To coincide with the ANTS!!! thread, I'd like to bring up bees. I have a massive oak in the front yard, and within its ridiculously large root structure i know of at least 3 nests of ground bees. One is yellowjackets, confirmed that when i went to the hospital (allergic) and there was a dead one in the collar of my shirt.

One more is little yellow guys, although i don't think they are yellowjackets, maybe paper wasps.

The third are the big, fat black ones, look like carpenter bees, but i have seen no evidence of boring into the wood structures above ground, so who knows.

I need to kill them, no options, as i'm allergic and i still need to mow. suggestions? Perhaps this should be in the anything that's not ponds threads, cuz there's no BOW involved.

I found that pouring listerine ( the mouth wash) will make them move and it didn't hirt my tree. Something a old woman down the road told me. I tryed it and it work.
Now this is just me and I'm just an old man from Texas.

Death would be preferred to relocation, cuz i think they'll just move to the giant oak out back, but if i can't get a product to take care of them permanently, i will definitely check that out. Oh, and before someone else says it, gasoline and/or motor oil are out of the question.

Thanks!
-Skinny

right here

Try carbaryl or a pyrethroid. They will kill your bees and have no effect on your tree. If the big fat ones are living in a colony, then they are not likely carpenter bees. Carpenter bees have a bare abdomen while bumble bees have a hairy abdomen. Bumble bees often live in old mouse nests in the ground or tree holes and are colony formers rather than solitary like carpenter bees. Sometimes one sees a lot of carpenter bees in one place if there are a bunch of nesting holes in the same wooden structure.

Alright. Looks like i'm gonna stock up on epi-pens and start with some poisons.

Wish me luck...if you guys don't hear me post about my dad's skinnybass pond for a while, check the local st louis hospitals for a short irish guy dead of bee stings.

Thanks for all of your help!

You need to call a pro in. I've got stung by just about all of them, but I am just a knucklehead that is not allergic. Bees and yellow jackets are just a laugh. Wasps and hornets, not very funny. Bumble bees, just the worst.

Biggest moronic move I even did with bees was shooting a bee box with my .22. Bees came out and stung me in the face.

Biggest moronic move ever with wasps was throwing a rock at thier suspended nest. Chased me and stung me in elbow.

Been stung by yellowjackets a ton, they are usually the smallest of the wasp/hornets. Fell in my work glove.

Was moving around old barracks refrigators in Pearl Harbor. Opened it up, swarm of hornets on me instantly. Set a new record for 50 yard dash. Did not get stung.

Worst was fishing in a little slough where a dozer had just come through and scraped the ground bare. Gigantic bumblebee landed right on my abdomen, I had no shirt on. Got me right on the diaphram. Felt like someone hit me with a pipe or 2 X 4. I thought I was going to suffer respiratory failure and die.

Do not mess around if you are allergic. Call in a pro. Multiple stings could be fatal to you. And most of them will swarm on you if you try to spray.

Hence stocking up on epi-pens first. Bonus i live a block from one of those emergency care branches of the local hospital. HAd a pro come out last year, when i bought the house. He quoted me 700 to treat the front yard. Ridiculous, but apparently, he says, the chems to deal with a root ball as big as mine without killing the tree are very pricey. Or the tree could die, and then i have to cut it down.

I originally (and still kinda) think i was being scammed. IMO should have been 200 bucks tops. But the guy who came to take out the honey bees (did that for free) also said it would be at least 100 per nest, and I ended up paying 90 for the yellow jackets (I'm most severely allergic to them). So who knows, maybe a full yard treatment at 700 was accurate.

My most moronic moment was when i discovered i was allergic. Just turned 18, working for the boy scouts in philmont, New mexico. Strict rules about garbage there, and a bunch of kids hiking the trails told me they couldn't use the dumpster upstream from my cabin because of a hive dangling from one end. Yeah, tried the smoke method, they did not like it one bit, had to call in a helicopter to air-lift me to a hospital.

The solution was a little more natural. Brown bear lived across the creek a few miles down. Saw her once, trying to get into the dumpster, she must have knocked the hive off (intentionally?), and they were gone in a few days.

oops.

