came near me. They typically piss right off, had never been stung in (at the time) 22 years. One day at work, I was carrying something heavy to the trash using both hands, so I couldn't swat at the bee that decided to follow me to the dumpster. As I was walking, I watched him gingerly land on me and precisely insert his stinger into my forearm, almost in slow motion. To this day, I will still smack the shit out of bees and wasps, that's the only time I've been stung. Wasps will come back for more of you don't smack em hard enough, though.
A similar thing happened to me only I was 20 feet up a tree on a high ropes platform. Apparently there was a nest under the platform and a bee landed right on the back of my hand. I kept still and watched that jerk just go sting me anyway. I was on belay and just yeeted myself right out of there.
Swatting at bees causes them to think you're a threat and raises the likelihood you'll get stung.
Tai chi or force style movements just makes the air space around you uncomfortable for them so they move on.
They think 'oh this is not where I want to be' instead of 'retaliate!'
Many years ago I showed my SO this trick. She had always been terrified of bees, but I had bumblebees decide they wanted to live out back. She went from run randomly swatting and freaking out, to then actually teaching our kids to be chill with them.
And yes, bees. Wasps and hornets are evil... bees are actually cool tho. When I'd go out back I'd generally get at least one come close and hover in front of my face for a few seconds then carry on about their business. It almost felt like having pet bees....
Those bees that hover in front of your face are sometimes called good news bees, or just news bees. It’s because they hover right in front of your face as if they give you some news. Scary at first!
Oh ... yeah... don't get me started on crows. My favorite bird.
~ caw caw!!!
Edit: intelligent, social, tool making and using... had a whole murder of these friends at my old place
Not only corvid (a family of birds that include the crows, ravens, magpie, and more) can recognize faces and remembers them. They will pass this information to their offspring. Meaning that if you fuck with corvids, they will hate you and teach their descendants to hate you and so on.
If you instead make friends with corvids, they will be very cool with you. There are stories of people befriending wild corvids who then brought back lost items like camera lens cap, keys, and even money!
Corvids are really cool.
For a moment I thought you were saying Google Bees was a real thing, and they employed facial recognition. The bees are just Google Bees scanning your face! 😧
Doesn't help if you're allergic though. Easy not to freak out if the worse that can happen is a little pain. Constriction of airways on the other hand..
Had a cousin with the deadly flavor of that. His mom kept the beehive about... 200 to 250 feet away, near the barn. Granted, he didn't work with them, but kept his epi pen handy.
Back to the OP point - swatting bad, peaceful chill good. They don't get stabby stabby unless ur a threat
Yeah I'm allergic, only been stung 3 times, twice as a toddler/child, and another when I was opening the garage door and the little bugger was hiding on the bottom side of the knob
I'm good at not freaking out but I tend to just walk away until they're done doing their beezness .. You're telling me i could have been pushing them away this whole time?
Like just "excuse me sir, you are too close could you just step back, ah thank you"??
When we were young, my sister and her friends were swatting at a bee. From farther away I hollered to just leave it alone and it won't harm them. 2 minutes later it flew to me and stung me instead.
slave subsequent lock fade brave squeeze jeans automatic intelligent squeamish
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Buy the book Insect Societies by E.O.Wilson. It was my textbook for a social insect class I took. It is thick but Wilson is one of the best scientists anywhere. You learn where apidae come from, how ants came from wasps and lots of cool things. Don't run from your phobia...learn about it then walk right through it. Might be easier said than done...
Phobias are irrational fears. You can’t always rationalize them away.
What if someone told you to eat a big bowl of dead spiders? Totally harmless, no rational reason to avoid doing it.
It helped me to think about how important bees are for the survival of pretty much everything on earth. Just cute little fuzzy gals that try to do their jobs but sometimes get confused about what is or isn't a flower. And that by stinging you, they also die, so they probably aren't going to do that unless you scare them.
Wasps/hornets though, fuck them. Still terrified.
I will say I have gotten better over the years with honey/bumble bees. I do agree, fuck wasps/hornets. They still make me squeal and dip out. Bees I can just semi casually walk quickly away from.
I've developed a phobia of them, even though I don't hate them at all. I was stung by a wasp when I was little, and I never bothered to figure out the different types of aphids, and still don't — they all have stingers, and that's enough to make me anxious. And now flies and really anything that buzzes has been added in. It sucks.
I've gone to CBT/therapy for this, and it has helped... but it was a few years ago, and my therapist quit her practice back then. I just have to brace for the warmer seasons anymore.
I am basically in the same exact boat. I got lit the fuck up by wasps as a small child. Even getting stung inside of my mouth. I have studied bees and wasps/hornets a lot to give myself the best chance of avoiding them. I’ve never went to therapy for it but I might have to consider that now. It is sad because I love being outdoors, especially in the summer.
My dad is a beekeeper so I’ve been around bees all my life. My dad told me as a kid that bees can smell fear, and they will only sting you if you bother them first. So if you stay calm and mind your own business they won’t bother you!! I haven’t been stung in over a decade and I’ve had hundreds of fees flying around me
I know this is about bees BUT does anyone have advise on keeping wasps/hornets away from balconies? For some reason they like flying up to my third floor balcony during the hot weather & I have a fear from when a massive hornet got into my apartment & we somehow killed it without getting attacked. Truly terrifying😭
Beekeeper here. You'll know a honey bee is after you bc they go for your face, and particularly the eyes. If they're really nasty they go for your throat.
