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kimmie
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 Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:17 pm Post subject: Info on types of bees |
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Found this on internet...thought you might find it interesting
| Quote: | Information on bees
The first thing that should be noted is bees do not sting unless they are provoked. There are four types of bee you might see in your garden.
Bumble Bee
Bumble bees are very common insects. Inside the nest of bumble bees is just like our human society, gathering food, looking after the young, building and defending the home. Bumble bees have very few natural enemies.
Bumble bees are less aggressive than honeybees
Generally they will not attack humans at all, unless they are threatened
Don't wave your arms about stand quietly once they know you are not a flower they will move away
Bumble bees do not loose their sting and die if they use it, as a honeybee will
Size: 19mm to 38mm
Colour: Black and yellow
Description: Hairy bees that collect pollen on the back legs to bring it back to the hive
Habitat: The bumble bee will make its home in a variety of places including, bird boxes, compost heaps, and abandoned mouse holes in the ground.
Control: It is not necessary to destroy the nest of bees as they are beneficial to the garden and they are normally docile and unaggressive while foraging on flowers. Individual bumble bees that get into the house can be controlled with an aerosol.
Honey Bee
Honey bees have a barbed sting that becomes detached along with a venom sac after a sting. Immediately remove the sting and venom sac by gently scrapping or flicking the stinger with a fingernail or knife. Do not use tweezers or try to squeeze out the stinger as this will push more venom into the wound. Wash the sting with soap and water and apply ice to minimise the pain and swelling.
Colour: Covered in golden brown and black hair
Description: The honey bee is covered with short, dense hair, normally golden-brown and black, its body is striped and there are three types of bee in the colony - workers, drones and queens
Habitat: Like to be around flowers and flowering trees
Life cycle: The queen is responsible for reproduction. The drones mate with new queens and the workers. The workers job is to feed the queen, gather pollen and nectar and protect the hive
Control: When honey bees make a nest in your house or other undesirable places you can either get the help of a local beekeeper or do the job yourself. Remember that after the bees are killed they must be removed with their comb nest and honey. Unremoved honey soon begins to decompose and can seep out of the comb causing odour problems and possible infestations from other insects such as ants and flies.
Ground or Mining Bee
These vary considerably as there are so many different types in the UK alone, they like sandy soils and little can be done to stop them other than altering the texture of the soil by adding large amounts of peat or other composts but not sand. You will often see these bees coming out of holes in the lawn or at the bottom of the garden.
There is no need to control them but if you wish to remove the bees because of young children, it can be done yourself using ant powder. It is best treated at night or dusk, as it is cooler and most of the bees will be back in the nest.
These bees rarely sting so are not classed as a public health hazard.
Masonry Bee
The masonry bee is a type of ground bee that will normally live in the ground, but if type of bee finds soft mortar between the bricks of a wall it is unable to distinguish between the mortar and its natural habitat. If you find bees going into holes in the brickwork of your home, fill the holes with a hard mortar mix to stop the bees digging it out to get back to the nest.
Although these bees have a sting it can not penetrate the skin
It is not considered a public health hazard |
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wildgarlic
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 4:49 pm Post subject: |
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I don't think you should resort to an aerosol spray for a bumble bee getting in your house :-( Open the window and help the poor thing out.
We had some bees that lived in our walls - it was fascinating watching them coming and going.
There are many types of bee - not just four. I spent ages watching a leaf cutting bee making a home in a hollow cane, lovely creatures.
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kimmie
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wildgarlic
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 6:17 pm Post subject: |
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No - I realise that Kimmie  Wasn't picking fault in you.
I used to be absolutely scared stiff of bees - still wary of them, but because I've been getting up close and personal while taking close up photos of them I've discovered that they are not as scary as all that. Wasps, on the other hand....
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Martin
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:20 pm Post subject: |
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Thank your lucky stars you're not down here in the soft south - for the last few years we've had some enormous hornets that have come over from the continent - they are ginormous, and petrifying - they have a horrible habit of hovering about 3 feet from your face like an Apache attack helicopter, sizing you up - with their vast head swivelling from side to side......in comparison, bees and wasps are positively cuddly! 
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wildgarlic
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 7:47 pm Post subject: |
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gulp! Methinks I'll avoid the soft south! We stayed in Hereford for a while and had hornets nesting in the roof - they weren't aggressive though but what a size, and noise!
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Martin
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pete_inthehills
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 8:35 pm Post subject: |
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when we were working in the woodland 2 years ago cutting back some scrub pine, we noticed huge huge wasps hanging around with an inch long sting!
It was a wood wasp. The long sting is for injecting the egg deep in to the trunk. Obviously they don't sting humans...
...unless that human is covered in sap and smells like a pine tree...
thankfully, that didn't happen to me, but I know it has happened and I understand that it is quite painful.
pete
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Maria
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| Posted: Mon Mar 09, 2009 9:27 pm Post subject: |
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Here's a site I used last summer for bee identification with the girls. http://www.bumblebeeconservationtrust.co.uk/
It has lots of very useful info and pics in the 'bee id' bit of the site. 
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Diana
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| Posted: Tue Mar 10, 2009 8:27 am Post subject: |
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Yes, wood wasps do look VERY scary - especially as they have a habit of buzzing you from behind!!! Gorgeous though, when you know what they are.
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