The Ichnuemon Wasp, perhaps?
I've occasionally seen these, or something more bee-like, in my yard. The long thing is an ovipositor.
Posted on 05/29/2007 8:36:43 AM PDT by cposnarkey
Most of us beekeepers are fighting with the Varroa mites. I'm happy to say my biggest problems are things like trying to get nucs through the winter and coming up with hives that won't hurt my back from lifting or better ways to feed the bees.
This change from fighting the mites is mostly because I've gone to natural sized cells. In case you weren't aware, and I wasn't for a long time, the foundation in common usage results in much larger bees than what you would find in a natural hive. I've measured sections of natural worker brood comb that are 4.6mm in diameter. What most people use for worker brood is foundation that is 5.4mm in diameter. If you translate that into three dimensions instead of one, it produces a bee that is about half as large again as is natural. By letting the bees build natural sized cells, I have virtually eliminated my Varroa and Tracheal mite problems. One cause of this is shorter capping times by one day, and shorter post-capping times by one day. This means less Varroa get into the cells, and less Varroa reproduce in the cells.
Who should be surprised that the major media reports forget to tell us that the dying bees are actually hyper-bred varieties that we coax into a larger than normal body size? It sounds just like the beef industry. And, have we here a solution to the vanishing bee problem? Is it one that the CCD Working Group
(Excerpt) Read more at informationliberation.com ...
I have noticed that the occasional honeybee I see hanging around my garden is much smaller that they used to be. I wondered about that.
Sounds like you need to change the size of the supers as well. Hope it works. Mason bees are an alternative, but it sounds like they are not a full season pollinator.
There’s some real pip Lefties having coronaries in the comments section for this article. Don’t miss the spectacle, FReepers.
Very interesting article.
I live on 33 acres with a small orchard surrounded by redwood forests. Twice this spring we have seen huge swarms of bees, many thousands, hovering in the orchard, and then they veer off into the forest. I’m wondering if those are “wild” bees who have a hive nearby.
Welcome to FreeRepublic, by the way.
You know, when these collapse stories came out, the first thing I thought about was the fact that these mega-keepers put these hives in 18 wheel trucks and ship them from one coast to the other, and that can’t be good. Intermingling that many bees, countrywide in the span of a season is not good for their immune systems. They weren’t made for that kind of assault.
Heard about this honeybee industrialization from Richard C. Hoagland a couple weeks ago. That’s right, the Face on Mars guy. He mentioned the exact same cell dimensions as this article.
So Richard Hoagland was right about the cell size? http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/243421/to_bee_or_not_to_bee_that_is_the_question.html
A lot of interesting back and forth on the supposed/proposed solution to the problem in the comments section at the link. IMHO enough insight/information to be worth reading.
Somebody explain to me please why I suddenly have fat, slow, two-inch-long monster wasps or bees or whatever in my house. The Maryland cooperative extension service, which is supposed to know about hymenoptera, denies that this is possible.
I’ve been trying to get some photos of the bee swarm that I get every year. They are much smaller than a honey bee...and louder.
IIRC, beekeepers seem to mostly use the same small number of species, so not much genetic variation available in case of trouble. It’s not nice to fool Mother Nature!
The only wild hive I ever saw was in the Golden Gate Recreation Area, which must not be far off from you.
Mrs VS
My suburban home is semi rural and we have lots of natural bees around no shortage for our gardens at all
Hmmm.....I am probably about 70 miles south of that area. Interesting.
Someone explain to me why a knot of four small wasps plummeted from the sky or the trees bounced off my head and into my tea this morning. Ick.
Mrs VS
Is it a hornet? Maybe you have a hornet nest in your walls or chimney.
Are they Carpenter Bees?
http://ohioline.osu.edu/hyg-fact/2000/2074.html
Look for 1/2 inch to 3/4 inch round holes in the exterior woodwork on your house. The males who ‘patrol’ the area cannot sting, but the females who stay in the nest can sting when aggravated.
Very likely that they do. Question #1 Does the orchard owner put out bee hives within the orchard? If the answer is no then “very likely” will go to “most definitely”.
The Ichnuemon Wasp, perhaps?
I've occasionally seen these, or something more bee-like, in my yard. The long thing is an ovipositor.
Hmmmmm...
Report to re-education, Citizen...
They were in mid-orgy.
Although you were probably happier not knowing that...
It’s my orchard and I do not have any hives. There once was a neighbor about a mile away who had bees, but that was about a decade ago.