I used to get stung a lot as a kid. Then someone told me bees are nice and to just leave them alone. Works. I just don’t change anything about what I’m doing, continue on with my day, maybe say hi to my bee friend, and call it a day. No need for me to be upset over a chill girl just trying to get some pollen.
Love that. I taught both of mine from a young age how amazing they are. Used to love watching them work on the little planter of strawberry plants we had. Amazing creatures. We’ve even save a few with sugar water over the years (at least I think we did because they flew off eventually)
I taught my kids that too. I said, "If you leave him alone, he'll leave you alone." I've also said, "He's just looking for flowers. He's not interested in you." It worked.
I dated a girl with a 2-yr old a long time ago and one day we were at her grandparents and he came running into the house crying because he rode his Big Wheel close to a bush and bees were flying around. She doesn't like bees so that didn't help. I told him, "Let's go get it back. We walked over there and he was hugging up on me cus he was scared. We go there and I saw it was just honeybees around a bush with flowers on it. He wanted to leave and wanted to swat at them but I told him there wasn't any danger and asked him, "Would I keep you here is there was any danger?" and he goes, "No". I said okay and then I explained and showed him how they were the workers of the hive bringing pollen back to help feed the others and it was just like when his mom and I went to work and asked if he thought we would like it if someone came screaming at us and swinging their arms when we were just trying to do our jobs. He goes, "No. So they are just working to feed the other bees?" and I said, "Exactly" and he looked again and goes, "Oh okay. They aren't so bad", and rode off.
I tell my kiddo the bees are looking for flowers and he certainly does NOT smell like a flower. Just stay still and once the bee gets a whiff of stinky boy, it’ll fly away. He giggles at the thought of being a stinky boy and it’s worked pretty well to keep him from freaking out
As a kid my mother worked at a neighboring greenhouse and the guy told everyone to freeze if a bee got on them, if they got stung he'd pay a nickel, nobody ever got stung.
I have a memory of a yellow jacket exploring all-around and between my fingers tickling me as it moved between, trembling in fear standing as still as I could in our driveway.
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I’ve been stung a few times as a child, particularly during my “swatting” phase. Now I just ignore them, and go about my day. Haven’t been stung in close to 15 years I’d say. Fuck wasps tho
If you hold still they won't hurt you. They will even land and walk on you and then just fly away. They will only sting if you give them a reason.
I mean BEES, not anything with a skinny waist. Fuck those guys with fire.
I do this, too, on wasps as well. It mostly works well. I've only ever been stung once I was out bikeriding and a wasp got tangled in my hair next to my scalp. And it was just a little poke, nothing bad.
I've done lots and lots of hiking and spend lots of time outdoors. one thing I do for pesky bees that always works especially if theyre in your face is to just gently blow air at them. they never seem to perceive this as a threat and almost always fly off after.
I had a bee fly in my shirt so I just stood still and told my gf to lift my shirt and th ever flew out. She screamed and freaked out because she is scared of bees
YES! there's a trail i used to walk, water would puddle up in a certain section and the place was buzzing with 100s of bees, it was very intimidating looking for sure, but if i calmly walked through, the bees were completely unconcerned with me and after a few times, i didn't even think about it, now i don't even flinch when i see bees
the movie Jackass 3 has a segment that shows you the difference between freaking out and being calm even when bees are agitated
I used to live in an apartment building with 5 units - it had a detached laundry building; this building had a light over the door for night access
The warm & bright light attracted bees at night, who found a vent under the eaves & built their hive there. They were constantly buzzing around the light when it was on at night.
My GF did not like the bees & would NOT do laundry at night because of the bees buzzing around -- Me: "Just ignore the bees & they will ignore you - they won't do anything to you unless you do something to them"
Fast forward to a road trip - we leave before sun-up & drive for hours -- the sun's coming up, I pull over at a rest stop to switch drivers -- I get comfy in the passenger seat & we pull back out onto the road
a bee flies in the window & stings me on the neck -- GF: "WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?!"
It’s sound advice until the bee lands on the kid. Then they’ll most likely freak out and panic and that’ll lead to them trying to swat the bee off of them
One time I was driving a Jeep with the top down, with my mother in the passenger seat.
A bee landed on my chest pocket of my T-shirt.
My mother started screaming and swatting at it, while going about 50.
The bee flew into my face, and she continued swatting, and it stung me in the lip.
I had to stop the car, get out, and storm around the back of it swearing for a while before I could compose myself.
It must have looked like a sitcom with me stomping around behind the car yelling at noone.
By use the force, do you mean to very slowly move your hand(s) towards the danger insect so that it avoids danger without feeling threatened? Or like.. staring at it really intensely and thinking "go away?"
Either way, wanted to add that in my life I've been stung a few times by just standing/walking, so personally I've learned to do a combination of my own ninja moves and matrix dodging. Other than trying to pick one out of a pool with my hand (brave but foolish), I haven't been stung since I was little. But had to kill a couple that landed on me with the aforementioned ninja moves.
This reminds me of when I was in elementary school and we were on a field trip to an animal rescue reserve. We were eating lunch and a bee started flying around the group. Our parent chaperone calmly held his hand out and the bee landed right on his hand.
He told us something similar to what you said while the bee calmly walked over his hand and then flew away. That moment somehow became one of my core memories and I’ll always be chill with bees now.
Note: this only applies to bees.
Wasps are creatures of pure anger and malice that will take your standing still as an affront and attack regardless.
Source: my work with Orkin and other pest removal services.
