bees are attracted to me

[jsilber]

Let me start by saying I am not a beekeeper nor do I want to become one. Why I have logged on to post this message is to hopefully get some help from you. I am an avid golfer and recently have been to two golf courses where bees are attracted to me and my golf bag. They do not sting but it is very disturbing. After the first incident I have changed my detergent , shampoo, and deoderant. Any thoughts on what could be attarcting them to me and what I can do to prevent it?

[Sarge]

Are you sure they are honey bees? Yellow jackets often seem to go crazy in the fall and are attracted to any bright colors.


wayne

[Chef Isaac]

Maybe it is your clothing.

[GaSteve]

Do you carry sugary drinks in your bag like pop or fruit juices? Or has a sugary drink been recently spilled on your bag?

[GaSteve]

>Let me start by saying I am not a beekeeper nor do I want to become one.

Hang around this crew long enough and anything's possible. smile.gif

[jsilber]

I do not carry sugary drings in the bag and have not spilled anything. Could it be banana boat sunblock? One time it was so bad I had to remove my shirt. When I put it down, the bees were all over it. Could it be the sweat or the shirt? Is there a bee repellent?

[Michael Bush]

Banana is the smell of alarm pheromone. If bees hang around you I would avoid banana smells. I'd also avoid lemony smells, since that smells like another bee pheromone.

There are bee repellents that are used to drive them out of supers. Most smell distinctly like vomit. Only one has a tolerable smell and that would bee Fischer's Bee Quick. It's available from all of the bee supply houses and smells like almonds or benzaldehyde or marachino cherries.

[Barry Tolson]

Maybe someone could post a link to picture of a bee and a picture of a yellow jacket. It seems that several times a week I encounter someone who refers to yellowjackets or some other thing as a "bee". Many folks don't realize that not all stinging insects are "bee's". I've never really seen a bee be a nuisance to a person outside of a bee yard....now yellowjackets...frequently.

[denny]

Here's a link showing pictures of a yellow jacket which might help ID whatever bee it is that jsilber is speaking of. I do recall yellow jackets being much more agressive than honeybees at bugging people in the late summer into fall, if they have sweet smelling fingers, faces,...etc.

http://www.fcps.edu/StratfordLandingES/Ecology/mpages/eastern_yellow_jacket.htm

Here's a picture of a honeybee....
http://www.pbase.com/muskrat/image/34017398

[ September 09, 2006, 09:35 PM: Message edited by: denny ]

[snoopybee]

as i understand it yellow jackets are attracted to the smell of bananas

[Michael Bush]

You probably hit the nail on the head. Bananas and Yellow Jackets. That makes sense. It's probably not bees at all.

[jsilber]

Yes. They look like yellow jackets. Thanks for posting the picture.

[Sarge]

When I worked for the DOT, we wore yellow hard hats and bright red vests. The trucks used to yellow as well.
Every fall the Yellow jackets would be all over the trucks and would be a real bother to the workers.
We blaimed the colors of the trucks and hats.


wayne

[Ardilla]

I find that yellow jackets are attracted to the yellow and orange safety vests as well. You may want to try wearing drab colors.

[Jim Fischer]

> bees are attracted to me and my golf bag.
> They do not sting but it is very disturbing.

Sounds like a personal problem to a group of people
who spend hours with stinging insects flying around
their heads. smile.gif

> Could it be banana boat sunblock?

No, as "Banana Boat" brand sunblock contains 0% banana
and has no banana scent!

Among those of us who work bees all day and wear
sunblock, Banana Boat SPF 30 or 50 is the standard-issue
side-arm, as other brands are said to result in
problems with stinging. I don't know any beekeepers who
suggest any other brand of sunblock, the consensus is that firm.

Is your golf bag the old-school leather type, by any chance?
Yellow-jackets are carnivores, and certainly are attracted
to the smell of meat (hot leather is meat to a bug, as they
can't carry or consume an 18 oz porterhouse).

Other causes could be that old towel that you have neither
thrown in, nor thrown into the laundry, a forgotten stick
of gum that has melted into the bottom of a ball pocket
on the bag, and sticks to an obscure corner, etc.

Borrow someone else's bag, and see if the problem is
"the bag", or "the golfer", then we can help you narrow
it down better.

[shylock3]

An idea for the struggling entrepeneur, take the yellow jacket traps that are described in other post here, repackage them, golfers wouldn't want an empty 2 liter bottle with bait hanging off their cart, market it so every golfer had to have one. Maybe you could make it look like a 12 iron or something. caddies could make a bigger tip by emptying the traps.

[Craig W.]

Are you trying to use the bees for a handi-cap? lol.

[jsilber]

Is there a possibility they are attracted to polyester?