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Louisiana & Mississippi

Has anyone ever seen honey bees

16 years ago

in the ground before? I have this hole in my yard under an oak out front that has bees in it. They are small bees and look like honey bees to me. DH said they don't build in the ground that it is hornets. I'm very allergic to stings so I've been keeping my distance but it sure does look like honey bees!!!!

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Comments (6)

Louisiana_botanist
16 years ago
I've seen lots of them. Actually I have a at least a hundred thousand between 8 colonies.

Below is a link to a jpeg of some of my Buckfast F1 hybrid honeybees from one of my colonies. Do the ones you have look similar? If not, they are likely some species of native bee/yellow jacket/hornet.

European and Russian honeybees do not typically use ground cavities.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{gwi:1015890}}
gardnpondr
Original Author
16 years ago
They are small from what I can tell at a distance I am afraid to get too close. My DH knows the difference so he's going to check it out for me and maybe he can get A LITTLE closer than I have been getting.....lol
thanx!
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jim2k
16 years ago
they are yellow jackets try a little gas in the hole if that dosnt work you will need an expert.they do sting so be careful good luck jim
greenelbows1
16 years ago
While I wouldn't want yellow jackets too close to an area where we were active, I've never forgotten as a child watching yellow jackets clean out a nest of termites in an area behind the woodshed. They really have their place in the grand scheme of things!
gardnpondr
Original Author
16 years ago
It is yellow jackets!!!! I got up close enough to really see when they weren't stirred up and one came out of the hole and I could see the top of the nest down in there! I placed a rock there beside it so DH could gas them. I can't because I am highly allergic to this sort of things. IF it wasn't for that I would leave them alone but I am here by myself during the day and I can't have them biting me when I mow around there.
Thanx everyone!!! :)
lar11833
16 years ago
I had the same thing happen and they weren't honey bees, they were wasps. My husband and son poured gasoline and burned them out. Then they dug into the hole and there were a zillion wasp eggs which they again burned out. It was not a pretty sight to see.

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