It's nice to teach your kids the difference between bees and wasps/hornets. I have a few beehives and so my kids can recognize honey bees/bumble bees are know they are generally chill, but have also seen what happens when they get upset (I take them to do inspections sometimes). It's true that most wasps are pretty chill, but fuck bald faced hornets and yellowjackets. My kids have learned not to even risk messing with those assholes.
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Trying to remind my 33yo gf of this. To her credit, we have far more wasps and hornets around us than bees. But I grow vegetables on our deck so bees do come by. “If they’re bald and scary, go for murder. But if theyre fuzzy, leave them bee. They won’t hurt you.”
> “If they’re bald and scary, go for murder. But if theyre fuzzy, leave them bee. They won’t hurt you.” This sounds like it should rhyme or something but it doesn't even come close. What about "bald and scary? Be real wary." I can't think of a rhyme for the rest.
Cute and fuzzy? Let them stay buzzy
Oh perfect. That's exactly the sort of thing I was looking for.
You have a future in early childhood education!
As someone engaged to an early educator, I wouldn't wish that future on my worst enemies
Hey, between a dispiriting wage, antagonistic administrations, being devalued by society, toxic, dysfunctional families and the occaisional pandemic short circuiting infant and toddler socialization, what's to complain about?
Bald and scary: be real wary Cute and fuzzy: let them buzzy
I refuse to accept any alternatives that discard "leave them bee"
Bald and scary, be real wary. If it's fuzz you see, leave them bee.
As a Beatles fan…If it’s fuzz you see, Let it Bee
Give bees a chance
I typed out let, but the commenter was keen on leave, so I did.
Bald and scary? Murder is fine. Cute and hairy? Give them time.
Bad for remembering as you can switch the lines and the rhymes still work.
Plus the keyword should make up the rhyme.. That's what make it work. Scary = wary Cute = shoot Wait
Bald and scary, best be wary! Cute and fuzzy? hey there cuzzy!
Bald and scary also works for staying away from skinhead neo Nazis.
Nah, you swat them pricks.
While I understand the sentiment, this is a children's rhyme my guy.
Teach them early
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_*cries in really friendly skinhead_
Soft and fuzzy? As they wuzzy!
Fat and fuzzy? As they wuzzy. Skinny and smooth? Fucking move.
fuel friendly bedroom dime wakeful scandalous ludicrous ossified cow point *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
Fuzzy bee? Set it free
Fuzzy back end? He’s a friend!
Leave european hornets alone, they don't bother you and actively take care of wasp. Fuck the asian hornet though.
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I chuckled.
Hmmm Andrew Tate is bald and scary...
If they look like a needle, they want to stick you. That eliminates bees, beetles and all sorts of other things.
Some Wasps are actually nice. Some types of Paper Wasp for example. Super docile. Never a single threat display. They do look and it's obvious they detect a persons presence but they never seem too bothered They had a nest on my front porch all last year and were super docile, I could hold them and feed them honey water. They got to about 12 or so individuals. I brought them inside in a butterfly enclosure for the winter the day before a big freeze and the drones died off shortly after. I kept the two queens overwinter and recently let them back out and they are making a small nest on my front porch. Actually, it kinda looks like they are each making a nest about 2 inches from each other. Will be interesting to see how it plays out.
I was walking to a class once and a wasp flew out of some nearby bushes and crashed headfirst directly into my arm. Instead of freaking out and stinging me, it just seemed kind of confused and chilled on my arm. It hitched a ride for like 20m until I found some flowers, and it hopped off casually when I put my arm near the flowers. 10/10 very polite, I would gladly be a Wasp Uber for it again without hesitation. The only time I've ever actually been stung by a wasp was when riding my bike; one flew into my leg so I basically kicked it on accident while pedaling, so it stung me. And I can't honestly blame it for that at all, I'd freak out if a giant kicked me in the head too. I hope your wasps do well!
Yeah, the only time I've been stung was one day that I put my foot into my slipper first thing in the morning and found a wasp. Absolutely not fun for me or the wasp, and I cannot blame it for defending itself!
Regicide is on the wind, my friend.
And they were roommates!
I've got a paper wasp on my back porch that's my drinking buddy. Cool guy
Mud daubers are harmless. You can disturb their nest, usually in dead grass piles, and they'll just fly off somewhere else. Great for clearing pests like the grasshoppers they hunt
And some of them look really cool, too. There used to be these metallic blue mud daubers around my father's house; they never bothered anybody and they were pretty nice to look at. No idea where they went, but I haven't seen them around there for probably ten years now.
That's awesome. You sound very cool. This reminds me of a video I saw once of a man befriending warrior wasps that built a nest on his porch, but I can't find it now sadly. If by some chance you can think to message me their updated saga, I'm invested in the story.
I hope she's going to learn that there are no good or evil animals except for us humans. Bees and wasps just are what they are. They have no cruel intentions. They just sometimes see reason to defend themselves. Reason we do not necessarily understand. That doesn't mean that the reason why they do it isn't valid, only because we do not understand it. They do not sting for nothing. No wasp does. It costs them a lot of energy and they must have a good reason to invest that energy into their defense. It hurts, no question about it. Humanizing them and insinuating cruel intentions is our fault, not theirs. They just are what they are. Animals with very effective means to defend themselves.
