Killer Bees

[AZNuggetBob]

Hey guys I guess it that time of year again. I saw it on the news that the bees are at it again. you dont run into them often but when you do?

maybe Tom H or Old Tom will jump in here share some knowledge on the subject. as I recall Tom H or old Tom used to keep bee's.

I'll share how I deal with them when I get a little more time. Take care out there

AzNuggetBob

[oldies1955]

That was dad...I just ran from them when they tried to sting me.
Tom

[deathray]

Let me know when they make it to NoCal! Screw that!

[Old Tom]

Yeah, I have kept bees for many years and really enjoyed having them around my place. I'd be glad to answer any questions about them that I can but I don't have any experience with the Africanized bee. I gave up bee keeping when everything went Africanized here in the Phoenix area. Too many people suing one another for me to fight it in court even if I could prove that my hives were clean.

There is a chemical that you can get from the bee store that we used to apply to the top super to drive the bees down and out of it so we could rob them. I have never used it on the Africanized version so I don't know if it would only make them madder or not.

Tom and I have run into a hive or two in the boonies in the past but we just leave them alone and they don't bother us. We have even run gas motors next to them and have come out ok. Didn't know we were doing that until they all showed up at the panning water we had set out. They also like the Pepsi cans with a little sugar left in them.

[fredm]

When I was up at Gold basin I watched a swarm fly by...they are usually harmless when swarming...However, they will land in any sheltered spot if they are in need of rest. I was worried because I left my truck windows down, fortunately the flew by.

watering bees are not aggressive and they will come to anything that has natural sugars in it......so watch out when you take a drink...

fred

[nuggethunting]

Hey Bob,

Bees everywhere now. I ran into two huge swarms Saturday, a several a week prior heading to Wickenburg. They are out and about right now ....

[adam]

I dont even like this subject

[Old Tom]

That's alright Adam, they probably don't like you either but I do..........................

old Tom

[frank c]

Yup its THE one thing I fear above rattlers.
The wife and I had a brief encounter a couple seasons ago in Meadview with a LARGE SWARM WHEEEEEEUUU Scary thought it was A LOW FLYIN AIRCRAFT COMMING FROM THE DISTANCE no such luck.

[AZNuggetBob]

I'll tell ya deathray Im not sure why they never seem to make it further north than Rich Hill? that I know of.

weather,cold,altitude? dont know?

Thanks for jumping in here Old Tom and offering your experience and hopfully answer some questions that have had me wondering for years.

I agree Fred, Frank, but wasnt sure back when this happened.

I found this old ghost town on a old map south of Tucson. never knew it was even there. so I went looking for it. I was driving my big ol 4x4 Ford diesel and the road was terrible. all washed out, the road was thin in spots.

mountain on one side

cliff on the other and Ive only got about half a tire on the cliff side in some spots.

there was a couple of butt tighteners. but I'm crashin and bashin along and

I finally come around the edge of the hill and I see it or what was left of it. I can see whats left of old foundations, bits and pieces of lumber and tin scattered around.

I pull down into the middle of it all and park. I get out and Im getting excited I dont see any tire tracks, no detector holes. this place looked like it had been forgotten.

I can see some mine workings up on the ridge and I remember thinking coins?, gold?, coins, gold?. so I get my Tesoro Lobo out, best coin machine I had at the time especially in trashy areas.

Im just walking around looking for a good place to start, acusuly I was looking for saloon glass, whiskey bottle glass. I collect saloon tokens. anyway I walk over to this big crater in the ground. there is broken glass all around it, large brown or green glass bottoms, applied lips on the bottle necks, old saloon glass for sure. this place was old. so Im thinkin bottle diggers probably dug this hole.

I put my headphones on, I crank up the detector

and while Im tunning it up I hear this weird low hum? at first Im thinkin its my detector.

it keeps getting louder and louder and Im thinking airplane? I look to the left, nothing I look to the right and I see them. I stood there watching them follow the contures of the valley a huge black cloud flat and stretched out just rolling along like a magic carpet in the sky.

all of a sudden it dawns on me and its coming my direction and its BEES!

I just dove into the hole detector and all.

I remember laying there looking up and watching them fly over, thousands on them. I could not believe how loud they were. and then they were gone. I crawled up out of the hole looked around and saw them go over a ridge in the back of the valley.

I just considered myself lucky and took off out of there.

Ive had several encounters but I dont think any were the killer type bees?

AzNuggetBob

[nugget108]

Jeez. Hopefully Elko gets too cold for them dirty buggers.

[Uncle Ron]

Hey, Bob...Same thing happened to me about half way up Rich Hill ... Beeping along and suddenly heard the buzzzzzz .... Scary sound! ... I looked down hill and there was a huge black cloud heading straight for me ... I dropped down between two big granite boulders and curled into a ball ... They went just a couple feet right over me and headed on up hill ... No problem, but scared me worse than any of those rattlers up there! ... Cheers, Unc

[Old Tom]

Hey guys, your encounters were with bee swarms. They usually don't bother anyone when they are in that mode. I can't vouch for the Africanized version though. When the scouts come back and tell the swarm where a likely place to hive is they all fly up and around the queen to the spot decided on. They only have one thing in mind then and that is to get to the potential spot. After they get there it's a different story, they will defend it and her from harm. I have stood in the middle of swarms with no shirt on with them all buzzing around me many, many, times and never been stung. They can sense fear and if you get stung or kill one the others sense that also and they will respond. Consider all bees in the lower South West Africanized. Where the winter freezes for months it is not likely they have taken root as yet.

