Subject: Bumblebees and their behavior.....

From: Sharon Litton <[email-masked]>
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 1996 19:35:23 -0500

Sharon Litton received the following from:
Subject: Re: Bumblebees 
Date: Sun, 15 Sep 96 19:03:25 +0000 
From: [email-masked] (Tom Clothier)
     
<Sharon,

None of the behavior you describe includes the habits of bumblebees.
All of the behavior you describe includes the habits of yellow jacket
wasps.  Their sting carries so little venom that 6 stings around the 
head
would not incapacitate an adult, whereas, with bumblebees, I could 
easily
see your spouse laid up for two days.

>The main question I have, though, is an observation of their behavior,
>and was wondering if someone out there could help.  The definitely have
>guards that patrol the perimeter of the area, but I also notice bees
>scratching around on the ground around the perimeter of the compost
>pit/beehive.  What are they doing??  Are they keeping it neat and tidy,
>keeping clear of obstructions, or something that I am missing?

Yellow jackets need great quantities of water and wood in order to
manufacture the paper for their nest.  They forage for these items in 
the
same manner in which they forage for protein (other insects) to feed 
their
larvae and sugar (nectar) to feed themselves.  My yellow jackets wait in
line for their turn at the crack in my bird feeder.  It is quite common 
for
them to construct their nest in a compost pile.  By the same token, it 
is
unheard of for bumblebees.

>I suppose they will go away if we have a really hard freeze this
>winter??  When do they start dying back?  When would it be safe to work
>around our compost pit again??

Next year's queens will migrate to hibernating spots as soon as night 
time
temps start to drop into the 40's.  The balance of the colony will all 
die
with a good hard freeze.

Incidently, if you have yellow jacket wasps, as I suspect, they do very
little pollination, if any at all.

Look again.  If they don't seem hairy, they are wasps, because 
bumblebees
are very hairy.  Bumblebees are the best pollinators we have.

regards,
<tom

In Reply:  
Trust me, they are the hairy black and yellow bumble bees - which I
love.  They do live in leftover mouse burrows, which this particular
compost pile is full of.  They did sting him multiple times on top of
his head, and I immediately poured Witch Hazel over his head, then we
put aloe vera on it as soon as it dried out a little, and he took an
antihistamine - luckily, he's not very allergic, tho his head was very
sore for several days, and his sinuses were a little stuffy.

I'm quite familiar with the differences between the two species, having
spent many years in the field as an avid birder and wild flower
"watcher", and as organic gardeners, we are very observant of the
critters, winged, footed, and other, that share our garden.  I am
also very interested in behavior, which is why I noticed the bees
scratching about in the loose dirt around the nest area - they are
probably keeping it free of obstructions, but I had never seen this
particular behavior in bumblebees before - but, then, I have never had
the privelege of living in such close proximity, eiher!  It's just a
short flight for them to an 18-foot vitex, LOTs of flowering herbs, and
flowers from early spring until a hard frost - sometimes, we have roses
blooming at Christmas.   They don't bother the birds, and, as long as
I'm just filling the feeder, they don't really bother with me - just the
"guards" pop over to see what I'm doing, then, sensing no danger,  leave
me alone.

The day Don got bitten, he had thrown some grass over the fence, and
evidently hit some of the bees and got them stirred up!  Then, when he
came back into the yard to empty some more grass clippings, he did not
really notice them until they attacked - we didn't know they had moved
in that pile - it just had a couple of feet of compost, and a topping of
some small branches that we were going to feed through the chipper when
it wasn't so hot, and some bedding pots that had been washed out, but
not put into the garage yet.....a perfectly safe home for mice and
bumble bees!  Then, 2 weeks later, they attacked the dog, who probably
had bounded over there chasing a squirrel from the bird feeder.  They
stayed really jumpy for a while - Don did go out after dark one day and
stir the pile a bit, but it didn't get rid of them.....