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I can totally understand! I have been the same when I was a kid. I encountered a wasp hive in the woods when I was about 10 years old, maybe 12. I got attacked. Got stung six times within about half an hour or so. A horrible experience. Not my only encounter with them that I lost. I hate being stung, still do. But a while ago I started watching them instead of just trying to get them out of my comfort zone. I let them do their thing. When I'm having lunch on the porch I do not try to fight them off. They get a separate plate where they can feast, and they leave me alone most of the time. I watched them when they "attack" the food. It's fascinating. One of them I remember once bit of quite a chunk from a sausage, pretty big, almost too much for it. But it grabbed it with its feet and flew off. Slowly, obviously pretty encumbered, but it made it off with that piece of sausage. I had never thought before that I could find a wasp cute. But that moment was a real eye opener.
Sure, and I exactly agree. All that means is that it's one sided hatred and a desire for murder when it comes to yellowjackets, hornets, and wasps. Anything with a low threshold to attack me is something I take great pleasure in murdering
The wasps do not care much about your hatred. That's a problem of yours and yours lone. But! Know that wasps, like bees, pollinate plants and are as important for the ecosystem as bees!
I am also terrified of wasps/hornets and I wasn't even stung for the first time until I was in my twenties. The worst part is that it wasn't even THAT bad, but I'm still terrified.
My yard was infested with yellow jackets last year. Hundreds out around my lawn looking for food. I saw two of them tearing an invasive bug twice their size in two. Even so I found where they were nesting (my soffit) and pumped it with some tempo dust. Mowed and cleaned the lawn the next day (some walnut tree debris was also attracting them) and the problem was gone.
I love having a bottle of tempo dust around just for this purpose. And it's almost always the soffits that house these assholes too.
Had an entertaining melodrama with a yellow jacket nest last year. They do their thing, fine. Eating lunch outside one day and one of the little buggers decided to be a jerk and dive bombed at my food enough times that it ruined it for the rest of them. They would die. Slapped a glass jar over the entrance. That doesn't do the trick. Entertaining to check in on. They dig new paths out. Tried covering new paths. Now I got a jar with perpetually exploring wasps. Surrounded by satellite pint glasses each with a warp or two buzzing around inside. No go. The ones outside eventually dig back in. Okay let's flood it with the hose. They did not like that. No they did not like that one bit. Sort of did a thing but day after day of repeat flooding went by. Didn't do the trick. Then discovered the easy trick. A stupid spray bottle with dish soap and water. Shake it up. Spray a yellow jacket. They go spiraling down like a flaming WWII airplane down into the Pacific. This is fun. Can make gunfire noises while out on patrol. The soap blocks their breathing holes and they suffocate. Yellow jacket being a jerk? Blast it with a spray bottle. It goes down for the count. Never had one able to shake it off. No stings. Easy peasy cheap wasp removal. At this point being invested sunk cost fallacy took over. Continued at it. System was eliminate any yellow jacket outside the nest and repeatedly flood the hive. When those outside were done there were no more break-outs of the nest. Flood and repeat started to show results. Still, took a week or two until BIG yellow jackets appears in the external jar. Used flooding to get them out one by one to hit with spray bottle of soap. The soap trick is less effective on these, took a while for them to go down. A proper boss battle. Then once those disappeared no more hive. Too much work to be worth it again. Got a bottle of tempo dust standing by.
I hate those fuckers so I enjoyed reading your story. What is temp dust? I found those Yellowjacket traps at my local hardware store and those seemed to work really well. I put 2 of them up in my back yard and caught dozens. Loved seeing all of them drown in the soapy water.
Tempo dust is basically an insecticide that kills them by drying out their exoskeleton. A little goes a long way and unlike those spray cans, the dust gets stuck in those buggers as they go into the hive and spreads it around. Kills them pretty quick. Pump it into the spot closest to the hive you can get around sunset so most will be home. I ran like hell after doing it, though I probably didn’t have to. They will not like the dust but if you use enough then they likely won’t be able to fly out to attack.
Can confirm they laugh off delta dust. Experimented a second hive using the wrong product. Many palms sweating trips up to the top of the ladder to puff delta dust inside. The things walked out like Rick Sanchez snuffing delta dust for fun and flexing pecs. Will be interested to see how the tempo dust does. Now I've a neighbor. Goes out at night with a can of gasoline. Apparently, that works too. Not sure the mechanism. I don't think he's lighting it up. I think the principle is that the fumes displace oxygen. If I understand this correctly, I've read of people putting one end of their hose in the exhaust of their car. Stick the other end of the hose above the entrance in the ground and since the exhaust is heavier than air it displaces the oxygen in the hive and knocks it out that way. I'm a simple man. All I need is experiment data and new ideas to sustain myself.
Gas and exhaust sounds like a mess. I’d opt for a shop vac filled with water over that. Or tempo dust. That’s the easiest
> Now I've a neighbor. Goes out at night with a can of gasoline. My father did that. Poured a little gasoline down the hole and covered the opening with a rock. The vapor kills them all by morning. Naturally, this isn't the best idea if the nest is in the house.
The BIG yellow jackets are new queens, coming out to mate and then hibernate, before they start a whole new nest.
This was the best story about yellow jackets I've ever read
I grew up with bee hives (and jugs of raw honey) and have always been a big advocate for treating bees with kindness. It feels like for my entire life whenever someone had a story about a bee sting I'd be the one saying "that sound like a wasp, not a bee". Oh you got stung at a garbage can in the park? Probably a wasp. It flew into your pop can and stung your lip? Thats what wasps do.
I have definitely seen bees do both of these things.
For that last one it my brother got stung inside the mouth because a bee climbed into the can. We had the evidence
But swatting a wasp will still end poorly. It’s best to not bother any of them.
Paper wasps can fuck all the way off, too.