Old Tom

[frank c]

Old Tommy, I'll tell ya straight I don't care ifn their Africanized, Bumbleized, or Cannibilized, I don't like em 1 bit.
I'd rather be facin a rattler with my detector in hand than a swarm of bees knees headin my way.

[AZNuggetBob]

old Tom I think your posts answered another question I had. here is another run in I had with them.

I was heading to a patch out by Rich Hill and I notice a bunch of bees flying across the trail? they all were going left or right back and forth like a freeway? not a swarm. I couldnt see where they were coming from or where they were going? it seemed odd that they were in a line back and forth? kinda NE SW. Ive wondered about that to this day. they werent thick but there was more than normal. I remember standing there watching them and then I just decided to walk through them. they were only about 4-6 feet off the ground. as soon as I got close they started bouncing off me and I thought are they upset or just bouncing off me? after a minute it seemed they were pissed off. they started hitting me real hard, but not stinging. so I decided to back out of there and they stopped and left me alone. I thought they had a hive near by. I came back the next day with my camo pull over no-see-um bug suit and they were gone. AzNuggetBob

[Old Tom]

Bob, what you probably saw was that they were in a circular pattern around the queen. She is in the middle of that mass and they are all circling around her. You don't see them in motion going away and coming towards you while the whole mass is drifting slowly in another direction. If this was a while back and the swarm wasn't Africanized then they wouldn't have harmed you, but I wouldn't count on that today although I have never heard of even an Africanized swarm stinging. I stood in one last year and stayed perfectly still and they didn't sting. It was in my back pasture and I was close to the house so I took a chance to see what would happen. I would not recommend it though.

Old Tom

P.S. Bees do bump when issuing a warning, but that is only in the tame bee. The wild bunch has other ideas you can bet.

[JIM MCCULLOCH]

Late one afternoon I came home to find a watermelon-sixed mass of bees in my Palo Verde tree. Next day they took up residence under my ground-level deck. If I got with about 20 feet one or more would slam me in the face or chest. But if I stayed farther away they wouldn't bother. Early one morning as I left the house hundreds were already flying around, and when they saw me they chased me, en masse, to my truck, a couple of them getting their "jabs" in before I escaped. Boy, were they angry. SOMETHING had really angered them. When I got home that evening they had gone to bed under the decking. So, I tip-toed to the opening. Lying there at the opening of the hive was a king snake dead and bloating. Hundreds of sting marks, but no dead bees. Hearing me walk on "their" decking caused them to buzz loudly. In the end we had to call in a bee guy, who declared it was an Africanized hive. We had to remove the decking because the wax and honey had impregnated it.

[Afriscot]

I can give you my two cents worth as I have around 25 hives. Two are swarms I caught on the side of rich hill a month ago. Africanized bees have made it all the way to flagstaff and according to the local Beekeepers up there the African's have lived up there for at least ten years. I have caught many swarms and to date none have been the African variety. But I have had a couple hives get very mean over the past few years as my Italian queens have swarmed leaving a new queen who does her mating flight and mates with an average of 17 male drones. If she mates with all African drones then the hive is 1/2 Italian 1/2 African. If the same thing happens the next year then the hive is 3/4 african and so on. But the majority of bees, feral and ones that have swarmed from Beekeepers are pretty tame. Also I try to re-queen the hive yearly as a precaution. The media makes it out as the Africans are lurking outside everyone's front door which is not the case. Rule of thumb, if you get chased by bees and you run like hell and after 75 yards they have left you alone, they are not African. But if they chased you 400 yards then they are African. Note: be in shape enough to run 400 yards.

[Azavsfan]

Or bring someone that isn't as fast as yourself right? Seriously though, good info, thanks.

[ahorton10]

I come across hives regularly in the desert, not sure if they're africanized or not...they have never bothered me, when I see that im near their home, I go the other way haha

[Grubstake1]

Killer BEE'S, Great headphones, bad! Real bee's. Grubstake

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

Great info on bees. I actually love them, I think they are a major contributor to our Ecosystem. They are more than a flying insect that produces Honey.

That being said, I have a funny story for you. Years ago I was hunting the side of Rich Hill with a buddy. We were both hunting the same side of this huge ravine. I happen to hear this strange noise, removed my headphones and seen this huge black cloud (swarm of bees) heading right towards me. I took off running, dragging the SD metal detector behind me. At one point I tossed the detector down, looked back and they were almost right on top of me. I was screaming down the hills, as my friend wasn't too far out front. I ran right by him, as he couldn't hear me yelling, nor the swarm with his headphones on. As I looked back a second time, he was lying flat on the ground and a gust of wind popped up and pushed the swarm in a different direction. It was freaking crazy, there was lonely bees for hours flying around, but the main swarm was gone. We still talk about that day everyone so often when the subject of bees some up.

[oldies1955]

I remember that about the bees around the panning water.
Funny thing is. I didn't think nothing of just shoowing them off the water so I could pan the cons from the drywasher.

I remember you telling me....guess you grew up around bees.

If I ever get a swarm coming at me....ill lay low and let them pass.

Tom H.

[Grubstake1]

Bad thing we have in Mariposa, is meat bee's, damned things bite not sting. Grubstake

[paratrooper]

I have heard things about the Africans. It seems that they are more defensive than offensive. If you are making any kind of noise near the hive they rush to force you away. I have heard that if you can get 1/4 mile away they stop chasing you. I would have to think that if you find yourself in this predicament drop your pick next to your coil with the sound as high as you can get. I would have to think that they would amuse themselves with the detector until they find it no threat and move on. I wouldn't guarantee this but if I were in that situation I would think that it's worth a shot.