How can anyone have “organic” bees? Do they control where the bees get pollen and nectar? Unless you have the hives on a very large property which you control, I don’t think so. The bees could easily go to neighboring properties where non-organic practices are used.
So you are not buying the multi-dimensional bee antenna theory?
Thanks, this led me to some very fascinating reading.
yes, it’s good to have some (possibly) good news for a change.
Those would be cicada killer wasps. They live in the ground, digging burrows with piles of dirt around the entrance. They kill cicadas and drag them down into the burrow. Otherwise, they are harmless. It’s been dry in Maryland, so they are active earlier than usual.
I suppose organic bees build their own comb, and don’t get chemical treatment for mites.
It would be interesting to run an experiment using ready-made comb with smaller cell sizes. However, beekeepers have been using the ready-made comb for years without a bee die-off. Some synergy at work now, maybe - or maybe just coincidence.
Mrs VS
"One of the earlier reports attributed the loss of bee colonies on cellular phones. I'm not that familiar with all the technical aspects of beekeeping, but why do bees need cell phones? Could we solve the problem by taking their phones away?"
This has got to be an undercover FReeper.
The bees will build there hives in wind protected locations not very deep in the forest. Generally the hive entrances are less than 15 feet above the ground.
On a sunny day when the wind is mild get a pair of binoculars and sit on the edge of the orchard on top of a step ladder where you can see above the orchard trees.
This will allow you to watch the bees come and go from their hives. In 30 minutes or so you will be able to determine the air trails (where they fly in straight lines back and forth to the hive) they are using.
It is easiest if you watch only for bees that are flying out of the orchard. They are loaded with pollen and want to unload it, so their trails are the straightest.
Thank you so much for the information. We were really hoping that seeing these swarms meant that there is a hive nearby, give the current bee “crisis.”
It’s exciting to know this.
Thanks again.
Your cat leaves the back door open when you are out.........OR, they might be a "steel blue cricket hunter"
"
Does it look like this?
Sounds like what we call, "locust hunters" They are almost harmless unless you sit on a female. THe males don't have stingers.
Chances are this is one of the solitary bee’s that do no harm they are not aggressive and so not sting.
http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/nativebee.html#sweat
It is a species of wood wasp that burrows into specific species of trees. They are supposed to be relatively docile and non aggressive.
We noticed alot of them last year. Never saw them before and haven’t seen them since.
It doesn't matter what breeds the beekeeper has, drones come from all over and visit hives and do the mateing flight with any new queen that takes off.
Most bee keepers buy new, bred queens every year or two.
Checkout the pesticide section of your hardware store. Look for termite and carpenter ant killer (contains bifenthrin). It also prevents/kills carpenter bees.
When searching for their hives, take note of storm damaged trees where a large limb has split from the trunk. That part of the tree will often rot and then other birds and bugs will further damage the tree, hollowing it. Bingo, an ideal place for a hive.
If the hive is a small one leave it alone for a couple of years. The bees eat the honey during the winter months, so be sure not to take all their food supply. Then as it expands you should be able to remove 1/4 to 1/3 each year without doing major damage to the hive. The’ll rebuild it each year.
If the weather is tough on the orchard flower crop, resulting in a major reduction of pollen, that is a good year to leave the hive unmolested.
Have fun, enjoy the pure honey.
“There’s some real pip Lefties having coronaries in the comments section for this article. Don’t miss the spectacle, FReepers.”
“Isn’t it a good thing that the inorganic bees are dying?
The thought of artificial robo-bees terrifies me.”
Way far gone in the ozone.
Now this guy is a hoot!
“. No trucks, no antibiotics, we thought good thoughts and gave money to Greenpeace, but they still died.”
That theory is a bit too far-out. But the oversized “industrial” bees and the overuse of fumigants on these bees makes much more sense from a conventional scientific point of view.
I am not convinced about the cell size argument. Those sizes were worked out a long, long time ago and apparently they were not a problem before. I think it’s the mites or maybe some other pathogen.
Have any of you beekeepers tried a top bar hive?
http://www2.gsu.edu/~biojdsx/main.htm
I want to put in a third hive next year, and I’m thinking about trying this.
Bee Feed Tested for Pet Food Taints - (Colony Collapse Disorder)
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1836058/posts
How would you feed a wild hive that’s up in a tree in the winter if you didn’t know exactly how big it was? Not something you’ve got in the shed out back where you can check on them every couple of weeks.
btt
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