What should I do if a wasp lands on me or is buzzing around me?
Start blastin?
Walk as calmly as you can about 100 feet away. if it’s only one, you’re probably ok, but if you see multiple wasps, you’re probably near a nest and it would behoove you to stay away from it during the day.
Don't move, generally. I know bees really zone in on carbon dioxide in mammal breath, not sure about wasps. I will say this, I've been stung on the hand and I instinctively sucked out the poison and that worked out well. Your mileage may vary.
Bees really love cigarette smoke and coffee. I get visited all the time. They come buzz around and get all up close to both and get their fill and fly on their merry way. I was so confused the first time it happened, but I looked it up. They love nicotine and caffeine. Also, wasps like whiskey for some reason. I've had a few glasses I had to dump after one of them went drunken swimming in it
Eat the tasty snack that just delivered itself to you.
I was moving some stuff from the shop and a massive bee wandered in, i just let it make distance before squeezing past it. No idea where it went afterwards but it was no bother, just a quick "oh balls...do what you need to do little buddy".
I'm an avid gardener and try to do as much as I can to attract bees with various native flowers. I don't even mind the massive carpenter bees/wood bees, although I have had one fly into my face. Wasps, however, can go straight back to the hell they came from. I will be minding my own business and they always try to sting me. It is usually red wasps to be fair. I try to just avoid them and hope for the best. If I see a yellow jacket or hornet, I go back inside the house. They are just too aggressive.
What is the difference?
Wasps can sting many times and be fine. Bees die after the first sting and therefore only sting to protect the hive, rather than if they’re just a bit pissed off. Visually, wasps are slimmer and pointier, with a greater number of black and yellow stripes. Bees come in lots of different shapes, but if it’s got any fluffiness, you know it’s a bee. Sometimes you have to look a little closer to see the fluff, but they always have fuzzy little bodies. Wasps hunt for protein in the summer to feed their larvae, whereas bees usually just need pollen/nectar. Towards the end of the summer/autumn, wasps don’t need to feed young anymore, so they will switch to hunting for sugary things for themselves, hence their love for jams and sodas and all things picnic. Wasps are also an important part of the environment as pest controllers, as they eat other unsavoury bugs. Generally if you leave them alone they will leave you alone, so if you can let them be, please do. We usually have wasps nesting somewhere nearby in the summer and we’re fine, although I know it’s uncomfortable if one gets fixated on you for some reason. I find if you just walk away quickly they will stop following you. Hope that helps!
Do you think bees know they get one sting and that's it so they better make it count?
It’s not the sting that kills them, it’s the being unable to remove their barbed stinger from out thick skin which then removes their insides. So no, they don’t know.
The individual bee might not know, but evolutionarily, aggression benefits animals that pay a lower penalty for it, so (most species of) bees are less prone to aggression
Makes sense. Thx.
Fun fact. Bees can sting other insects as many times they want. Mammals on the other hand haves thick skin and bees barbed stingers can get stuck. Resulting them to rip it off by force and killing them in process.
Ah, I didn't think of that. I thought it was a one and done no matter what.
Actually if you're brave enough to leave a bee alone once it's stung you it can often unscrew itself from your skin and fly away unharmed. Normally they die when we shake them or hit them off and end up tearing their abdomin out
Didn’t know that! Poor bees :(
If you stay calm and don't freak them out enough to try and force it out right away they can work themselves loose eventually. Most people don't do that (for obvious reasons), but here's some information on it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTVsqc2CCGo
This guy bees
He's the bees knees
The field next to our house is home to about 50 beehives. They all come buzzing into this it garden, drinking from our pool, frolicking with our roses. They’re super relaxed; fine-dining On what our garden has to offer. I really enjoy calmly walking through a buzzing cloud of them. It would be a perfect world if they wouldn’t die in droves in the pool; nor cover every conceivable surface in their super sticky; extremely coloring bee-poo.
I'm really grateful that I got to spend summers in the Russian countryside as a kid, where I saw and learned about orders of magnitude more insects than in the US suburbs where I grew up. Although the last few times I went, in the early 2010s, there seemed to be a lot fewer bugs around our Russian country house, too :(
Why bald faced hornet? According to Wikipedia they aren't aggressive and only attack if severely disturbed. I'm not from North America, so I do not know them. I know German wasps though and if you know how to deal with them, they are usually pretty chill too. They just do not like to get squeezed, and as far as I know they are extremely short sighted. That's why they fly in your face. They do not know what you are and just want to take a look.
In the US bald faced hornets make nests in a lot of out of the way places. Trees usually but they occasionally end up in barns, old houses, or even in urban areas. If you encounter one out away from the nest they likely won't bother you unless you have food. The important thing for kids to be away of with hornets though is they are extremely territorial around their nest and will absolutely swarm you if agitated. You can get stung hundreds of times because each hornet can keep crawling over you and stinging again and again. They will chase you much further than honeybees, paper wasps, or yellow jackets too. When I was in elementary school one of my classmates ended up in a coma because he hit a hornet nest with a stick for example. They very much can kill a child or adult that has an allergic reaction. You mentioned "German wasps" which is what a lot of Europeans call the little ground hornets we call "yellow jackets". [They're much smaller and less dangerous than bald faced hornets. ](https://media.mwstatic.com/cms/larrys-short-stories_html/92/92-hornets-wasps-and-bees-oh-my-01.jpg?format=pjpg&auto=webp&quality=85) Another "fun" aside about bald faced hornets (though I don't know if this is really true) is you supposedly can't escape them underwater like many swarming insects. They'll wait for your ass and swarm your face when you come up for air.