Spray at night when they do not fly. I find bumble bee nests that I accidentally run over while bush hogging, by stepping around at night until I hear them buzz. Then I squirt on a little pyrethroid and say goodbye to the nest. My least favorite are yellow jackets. Got 40 stings when I stumble on one when I was 8 years old. I also got some stomach stings from bumble bees when I was about 12. I have had the occasional paper wasp sting as an adult when I stumble too close to a nest that I do not see. Wasps and bees are generally beneficial, but I don't tolerate getting stung. If I was allergic, I'd find someone else to kill them off.

I would seriously find someone else. Nothing is worth your life, especially saving a few bucks.

For me, yellowjackets are the most fierce. You never know when or where you will stir up a nest. They get nasty in a hurry, and stay that way. I ran over a nest last year when mowing with a rider, and at the same time, got stuck on a buried wooden beam from an old raised bed. Several hours alter, they were still attacking the mower. Sprayed all sorts of stuff on the mower. Next day, there were hundreds dead on the seat. The rest were still buzzing around.

Bumble bees are much more docile, but more deadly.

Bumble bees out east are nasty angry, but here in Indiana they are really hard to rile up. Perhaps they are different species. They are also smaller in Indiana.

If you can get this it works wonders on all bees/wasps/mosquitoes/biting flies, etc. Pretty pricey, but it DOES work.

I had a Bald Faced Hornets "hive" built on the side of the house. I was planning on re-roofing the house the next week and had to get rid of them quickly. I mixed up some of that stuff, opened a window and sprayed the nest. Every time a hornet wanted to come out of the nest I hit 'em. The ones that were outside of the nest would die once they landed on the nest (after a bit). I've also used it on a ground nest of yellow jackets. None crawled more than a foot from the nest.

Yes. Permethrin is a widely used insecticide. That is the ingredient in a lot of hose end sprayer 1 quart applicators. Problem is that it only 2.5%. By the time it is diluted thru the sprayer it is only good for basic grass insects.
If you can get strong solution and mix as you wish, it will kill most anything. Looks like Esshup's product is very concentrated.

I wonder which species has the most potent sting. I do agree yellow jackets are fierce. I don't live where Africanized honey bees live, but I can't imagine how nasty they must be...

IMO a hornet sting is by far the worst. I have seen one sting knock a man down (not an allergic reaction). Big red wasps are next. I have been stung by all of them except a bumble bee as ours are docile and a lot are whiteheads that don't sting. I am sure there is a lot of regional variation.

Anybody seen a cicada killer wasp? Some years I never see them and others they seem to be very common. They don't have hives or nests, so I guess getting stung by one is rare. They just dig holes in the ground where they lay their eggs and shove a paralyzed cicada or two. However, they are highly attracted to light at night. One flew into my cruiser one night, I guess attracted to the bright spotlight. I didn't realize it until it was too late. I felt something crawling on my neck and brushed it. Well, it let me have it. Wow! I'd gladly get stung by 50 yellow jackets than one of those things.

Yep! They love the sandy soil around here. I've mowed right over their hole and they haven't bothered me. I've also had my head within 3' of a bald faced hornets nest while mowing and they haven't bothered me either, but I didn't take a chance on making a 2nd pass!

I've been trying to get a nice Bald Faced Hornet's nest to hang in the barn for a few years now, and every time the weather cools down (as in approaching a frost) something comes along at night and tears open the bottom of the nest, which ruins it for me. I have yet to figure out just what's doing it. It's happened to nests that are out on the end of a thin branch, and a nest that was less than 2' off of the ground. If I find one this year, I'm stringing an electric fence around it 'till I take it out of the tree!

My biggest problem is ground bees. They are very small, very mean, swarming bees. I'm not allergic but my Wife is.

I generally locate the nest(after they settle down), go back at night, and pour dish washing soap down the hole.

I had one hive by my brush hog. I had to sneak in, put a strap on it and pull it away before I could use it. Then I forgot about it for awhile. When I came back later to kill them, I found that an armadillo had found the nest, dug down into it, and destroyed the hive. They also seem to dig into fire ants mounds. I need more armadillos.

At one time I had 20 colonies of honey bees and only one was a problem. It was a seriously mean bunch of bees. I tried requeening but couldn't catch and kill the old queen. I finally built a fire, suited up and tossed the whole mess onto it. Although it was my most productive hive, I didn't regret it.

For wasp nests, I shoot the foam stuff from about 10 ft. away. I have never seen a hornet nest.

Bald Faced Hornet Pics & info.