Thanks for your input - but I don't think these bumble bees have ever
read the book on what they are "supposed" to be doing!  They're just
doing it!  And I was just wondering why, other than they're just
bumblebee-ing.
   Sharon

---

From: Laura Key <[email-masked]>
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 13:14:43 -0700

Your bumblebee event sounds exactly as like my experience.  My 
husband & I were on our deck and I was stirring a large pot
on my outdoor cooker -making the rue for gumbo to feed 30 people.
I noticed the bumblebees flying round the flowers...but ignored 
them except I noticed they were coming and going from the same
location -a small hole under our house.  Still, I didn't pay
them an attention -I was too busy because the mixture I was
stirring had to be kept moving about or else it would burn.
Suddenly they (about 12 of them) began a choreographed attack.
--all about my head.  I received 15 stings about my head and
face...but I kept stirring my gumbo!  -And yelling for my husband.
He ran over and check on me and was also attacked.  The big
fat fuzzy black and yellow mini-blimps were now in full force.
I finally turned off my burner, covered my stuff and ran in
the house (such a devoted cook am I -and stupid too I guess)
to nurse my pains.  Luckily, I'm pretty tough to pain.

My husband went to get the wasp/hornet killer spray and he 
destroyed the nest and filled the hole with sevin dust.
Which worked but in the process he was stung 4 more times too.

This outrageous behavior came from a hive that was over
12 feet from me and I was not bothering them at all!!  It 
is now over a year and I still do not enjoy cooking out on
our deck anymore...too gunshy I guess.  

This is all sounds like a bad made-for-TV horror flick but
we still don't have any idea why they attacked us.  I now
don't leave my dog out on the patio either.  

--Laura

<snip>
> <snip>>

---

From: [email-masked] (beeman at esoteric services)
Date: Wed, 18 Sep 1996 19:12:32 GMT

Sharon Litton ([email-masked]) wrote:
: >guards that patrol the perimeter of the area, but I also notice bees
: >scratching around on the ground around the perimeter of the compost
: >pit/beehive.  What are they doing??  Are they keeping it neat and tidy,
: >keeping clear of obstructions, or something that I am missing?
  
   Hi Sharon, Bumble bees in compost piles is very common in my area,
   (S.F. Ca) In fact Bumble bees in almost anything is common: stuffing
   of old furniture, birdhouses, cardboard boxes, piles of lint under the 
   dryer, to name a few. The guards are on alert because of being disturbed,
   But I suspect that animals may also be disturbing tham at night. 
   sush as: skunks, racoons, possums (they like to eat bee and wasp larve)
   The "scratching" behaviour is for warmth, they are pulling the compost
   up on top of their nest for insulation. ( some of this is also just
   "make work" ) Just leave it alone (if not protect it from predators)
   and it will die out in winter. if you want to start a new one in the 
   spring, try saving a small hand full of the old hive (dead hive) and
   put it in a small wood crate, fill the crate with insulation like
   furniture stuffing (cotton), make a 1 to 2 inch hole in the side and
   put it in the shade away from where ants will easily find it. leave it 
   out in early spring to attract emerging queens. bumble bee are cyclic
   and it may work better the second year. ---beeman

---

From: [email-masked] (Adam Finkelstein)
Date: 18 Sep 1996 21:32:28 GMT

>don't leave my dog out on the patio either.  

Sorry. Something was mimicking alarm pheromone. Maybe it was the gumbo?

Adam
-- 
_________________
Adam Finkelstein                    
[email-masked]

---

From: [email-masked] (Chiemer)
Date: 22 Sep 1996 18:46:39 -0400

Dear Dedicated Gumbo Cook:

I am pretty sure that the bumblebees were disturbed by viabrations,
perhaps their nest was disturbed by your foot traffic on the deck which
may have been shaking the foundations of their home inside your home. 
Generally, you will find bumblebees will mind their own business and are
generally shy unless threatened.  
In Canada we use thousands of commercially reared colonies to pollinate
greenhouse tomatoes from January till September.  They usually never
bother the greenhouse employees who work side by side with them.  

At this time of year, in nature, bumblebee colonies are reaching their
peak size and are likely to be aggressive when their nest is disturbed. 
Hence you found a number of bumblebees giving you a warning on the deck.

Enjoy your bumblebees, I do, they are paying for my home and giving me an
interesting job.

Best regards,
Chris Hiemstra
Kingsville, Ontario, Canada
Email - [email-masked]