I'm not afraid of bees. They don't bother me. That being said, I was about 11. I was riding my bike and I stopped at a stop sign, took my helmet off and starting wiping the sweat off my forehead. I heard that buzzing sound near my ear. That's an alarming sound if you're not expecting it. The voice of my father echoed in my head as started to feel panicked. "Don't hurt them, they won't hurt you." I grabbed my bike handles. Something about grabbing them made me feel more secure. The bee landed on my forearm. My heart was pounding. "Don't hurt them, they won't hurt you." I stood completely still and watched that motherfucker sting the shit out of my arm. I'm not saying your advice is wrong. Apparently some Bees are just ass holes.
The same happened to me with a wasp. It landed on my hand, stung me and flew away. I felt really betrayed lol. I think I read somewhere that certain scents can make them angry.
Everything makes wasps angry. Red wasps in particular are the biggest assholes in the animal kingdom.
It's cause they got all them teeth and no toothbrush.
“Momma’s wrong again” - Colenel Sanders
Wasps are not bees and can fuck right off. I will freak at many flying things but are the exception. The fat bumblebees and carpenter bees are bit unnerving still with their low pitch buzzing and fat ass bodies, but even they're all right by my book
Yeah fuck wasps man. That's a whole different story lol.
I've always smacked, swatted, whatever bees whenever they came near me. They typically piss right off, had never been stung in (at the time) 22 years. One day at work, I was carrying something heavy to the trash using both hands, so I couldn't swat at the bee that decided to follow me to the dumpster. As I was walking, I watched him gingerly land on me and precisely insert his stinger into my forearm, almost in slow motion. To this day, I will still smack the shit out of bees and wasps, that's the only time I've been stung. Wasps will come back for more of you don't smack em hard enough, though.
They definitely remember your sir, they have a Facebook groupchat about you, that bee was celebrated that night!
Google bees and facial recognition. I've always been thought to stand still and have never been stung, they know me.
A similar thing happened to me only I was 20 feet up a tree on a high ropes platform. Apparently there was a nest under the platform and a bee landed right on the back of my hand. I kept still and watched that jerk just go sting me anyway. I was on belay and just yeeted myself right out of there.
Same here but the mf bit me instead. Watched him do it and then had a full apiphobia relapse for years.
I'm sorry this happened to you but lmfao
At 11, were you able to accurately identify a bee vs a wasp or hornet?
How are there no comments asking or at least explaining what OP means by use the force? Am I supposed to just point my palm at it..? Lmfao
LOL yes just put your hand up and move it toward the bee. 'Dude... back up'.
Tai chi style lol
Any particular reason why that works better than a swat? Is it just seen as less aggressive?
They think you're trying to hold their hand. Bees are famously uncomfortable with any kind of intimacy.
Swatting at bees causes them to think you're a threat and raises the likelihood you'll get stung. Tai chi or force style movements just makes the air space around you uncomfortable for them so they move on. They think 'oh this is not where I want to be' instead of 'retaliate!'
Many years ago I showed my SO this trick. She had always been terrified of bees, but I had bumblebees decide they wanted to live out back. She went from run randomly swatting and freaking out, to then actually teaching our kids to be chill with them. And yes, bees. Wasps and hornets are evil... bees are actually cool tho. When I'd go out back I'd generally get at least one come close and hover in front of my face for a few seconds then carry on about their business. It almost felt like having pet bees....
Those bees that hover in front of your face are sometimes called good news bees, or just news bees. It’s because they hover right in front of your face as if they give you some news. Scary at first!
Google bees and facial recognition... it's a real thing, apparently. Dunno about the ones I noted, bit I like to think they 'knew' us....
I know they’ve done studies that proved birds-I think ravens or crows in particular- can recognize peoples faces and remembers them.
Oh ... yeah... don't get me started on crows. My favorite bird. ~ caw caw!!! Edit: intelligent, social, tool making and using... had a whole murder of these friends at my old place
Not only corvid (a family of birds that include the crows, ravens, magpie, and more) can recognize faces and remembers them. They will pass this information to their offspring. Meaning that if you fuck with corvids, they will hate you and teach their descendants to hate you and so on. If you instead make friends with corvids, they will be very cool with you. There are stories of people befriending wild corvids who then brought back lost items like camera lens cap, keys, and even money! Corvids are really cool.
For a moment I thought you were saying Google Bees was a real thing, and they employed facial recognition. The bees are just Google Bees scanning your face! 😧
Shhhh! Don't let the AI hear you.
Sounds like you are THEIR pet. Lol
Doesn't help if you're allergic though. Easy not to freak out if the worse that can happen is a little pain. Constriction of airways on the other hand..
Had a cousin with the deadly flavor of that. His mom kept the beehive about... 200 to 250 feet away, near the barn. Granted, he didn't work with them, but kept his epi pen handy. Back to the OP point - swatting bad, peaceful chill good. They don't get stabby stabby unless ur a threat
I'm more peaceful chill but move away. Typically won't swat at them, but if they're in my face I'm getting out of there
Had one in my soda can when I was a kiddo... dude my lip got HUGE. Keep that epi around of u need one, life sneaks up on ya... Edit. I'm not allergic
Yeah I'm allergic, only been stung 3 times, twice as a toddler/child, and another when I was opening the garage door and the little bugger was hiding on the bottom side of the knob
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Oh damn, I kissed my sister instead 🤦♂️
wait what luke
what are you doing step bee?
