It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children
Thanks for your help
Suzi

In article ,
"s guy" writes:
| It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have made
| a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
| they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children

Firstly, they are probably bumble bees, miner bees or whatever.
Honey bees rarely nest in the ground.

Secondly, even a hive of honey bees is a very low risk, and one
of the type you have is a negligible one. They won't sting unless
you squeeze them and rarely occur more than singly.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"s guy" wrote in message
...
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have
made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children
Thanks for your help
Suzi

My mother has literally hundreds of holes in her (sandy) frint lawn in which
some sort of bee lives. Looks like just a few (maybe one) per hole though.
Have you got lost of holes and many bees, or are many bees really living in
just one hole? Anyway, she hasnt been stung in the past 20 years despite
walking over the lawn every day several times. You probably have something
similar and are at similar risk, ie slim to none. BTW, I very much doubt
they are honey bees.

--
Tumbleweed

Remove my socks before replying (but no email reply necessary to newsgroups)

In article , s guy
writes
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden.


They have made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently.

They're not honey bees, they're mining bees. But they're 'goodies' and
should be encouraged.

Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children

Well, I would. They won't attack without provocation. But they regard
being stepped on as provocation. You might want to tell the children not
to step on the hole, or to put a barrier around it if the children are
too small to tell.


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

In article ,
Tumbleweed wrote:

"s guy" wrote in message
...
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have
made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children

My mother has literally hundreds of holes in her (sandy) frint lawn in which
some sort of bee lives. Looks like just a few (maybe one) per hole though.
Have you got lost of holes and many bees, or are many bees really living in
just one hole? Anyway, she hasnt been stung in the past 20 years despite
walking over the lawn every day several times. You probably have something
similar and are at similar risk, ie slim to none. BTW, I very much doubt
they are honey bees.

We have them, we go barefoot all summer, and have been stung at most
7 times in 25 years (that's for 4 people). In every case, because
we trod on one - and then it happened only when we let the white
clover flower. My sympathy was with the bees, except for my wife who
reacts badly.

Yes, it really is a mean time between being stung of decades, even
if you take a high risk. VERY rarely an issue.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

"s guy" wrote in message ...
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children
Thanks for your help
Suzi

They're probably mason bees, which look a bit like slightly furry
honey bees. They are very docile and will only sting if you grab hold
of one. I have a mason bee "house" (a tin full of little cardboard
tubes) and enjoy watching them doing their thing. They are also much
more efficient pollinators than honey bees - good if you have fruit
trees. Encourage and enjoy them!

Nick Maclaren wrote:
In article ,
"s guy" writes:
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They
have made a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite
frequently. Are they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small
children

Firstly, they are probably bumble bees, miner bees or whatever.
Honey bees rarely nest in the ground.

Secondly, even a hive of honey bees is a very low risk, and one
of the type you have is a negligible one. They won't sting unless
you squeeze them and rarely occur more than singly.

Can I be pedantic? Oh, go on. :-)
Mason and mining bees are usually solitary.
Bumble bees live in small colonies of a 100 or so.
If 's-guy's bees "are going in and out quite frequently", that would
suggest that there is probably more than one bee involved. I would
cast a vote for bumble bees (of which there are several species).
Their non-aggression is agreed.

--
ned

On Mon, 12 May 2003 17:53:41 +0100, Kay Easton
wrote:

In article , s guy
writes
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden.


They have made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently.

They're not honey bees, they're mining bees. But they're 'goodies' and
should be encouraged.

Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children

Well, I would. They won't attack without provocation. But they regard
being stepped on as provocation. You might want to tell the children not
to step on the hole, or to put a barrier around it if the children are
too small to tell.

We have about 40 holes in the edge of the lawn under and we've just put a
couple of bits of wood around the patch to remind us not to walk or work
there. We also have 2 small kids and have had no problem. They're pretty
docile on the whole and are more interested in getting in and out of the
burrows than anything else. I even had one nest in a small hole in my
motorbike. Tim

Xref: kermit uk.rec.gardening:142286

On 12 May 2003 13:03:06 -0700, Pickle wrote:

"s guy" wrote in message
...
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have
made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children
Thanks for your help
Suzi

They're probably mason bees, which look a bit like slightly furry
honey bees. They are very docile and will only sting if you grab hold
of one. I have a mason bee "house" (a tin full of little cardboard
tubes) and enjoy watching them doing their thing. They are also much
more efficient pollinators than honey bees - good if you have fruit
trees. Encourage and enjoy them!