I wondered how long that would take. Rock on.

Surprised myself. Double checked a couple times to make sure.

OK- bees. Some good advice thus far. Do not bother with spraying during the day. Most will be out foraging. Any social insects you want to deal with at night when nearly 100% will be on the nest. IIRC, bumble bees (I believe that is what you have based on description), are semi social. They are male and female live in single or multiple holes, but all females are reproductives (unlike termites, honeybees and ants where all the workers are sterile females). Powders like Sevin and other available powerdered insecticides work best. The first thing that bees do when you douse them with powder is fan their wings which aids in spreading the fine dust throughout the colony. A more environmentally friendly approach is to use smoke from sulphur which kills the bees and helps the tree, of course it is not nearly as effective.

Please be very careful with the allergies. If possible, you may have a beekeeper that can assist you with this. I am a beekeeper and have developed a near complete immunity to stings. Since they don't hurt as bad, a beekeeper may be willing to do the job for much cheaper. You provide the dust, the duster and the $100.00 and almost any beekeeper would come do it. We don't have that high of margins on pollination jobs and honey!

Good luck.

I knew a beekeeper years ago who was also immune to the venom. He would actually force the bees to sting his hands to, what he claimed, help his arthritis. Not sure how true that is, but it was pretty freaky as a kid watching an old man force a bee to sting him.

Could he force them to sting with his thoughts?

Now that would be freaky.

I've heard the arthritis thing before too. There's a King of the Hill Episode where Gribble sells bee stings to women for big bucks to stop the effects of aging.

KJM, what's going on with varola mites these days?

He didn't say if he was a Jedi or not. I'll have to look him up and ask.

"These are not the bees you're looking for. Move along."

Nice.

Ground Bees. A quart or half gallon size mason jar. Some knotted up and twisted paper towel or cloth. A couple liquid ounces of something that has an M and K in it. Saturate the media and stick it in the hole. Quickly drive the mason jar over the hole. Bees will all be dead in short order, usually overnight. And you can retrieve the media.

Hive Bees. Two methods that were 100% effective last year were my fork truck (which is another story) and a propane skeeter fogger.

With the skeeter fogger, wait till night. Get it all fired up and spewing out some death. Stick the tip through the hive wall, and just pump it. They wont even know what hit them, then you can play football with the hive the next day

Just what works around here.

Ground Bees. A quart or half gallon size mason jar. Some knotted up and twisted paper towel or cloth. A couple liquid ounces of something that has an M and K in it. Saturate the media and stick it in the hole. Quickly drive the mason jar over the hole. Bees will all be dead in short order, usually overnight. And you can retrieve the media.

Molotov Kocktail?

JKB, are you referring to MEK? I have done the exact same thing but I use laquer thinner, works just as good and I think less hazardous and easier to come by. Any hardware store sells it. For hive bees I found that carburetor cleaner works just as good as the hornet and wasp killer you buy in a spray can. Spray it on the hive and it kills everything on contact.

Methyl ethyl ketone and lacquer thinner have very similar hazardous constituents and should be treated as basically the same material.

My guess would be MEK. I think MEK is a bit stronger than lacquer thinner.

MEK is used in and as lacquer thinner. You buy MEK and buy lacquer thinner and you (or the environment) will not be able to tell the difference.

It is MEK. I am not suggesting anyone do this, and all you need are the fumes to do the job hence the saturated rag.

A saturated rag of MEK will have no adverse effects on the soil and surrounding areas. Pouring gallons down a hole, maybe, but MEK in that small of a quantity will evaporate quickly and not be an issue.

It is amazing how scared people are of pesticides that are well tested for safety, and how cavelier folks are with hazardous chemicals...

I work with hazardous chemicals and the EPA on a daily basis so I can relate. Heard a story just yesterday of a guy who was taking any old paints and other solvents and just stockpiling them. No one knew what he was doing with them. Well, he was slowly, routinely over the years, discarding them down a system of pvc pipes under his garage, that subsequently made it into a nearby river. I couldn't believe that. But I do believe the guy is still incarcerated.

Must have been dumping a whole lot!!!

The shop I owned was registered, and I can say that we never spent over 250.00 a year on liquid waste disposal, and that was the minimum charge. They would take everything, solvents, paints, soluble oils, motor oils, cutting oils... That was pretty inexpensive. When I shut down I had an environmental done and came up clean I just had to cover my backside, cause these things have a tendency to pop at later dates.