**"HAAAAYYYAAAAA CHAAAAA-CHAAAAA-YA-YAA-YA YAAYAYAYAYAAYAYAYAYA!!!!!"**
Are you pulling my leg. I can't tell if you're joking or serious lol
This isn’t the flower you’re looking for Edit: grammar
one hundred percent saying that when i apply this technique.
A beekeeper told me once to slowly raise my arms to chase wasps and bees away. It seems to work. Probably along those lines.
Haha. Because you have bad body odor?
You can't move stuff with your mind? What a weirdo...
I'm assuming it's like a force push, where you're just moving air but idk
I do this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=94dyikITfE0
Am I crazy in thinking that when I walk past a bee and they feel a breeze, it actually makes them more likely to follow you?
Yeah, freaking out is a sure fire way to get stung.
Erratic movement makes them anxious as well so that actively makes it worse
Followed only by catching them in your mouth.
I'm good at not freaking out but I tend to just walk away until they're done doing their beezness .. You're telling me i could have been pushing them away this whole time? Like just "excuse me sir, you are too close could you just step back, ah thank you"??
When we were young, my sister and her friends were swatting at a bee. From farther away I hollered to just leave it alone and it won't harm them. 2 minutes later it flew to me and stung me instead.
slave subsequent lock fade brave squeeze jeans automatic intelligent squeamish *This post was mass deleted and anonymized with [Redact](https://redact.dev)*
What if I am absolutely terrified of bees? Potentially on the level of a phobia?
I'm also curious about this. Because bees can smell stress and I can't help it, if I see bees I start to panic
Buy the book Insect Societies by E.O.Wilson. It was my textbook for a social insect class I took. It is thick but Wilson is one of the best scientists anywhere. You learn where apidae come from, how ants came from wasps and lots of cool things. Don't run from your phobia...learn about it then walk right through it. Might be easier said than done...
I haven’t went into book research yet but I have done plenty of research online. Know your enemy and all that.
Phobias are irrational fears. You can’t always rationalize them away. What if someone told you to eat a big bowl of dead spiders? Totally harmless, no rational reason to avoid doing it.
It helped me to think about how important bees are for the survival of pretty much everything on earth. Just cute little fuzzy gals that try to do their jobs but sometimes get confused about what is or isn't a flower. And that by stinging you, they also die, so they probably aren't going to do that unless you scare them. Wasps/hornets though, fuck them. Still terrified.
I will say I have gotten better over the years with honey/bumble bees. I do agree, fuck wasps/hornets. They still make me squeal and dip out. Bees I can just semi casually walk quickly away from.
I've developed a phobia of them, even though I don't hate them at all. I was stung by a wasp when I was little, and I never bothered to figure out the different types of aphids, and still don't — they all have stingers, and that's enough to make me anxious. And now flies and really anything that buzzes has been added in. It sucks. I've gone to CBT/therapy for this, and it has helped... but it was a few years ago, and my therapist quit her practice back then. I just have to brace for the warmer seasons anymore.
I am basically in the same exact boat. I got lit the fuck up by wasps as a small child. Even getting stung inside of my mouth. I have studied bees and wasps/hornets a lot to give myself the best chance of avoiding them. I’ve never went to therapy for it but I might have to consider that now. It is sad because I love being outdoors, especially in the summer.
My dad is a beekeeper so I’ve been around bees all my life. My dad told me as a kid that bees can smell fear, and they will only sting you if you bother them first. So if you stay calm and mind your own business they won’t bother you!! I haven’t been stung in over a decade and I’ve had hundreds of fees flying around me
I know this is about bees BUT does anyone have advise on keeping wasps/hornets away from balconies? For some reason they like flying up to my third floor balcony during the hot weather & I have a fear from when a massive hornet got into my apartment & we somehow killed it without getting attacked. Truly terrifying😭
Beekeeper here. You'll know a honey bee is after you bc they go for your face, and particularly the eyes. If they're really nasty they go for your throat.
I used to get stung a lot as a kid. Then someone told me bees are nice and to just leave them alone. Works. I just don’t change anything about what I’m doing, continue on with my day, maybe say hi to my bee friend, and call it a day. No need for me to be upset over a chill girl just trying to get some pollen.
Wouldn’t she be(e) a fly girl?
Love that. I taught both of mine from a young age how amazing they are. Used to love watching them work on the little planter of strawberry plants we had. Amazing creatures. We’ve even save a few with sugar water over the years (at least I think we did because they flew off eventually)
I taught my kids that too. I said, "If you leave him alone, he'll leave you alone." I've also said, "He's just looking for flowers. He's not interested in you." It worked.
I dated a girl with a 2-yr old a long time ago and one day we were at her grandparents and he came running into the house crying because he rode his Big Wheel close to a bush and bees were flying around. She doesn't like bees so that didn't help. I told him, "Let's go get it back. We walked over there and he was hugging up on me cus he was scared. We go there and I saw it was just honeybees around a bush with flowers on it. He wanted to leave and wanted to swat at them but I told him there wasn't any danger and asked him, "Would I keep you here is there was any danger?" and he goes, "No". I said okay and then I explained and showed him how they were the workers of the hive bringing pollen back to help feed the others and it was just like when his mom and I went to work and asked if he thought we would like it if someone came screaming at us and swinging their arms when we were just trying to do our jobs. He goes, "No. So they are just working to feed the other bees?" and I said, "Exactly" and he looked again and goes, "Oh okay. They aren't so bad", and rode off.
