Fear Of Wasp & Hornet Irony

[TheMaineBee]

Embarrassingly enough, I'm terrified of hornets and wasps.:o
I've always been like this since a child.
Is anyone else like this or feels this way? I know, it's a bit ironic being a beekeeper afraid of wasps and hornets but....
Bees are friendly, wasps and hornets are a bit different:eek:

[bnatural]

Not embarrassing at all. In general, smooth stinger critters are more inclined to sting (i.e. have a lower reaction threshold) than barbed stinger critters - no death penalty (unless you squash them). I don't fear them, but I do give them a wider berth. Having said that.....

Years ago, a paper mache wasp colony built a nest right over the walkway of our house. My mother hated wasps and wanted them killed. I said, "If we don't bother them, maybe they won't bother us." That colony grew all summer until it was huge. The branch bowed under the weight of the nest until it was just over our heads. But, no one ever got stung. I used to stand under it and watch the wasps coming and going from the bottom entrance. It was fascinating. They were every bit as hard working as honey bees. During the winter a neighborhood kid hit the nest with a rock, and it disintegrated. But, during the growing season both sides honored the unspoken agreement.

You can't always have a 'live and let live' policy. But, sometimes, just sometimes, it works out.

Bill

[Luke]

When I was a kid I used to knock the paper wasp nests down and watch them hatch in a jar. I had a small yellow jacket nest in a jar once too. I dropped the jar and got stung! I think the White Faced Hornet nests are cool. I have one in a box that was in a bush in front of my house one year.

[Fred Bee]

Your feelings don't seem so strange to me. I agree with you! Wasps are the demon offspring of Satan. ;) Seriously, when I was a child a large nest of wasps had built over the storm door in front of our house. We rarely used the front door and usually came and went via the side door entrance to our house. But, on one particular day, I went out the front door to get the mail and knocked the whole nest down right on top of me when I opened the storm door. Needless to say, I was stung multiple, multiple times. Since then I have had a severe disdain for wasps. And by the way, I don't like them either. :)

[the kid]

a wasp, hornet , yellow jacket will stop and sting because your in there way or just there ... a bumble bee is more like a honey bee .. I like bumble bees and honey bees ,,, hate the others !!!!!!!!

[Dr.Wax]

Fred, no reason to hate them you destroyed their nest! You knew they were there and didn't take proper care. I know, I know you were a kid.

Seriously, you just have to respect whatever creature you come into contact with by gaining knowledge about them. Sometime knowledge comes by reading, sometimes by direct experience!


Hopefully by reading.

Most wasps are quite gentle unless you come very close to their nest. I kept a small paper wasp colony under some bushes last summer and they harmed no one.

I put out a swarm box earlier and the only stinging insects I have found so far was three orange wasps. Completely harmless. I just slung the frames in the air and they dispersed.

[ScadsOBees]

No, I hate wasps too. Mostly the cursed european paperwasp that has become so ubiquitous. Those gotta die. I'm not so fond of ground bees(yellowjackets) either.

I enjoy watching bald-faced hornets hunt, and their nests are usually far enough from normal everyday activity.

And I am afraid of those giant hairy black fists known as carpenter bees, although they are quite docile...that stinger is big enough to impale a moose!

Irrational fear? No. Healthy but slightly paranoid fear? Yes...but I have that with honeybees too.

Rick

[Rebel Rose]

I love my honey bees and any other honey bees that I come into contact with! I had to many bad experiences with wasps and yellow jackets.

Now when I was a kid and had to walk two miles in deep mud just to get to school...no really, it is the truth! (I lived in an area and still do, that gets flooded by two rivers!) Once I tried stepping onto the drift wood to keep from sinking into the mud and my foot disturbed some yellow jackets! By the time I got out of there and headed back towards the house I could hardly see, as my eyes were already swelling shut. I hate them and any other wasps!

I also train and ride horses a lot....I was aboutn killed when a green broke horse stepped into a yellow jacket nest in tall grass! The horse did not do too well either.

Still I love the honey bees!

Brenda

[bnatural]

And I am afraid of those giant hairy black fists known as carpenter bees, although they are quite docile...that stinger is big enough to impale a moose! Rick

But, the males don't sting, and the females are not at all prone to sting. Have you ever had a male carpenter bee face off against you? We had one that hung out in an old garage, and some mornings he would do his mating dance (I assumed it was the mating dance, since he never attacked). If I moved left, he moved left (his right), if I moved right, he moved right (his left), always staying right in front of me, no more than a couple of feet away. I could back him right into the garage by walking forward, until he finally gave up. I always thought he was just confused.

Bill

[bamindy]

The best carpenter bee deterrant is a tennis racket! It is also a good way to work on your backhand. You can try to fill up their holes with glue or silicon but they will just drill another one. My wooden deck is full of holes from these guys.

[frostygoat]

Give them different colors of paper and you could come up with some pretty cool stuff:

http://www.sciencedaily.com/images/2007/09/070927164440-large.jpg

"A female paper wasp (Polistes metricus) on her recently founded nest, in this case constructed in the laboratory from source materials in University of Illinois school colors. The first of her daughters will emerge as a worker from the cocoon at lower right, and then the foundress will become queen of the developing wasp society. (Credit: Photo by J. H. Hunt and A. L. Toth)"

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2007/09/070927164440.htm

[Rebel Rose]

That wasp nest is so cool! I cannot believe that I just said that about a wasp nest...what is the world coming to?:o

Brenda

[bnatural]

In my earlier post recounting a childhood experience I mentioned a paper mache wast nest. After a little research, I found that the critters I remember were actually bald-faced hornets (not really hornets, but so what?). They build the big, football-sized nests. I have not seen any in up in these parts. I do see plenty of the paper wasp nests, which are the open cell design.

Sorry for the mistake.

Bill

p.s. That is a beautiful school color nest.