I guess he had something like 3 "silos" full. So yeah, a lot. Now, I got this 2nd hand and these sort of things tend to get exaggerated, but whatever the case, his disposal method was terribly irresponsible. At best.

Yeah, dealing with EPA regulations can be a pain, but dealing with them after you haven't recorded things correctly is an even bigger pain. Can I ask what company you use to ship your waste? You can send in a PM if you're more comfortable. Just for my own curiosity. I would imagine at that price you've established yourself as a very small quantity generator and don't have to report to the EPA.

That sounds like a story. Went from a typical garage with a network of pvc pipes to deliberately contaminate the ground water to 3 Silos full.

Show me, US -vs- Them!

He profited by taking his customers junk waste and basically just stockpiling it, and then gradually getting rid of it through this drainage system to avoid the EPA and their fees.

Not to get this into something the PB Powers that be would take offence to ('cept Sunil) (I think he likes Touline as a chaser)

Hey, I did my job, with all the responsibilities, CORRECTLY!

Sure is a headache when you don't. I had a mess to clean up when I started this job and they tried to peg it on me. Not fun.

If you use solvents to kill bees instead of registered pesticides, then you are using things that likely have far more environmental impact. I remember an "organic" neighbor of mine using methylene-chloride stripper to kill Colorado potato beetles that invaded his sidewalk when a close-by field of potatoes were harvested. I guess he avoided those "dangerous" pesticides to rid himself of something that would have disappeared on its own with no damage. My wife won't let me help her sell her vegetables anymore after I was asked if I was organic, and I replied "No, I am Presbyterian.

None of it is really fun if you run off the tangent. But keep it in tow on a proper basis (I mean Laws) And you are good to go!

It is not that hard to comply, if you are Legal. Just a bit of paperwork, and an occasional visit.

Lets get back to Fish and Ponds and Pirates and other Great Things that will drop your blood pressure

JKB - Great idea!

^This!

Varroa mites are a fact of life with bees now. I've had some colonies that were Africanized that did not have as bad of a problem because Africanized bees are more hygenic. Oh, and their stings are no worse than European bees, they just sting you 20:1 to the Europeans. The LD 50 of a bee sting for a normal (non-allergenic) person is 10 stings, or for a 200lb man, 2000 stings. I'd venture to say that you'd never risk that in European colonies, but Africanized could possibly reach that level of response. Most deaths from Africanized honeybees and their hybrids come from heart-attacks from running from them. Not from a lethal dose of stings.

A trivial tidbit: The body's reaction to a beesting is to produce cortisone at the site of the sting. The same thing that the doctor gives arthritic patients. The old-timers were correct, getting stung in an arthritic joint does produce relief from arthritis.

Thanks kjm! As I get older I'm finding that these old-timers certainly were right about a lot of things.

I used to work my European bees wearing jeans and a T shirt. However, when I requeened, I suited up. There's nothing quite so uncomfortable as having a PO'd bee get inside your veil.

Dave if I didn't know you better I would swear that you are trying to get me moderated. Those have got to be two of the easiest set up lines that I've seen written by you.

You're lucky I have a tax appointment in five minutes.

Thanks Jeff.

Only a beekeeper would understand.

My nephew keeps bees in NJ (the garden state ) it really is a fascinating business or hobby, especially when you consider how much of our existence relies on their pollination.
I would like to try it but my wife would need a gross of Epipens.

PS. JHAP has a different view of Queens and Bees.

I was actually thinking about setting up a hive on our property. Amazing insects, great for the various flowers/fruits/plants, and relatively low maintenance. I'll add them to my animal kingdom plans.

I wish I could add them back into my plans. However, they went before I got married. My Wife is allergic to just about every kind of insect bite. My Father died from a bee sting. They weren't my bees.

I only had about 20 colonies which is hobbyist level. Other than the one really viscous hive that I had I probably didn't got stung over once or twice a year. Actually, I did get stung in demos and programs to schools. There, I would pick up a bee and force it to sting me on the hand. Then I would use my pocket knife to show the Kids how to scrape off the stinger. It doesn't really hurt if you're expecting it.

I try to avoid chemicals when possible,so I throw soapy water on em all and thats the DEAD end for em.It really works great.That is,when Im out of dynamite.

haha
I do prefer the Crocodile Dundee Approach.