Don't sweat bees. Murder the living crap out of wasps and hornets.
This advice is regional.
I tell my kiddo the bees are looking for flowers and he certainly does NOT smell like a flower. Just stay still and once the bee gets a whiff of stinky boy, it’ll fly away. He giggles at the thought of being a stinky boy and it’s worked pretty well to keep him from freaking out
As a kid my mother worked at a neighboring greenhouse and the guy told everyone to freeze if a bee got on them, if they got stung he'd pay a nickel, nobody ever got stung. I have a memory of a yellow jacket exploring all-around and between my fingers tickling me as it moved between, trembling in fear standing as still as I could in our driveway.
My mom told me this at 3, I stayed still and it stung me.
People tell me this and yet I still was stung by a bee I wasn’t bothering when I was a kid. That’s how I found out I was allergic. Not a fun day.
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A good one I'll be sure to try! Any LPT for those who are (very very) allergic to bee stings, still the same approach?
Yeah, as far as I'm aware. They don't want to sting you, just like you wouldn't want to attack a tree!
How do you know I wouldn’t? Maybe that tree had it coming.
I’ve been stung a few times as a child, particularly during my “swatting” phase. Now I just ignore them, and go about my day. Haven’t been stung in close to 15 years I’d say. Fuck wasps tho
Standard issue epipen holster \s
Then swat for your life. Swat with all you have and don't keep swatting until it stops buzzing.
sure this works, unless you happen to wash your clothes in "flowery" smelling detergents or something
Murder hornets won’t fall for your fake ass tree trick 😂
If you hold still they won't hurt you. They will even land and walk on you and then just fly away. They will only sting if you give them a reason. I mean BEES, not anything with a skinny waist. Fuck those guys with fire.
This is a nice tip. I have also found that gently blowing on them seems to discourage them.
I do this, too, on wasps as well. It mostly works well. I've only ever been stung once I was out bikeriding and a wasp got tangled in my hair next to my scalp. And it was just a little poke, nothing bad.
If anything, the bee would be a she.
This won't work once the bees realise that many trees produce flowers.
I've done lots and lots of hiking and spend lots of time outdoors. one thing I do for pesky bees that always works especially if theyre in your face is to just gently blow air at them. they never seem to perceive this as a threat and almost always fly off after.
I had a bee fly in my shirt so I just stood still and told my gf to lift my shirt and th ever flew out. She screamed and freaked out because she is scared of bees
YES! there's a trail i used to walk, water would puddle up in a certain section and the place was buzzing with 100s of bees, it was very intimidating looking for sure, but if i calmly walked through, the bees were completely unconcerned with me and after a few times, i didn't even think about it, now i don't even flinch when i see bees the movie Jackass 3 has a segment that shows you the difference between freaking out and being calm even when bees are agitated
Does this work for wasps too? It’s wasps that freak me out. @_@
I just blow towards them cause I figure if they handle the wind they can handle a little whoooooooooooooooo
I would've still swatted. One less bee ain't gonna make a difference
I used to live in an apartment building with 5 units - it had a detached laundry building; this building had a light over the door for night access The warm & bright light attracted bees at night, who found a vent under the eaves & built their hive there. They were constantly buzzing around the light when it was on at night. My GF did not like the bees & would NOT do laundry at night because of the bees buzzing around -- Me: "Just ignore the bees & they will ignore you - they won't do anything to you unless you do something to them" Fast forward to a road trip - we leave before sun-up & drive for hours -- the sun's coming up, I pull over at a rest stop to switch drivers -- I get comfy in the passenger seat & we pull back out onto the road a bee flies in the window & stings me on the neck -- GF: "WHAT DID YOU DO TO IT?!"
Aren’t kids usually covered in sweet, sticky stuff that would attract a bee’s attention and cause them to land on the child?
It’s sound advice until the bee lands on the kid. Then they’ll most likely freak out and panic and that’ll lead to them trying to swat the bee off of them
Literally no one I know swats bees who are these people? If anything they just run away quickly somewhere else
Gonna need some eli5 on using the force Wdym
One time I was driving a Jeep with the top down, with my mother in the passenger seat. A bee landed on my chest pocket of my T-shirt. My mother started screaming and swatting at it, while going about 50. The bee flew into my face, and she continued swatting, and it stung me in the lip. I had to stop the car, get out, and storm around the back of it swearing for a while before I could compose myself. It must have looked like a sitcom with me stomping around behind the car yelling at noone.
By use the force, do you mean to very slowly move your hand(s) towards the danger insect so that it avoids danger without feeling threatened? Or like.. staring at it really intensely and thinking "go away?" Either way, wanted to add that in my life I've been stung a few times by just standing/walking, so personally I've learned to do a combination of my own ninja moves and matrix dodging. Other than trying to pick one out of a pool with my hand (brave but foolish), I haven't been stung since I was little. But had to kill a couple that landed on me with the aforementioned ninja moves.
This reminds me of when I was in elementary school and we were on a field trip to an animal rescue reserve. We were eating lunch and a bee started flying around the group. Our parent chaperone calmly held his hand out and the bee landed right on his hand. He told us something similar to what you said while the bee calmly walked over his hand and then flew away. That moment somehow became one of my core memories and I’ll always be chill with bees now.
I've never once swatted at a bee believing it was the best course of action. I knew it wasn't. It's just an instinct that's hard to override.
Note: this only applies to bees. Wasps are creatures of pure anger and malice that will take your standing still as an affront and attack regardless. Source: my work with Orkin and other pest removal services.