I have noticed a decline in bees over the last three years. Three years ago I lived in a rural area where everyone had acreage. I had plenty of bees. Last year we lived in a rental house, also rural but closer to city and all though I had bees there was not the usual morning swarm of them and it seemed to take longer to get any pollinated plants and subsequently fruit to bear. This year I had the crazy weather some of you mentioned, I live in Villa Rica GA which is west and about 24 miles from Alabama. We had winter, spring, summer, winter, summer winter! Most of my plants are confused. There were more bees earlier in the first two warm spells but it seems I have maybe one or two bees killing themselves in my tomato garden but not making it anywhere else. The melons flower and vine some more with no fruit, same for the squash and zuchinni. I have noticed that in the past the bees were usually out early in the morning when it was cool or late in the evening, but the temps here have been mid to high fifties overnight with 90 plus degree highs in the day and the bees are out later in the heat. Of course my tomatoes are in a crowded raised bed leaning on each other mostly so it is nice and cool inside there. I always plant a hummingbird and butterfly garden which is also attractive to bees. Any plants that are for butterfly and hummingbird garden the bees will love too. Some of my plants are Angels trumpets, bee balm, canna lily, balloon flowers,aromatic sages, especially pineapple sage, Tithonia(sp) Mexican Sunflower, Nicotiana, Purple coneflower, anything aromatic and sweet smelling and anything with bright flowers especially tubular shaped ones, and red, lots of red! This year though with drought even these are not doing well. I have seen butterflies but not daily. Seems we get a bunch one day then none for weeks. I have seen hummingbirds flitting around through the yard but they do not stay long because my flowers are not in bloom yet. I wonder if the weather is the cause, the drought, or if it really is cell phone towers! I came to this forum looking for hive info but am almost afraid that if I started a hive I might be dooming honeybees to death as close as I live to Atlanta and cell towers! Kelley

I need help with bees. Last night i was playing with my dogs and their balls went into a ground cover type shrub. My little dog came out crying and rubbing under my chair. I didn't know what was going on until i started feeling stings. I looked and saw my big dog running covered in bees. I couldn't get the bees off him, he was running and whining and rolling on the ground. Eventually i was able to spay him with the hose and get the bees off. As far as i am concerned these bees have to go. I'm not exactly sure where the nest is, except i did see the bees swarming above this ground cover shrub. I believe they are yellow jackets. Please any advice on the best way to get rid of these bees would be of great help. Do i spay the area where i saw them with an over the counter bee spay (Raid)? Please help!

Ohhh,Beautiful pictures. Yes any bee keeper can collect them. The milk can should be filled with smoke,it will get the rest of the bees out.once you take the circular wax hive,you filled the milk can with water. The bees can then be collected by a beekeeper or just leave them and they'll leave shortly in search of a new home. Right now they are homeless and they generally do not sting. The queen is inside the ball of swarming bees. Marcia is right.If they were Africanized you would have been stung allot. I wish i could get them but distance prevents it. Beam me up Scotti! My beehives are very heavy right now with lots of honey and bee population growing meaning they'll soon swarm or split. I have an empty hive ready for them. It is really exiting specially if I forget to put my mask and all the other protection and they start with acupuncture.I'm not into eastern medicine. Keep us informed. Felix

The bird houses were very inexpenive kits that had small precut wood and fiberboard as piece parts. The small round opening was originally for a chickadee size. I blocked the holes and added some seperate compartments about 3x3 inches each, before putting on the small roof. A wad of plain cotton was added to each partition and small 3/8 inch to 1/2 inch diameter holes were drilled to enter into each seperate compartment. I knew that these were used, as a woodpecker had detected something and tried to peck big holes around the tiny openings, but didn't succeed. I also have a 6x6 inch chunk of wood that I drilled many various sized holed about 5 inches deep all over the four sides. Its way up on a pole with a metal trash can cover acting as a roof. Not sure if all the areas are activly supporting bees, but I also have a large mason been house that has 6 inch long tubes that are 5/16 inch in diameter, and are grouped together. They have liners inside each tube and these get replaced once per year, after the bees used the tubes. There are about 100 tubes per nest. The mason bee lays several eggs in the tubes and adds food, then plugs up the opening with mud. They hibernate and then wake up the following spring and eat the food, while opening up the end of the tubes. They are the earliest bees, earlier than even any other pollinating insect. They are noticably gone once the warmer weather is here, about mid April. By then, some of my fruit trees have been flowering already, and have been pollinated. Adding any moisture or sugar to the cotton can cause it to mold. The bumble bees treat the cotton like a bird would do for building a nest.