I heard soapy water works quite well, never tried it. But thought at least an M80 with a long fuse would do the trick. Never tried that either. Another method for ground bees is to just bury them if you have an FEL. They can't dig out. Shotgun approach might work with hives in a tree or something like that, never tried that either, could work if you were a good shot at the right distance.

FYI. The MEK approach was something I was told, never tried it, but I can understand how it works.

I am starting to see more managed hives around. When I was a kid, they were all over, never been stung and I would go right up to one. Last year, yellow jackets were everywhere. And these guys make a home where it suits them. And I would just walk into the middle of them and do my tasks. Bees all around, people thought I was totally NUT'S. I guess I just don't smell like a flower

Only time I was ever stung was by a Wasp. Worked on a produce farm at 12. First couple paychecks went into a new 10 speed bike and all the gadgets from K-Mart. Speedodometer, Generator Lights, etc... I was booking down 14th ave (best kept gravel road around) and it had probably a good 12 ft slope in a quarter mile (it was pretty sandy before you hit the top and took a lot of work) Anyway, I started to apply the brakes to slow down and catch my breath. Luck had it, at that moment that a Wasp was somehow inhaled and took up a few resident seconds on my tong. It was quickly spit out, but none the less. I talked like Fat Albert for a while.

DD1 said:
And you say I'm crazy for playing with snakes.

Ric, when you're expecting it, it's not bad. Try it. I think you'll like it.

Anticipation is half the fun

So I am told

My dad finally got rid of the last two of our hives. Instead of becoming less allergic over the years he has gone the other way. Has to carry an epi-pen now. I tried to get permission from my wife to take them but it wasn't to bee.

Tried Permethrin (and Pyrethrin) and just about all forms of insect and arachnid life seemed to bathe in the stuff like the wife uses shower gel...

Matt, it is not a contact insecticide, but is slow acting so the stuff can be passed on in colony insects. There are some very potent contact products that will knock them off nearly immediately; also, permethrin in strong doses can do the same. you must have some bad a.. bugs. I couldn't sleep at night.

when ever I found ground bee's , I would mark the hole with a stick pointing to it. Best time kill bee's is at night. I would pour a cup of diesel in the hole and put the stick in the hole. Gas do same thing. Bee's breathe through there body , as all insects do.

Careful when you pour gas into the ground! Check this article out. Based on this report and the attempted possum resuscitation us folks in PA aren't making good names for ourselves!

Yeah, i've already marked 2 nests, both in the root system of a massive oak in my front yard. The stick idea is a good one, i just used a little plastic flag, and had to run when doing it cuz the bees, apparently, don't like me messing with their house.

I want to stay away from gas/turpentine etc. I did try putting a sheet of black plastic over the hole and staking it all around, the next night i pulled the sheet off and there were dozens of dead bees underneath, i guess the premise is that they get out of the hole and cook in the heat under the black plastic. Didn't get them all, though, both holes are still active, and i'm sure the queen is still fat and happy inside.

Damn allergies.

Interesting to see everyone's different approaches to this.

Thanks
-Skinny

Thats crazy , just like lighting a brush pile. I always use diesel. One time I used gas and the fumes hug the ground and spread out fast. Light and look out. Gas is nasty stuff. I wonder how much gas he used.

I've heard that one gallon of gas has the same explosive capability of one stick of dynamite.

Speaking of which, where's Tom G.?

skinnybass - Do you have this stuff where you live?
ORTHO Home Defense MAX - Wasp & Hornet Killer
Works great, foams up too which helps stop 'flyaway' escapees. Shoots pretty far so you could do it yourself if you wanted, though by the sounds of your hyper-sensitivity you might want to get somebody else. I have used it on trees and bushes to kill off tent caterpilars with no harm to the trees. (Although I do like to go the extra mile and put the torch to it after.)

yeah, and i've used it before. For nests that are up, like on the eves of the garage its perfect. My problem is that they are in the ground, so i can't spray the nest. The ortho stuff makes a bunch of them come out of the hole, which is nice, then a bulk of them can be killed, but it doesn't get the queen, which is what i really need to kill.

Thanks
skinny

skinnybass:

If you can get your hands on some Pounce Insecticide, that will work on ground nests. It's really toxic to bees and wasps, they'll pick it up by walking over the sprayed area. I've killed ground nests of yellow jackets with the stuff.