I have a thick slice of tree trunk that I drilled with various sized holes.
It's full of bees from bumble-bees to the tiny, fruit-fly sized ones. They
make a heck of a din though.
Tim.

--


"Kay Easton" wrote in message
...
In article , s guy
writes
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden.


They have made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently.

They're not honey bees, they're mining bees. But they're 'goodies' and
should be encouraged.

Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children

Well, I would. They won't attack without provocation. But they regard
being stepped on as provocation. You might want to tell the children not
to step on the hole, or to put a barrier around it if the children are
too small to tell.

Miner bees can't sting, they don't have the equipment.

Encourage the children to watch and protect them, they're fascinating.

Mary


--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

--

"Pickle" wrote in message
m...
"s guy" wrote in message
...
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have
made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently. Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children
Thanks for your help
Suzi

They're probably mason bees, which look a bit like slightly furry
honey bees. They are very docile and will only sting if you grab hold
of one.

They can't sting either.

I have a mason bee "house" (a tin full of little cardboard
tubes) and enjoy watching them doing their thing. They are also much
more efficient pollinators than honey bees

Huh?

Mary

- good if you have fruit
trees. Encourage and enjoy them!

"Tim" wrote in message
newspro3118ltwxhha1@localhost...
On 12 May 2003 13:03:06 -0700, Pickle wrote:

I have a thick slice of tree trunk that I drilled with various sized
holes.
It's full of bees from bumble-bees

Bumble bees build nests, they don't utilise holes like these.

Mary


to the tiny, fruit-fly sized ones. They
make a heck of a din though.
Tim.

"Nick Maclaren" wrote in message
...
In article ,
Tumbleweed wrote:

"s guy" wrote in message
...
It seems like we have some honey bees nesting in our garden. They have
made
a little hole in the soil and are going in and out quite frequently.
Are
they OK to keep where they are as we have 2 small children

My mother has literally hundreds of holes in her (sandy) frint lawn in
which
some sort of bee lives. Looks like just a few (maybe one) per hole
though.
Have you got lost of holes and many bees, or are many bees really living
in
just one hole? Anyway, she hasnt been stung in the past 20 years despite
walking over the lawn every day several times. You probably have
something
similar and are at similar risk, ie slim to none. BTW, I very much doubt
they are honey bees.

We have them, we go barefoot all summer, and have been stung at most
7 times in 25 years (that's for 4 people). In every case, because
we trod on one - and then it happened only when we let the white
clover flower. My sympathy was with the bees, except for my wife who
reacts badly.

Nick, I suggest that you were stung by honey bees working the clover.

Mary

Yes, it really is a mean time between being stung of decades, even
if you take a high risk. VERY rarely an issue.


Regards,
Nick Maclaren.

In article , Mary Fisher
writes

Huh?

Mary - can you expand on your grunts? ;-)

Do/can mason bees sting? What are the bees in the holes in the ground?
Are they the same as the ones that will nest in holes drilled in logs?
Where do bumble bees nest? Why do you think Nick was stung by a honey
bee after the clover?

Please - you know more about bees than probably anyone on this group!
--
Kay Easton

Edward's earthworm page:
http://www.scarboro.demon.co.uk/edward/index.htm

On Wed, 14 May 2003 23:39:16 +0100, Mary Fisher
wrote:




"Tim" wrote in message
newspro3118ltwxhha1@localhost...
On 12 May 2003 13:03:06 -0700, Pickle wrote:

I have a thick slice of tree trunk that I drilled with various sized
holes.
It's full of bees from bumble-bees

Bumble bees build nests, they don't utilise holes like these.
Mary

Perhaps they have freinds they're visiting then. ;-)
I must add this is in Austria, I'm afraid. Maybe there are some local
species here that utilise holes that aren't found in the UK.
Tim.