I need a lot of bees this year, so I am planting many companion and cooperative plants this year. Getting stung is not a worry as I am Face to Face with the little guys. Luna got nailed last year cause she stuck her nose into a nest under the PJ Trailer, and that was a pretty decent hive.

People ask me how I can stroll among bees and not get stung. I just tell them...

"I don't do anything to pi.. 'em off". ?

2 years ago I had my head within 3' of a pretty good sized Bald Faced Hornets nest in a tree, TWICE before I realized that it was there. I even moved some of the branches in the tree with the ROPS on the tractor before I saw this blob in the tree out of the corner of my eye. Needless to say, I didn't go back thru there a 3rd time! I've been pretty close to them, and they never bothered me, but I don't do anything to get them aggrivated.

Yellow Jackets on the other hand? As soon as I see them starting to build a nest I do whatever it takes to kill them ASAP.

Yeah, that's my problem. That's what i am the most allergic to...like i won't even walk on that side of the house if i know they are there, and we flagged 3 separate hives and had them treated last year (all in the roots of my oak) and we had a termite guy come out, who flagged a bunch of holes that are new for this year, although we don't know if they are yellow jackets this time. We do have paper wasps, too, but i thought they rarely hived underground. I have also seen the classic fat bumble bee around, so some of those nests could be them, or considering the size of the tree, i wouldn't be surprised to find carpenter bees either.

Unfortunately, it has rained every weekend i've been home when i could try to watch them this year, so i don't know what is what in those holes. Damn ground bees.

But if i find yellow jackets again....sheesh. This is why i tried to start this thread for good answers.
I appreciate that it has been as active as it has, you guys are awesome. I'm glad this is a popular topic.

-Skinny

We have a winner Unfortunately, you have to come up here to collect your prize, and that will be carefully placed in one of three hives. Yeah, hurray, clap!!! You just have to carefully negotiate your way into each hive and see if you can pull out the prize without getting stung. The prize is only in one, and I am not sure if the African Honey Bees are in any of them.

Poof! Now I am back!!!

That would make a great show! Whaddya Think!

It's a deal as long as I can bring my gallon of concentrated Pounce and a pump-up sprayer!

Actually, I don't think I have to worry about the africanized bees, they haven't made it this far North yet (that I'm aware of).

ok...first of all the "throwback" mountain dew is delicious.

Second....the bees from all over my yard love it. I put 2 little glass containers up where no other animals could get into them (hooks screwed into the side of my garage...up too high for the local cats, and the bottlenecks are too narrow for the local birds...) and mixed throwback mt dew with used antifreeze and i have little glass jars filled with dead bees.

Repeating the process provided the same results the next day. Dead bees all over the place.

The wife also bought a cutter-brand "yellow jacket trap" that is supposed to attract and kill the queen. So far a bunch of dead paper wasps are all i see in there, but other bees are certainly attracted to it. Had to dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge to keep from getting stung when i went to inspect the 3 different set-ups in the yard yesterday, so i went after dark to check them out and yup...all 3 are working.

I'm quite proud of my throwback mt dew trap. Gives me an excuse to buy a few more cases of that sweet, sweet nectar. Why did they ever start using corn syrup instead of this awesome old stuff they used to use....i think they call it sugar.

finally....there's an old retired guy at the mom&pop hardware store down the street from me. He told me what he & his wife used....

one can of unscented skoal
2 cups of hot water
one bottle of the cheapest, most alcohol-ridden mouthwash he could find (mint flavored works best)
one old sock
one canister sprayer (like the kind you attach to your hose)

Put the skoal in the toe of the old sock and using warm water, make skoal tea. continue to seep until the water turns as dark as possible

Mix the tea into the sprayer canister with the bottle of mouthwash.

spray your bee-infested area liberally. The nicotine is a contact poison that kills anything that touches it, the mint smell keeps new bees away, and the alcohol screws up the reproduction cycle of those that didn't die so they won't make baby bees next year.

Best not to use it in a heavily populated area, the smell will piss off your neighbors.

Well that's either gonna kill the bees or you're gonna have a hive of drunken bees with oddly minty fresh breath that are looking for a place to spit.

I haven't read this post in a while, and I don't think the AB's made it this far north either. The Bees we have around here just want to do Bee Stuff. Can you blame them?