Bees bothering the public...

[dhood]

I was asking a few questions about pollination a few weeks ago and shortly after a farmer called and ask me to bring some bees for pollination. He has never rented bees before but thought he would give it a shot to see if it would improve his crop yeild. The bees are pretty close to my home, so anyway I stopped at the local gas station this morning and there were thousands of bees in there outside trashcans. I saw the honeybees and thought there was a swarm. The lady told me when they started doing that and it was a few days after i delivered the bees to the farmer. His fields are about 2-3 miles down the road. Could these bee my bees:confused:? Flying that far to eat out of the trashcan? She said that they had not seen a honeybee all year until now. They were pretty upset about them and said that they were going to start using wasp spray.

[BeeAware]

Was this an Esso gas station? If so, they were Esso bees!

[RayMarler]

If the station didn't throw soda cans full of soda in the trash there would be no problem. They could be your bees, then they could be someone elses. Act of nature, they can't blame your bees, not even legally

[Brent Bean]

If the location where you have placed your bees, crop is blooming, it would be unlikely that they would be your bees. Even though 2-3 miles is within foraging range of a honeybee, they won’t fly that far unless they have too.
What is in the garbage that is attracting honeybees? Tell the lady to put a lid on the can or eliminate the source of garbage that is attracting them and they will go somewhere else. You could also mention that two out of three bites of food that she puts in her mouth need help form a honeybee.

[brooksbeefarm]

Tell her to put a lid on it.

[dhood]

I wasn't really worried about it that much until I saw customers afraid to walk by the trash can,You wouldn't believe how many people are terrified of honeybees by the way. It's the trashcans that the customers throw away their trash out of their cars. They had just emptied them and they were still full of bees. I'll be picking them back up mid Sept. and I'll see if they are still there. It will be interesting to see if they were my bees. But I'm thinking that it may be a feral hive in a building somewhere.

[Michael Palmer]

It will be interesting to see if they were my bees. But I'm thinking that it may be a feral hive in a building somewhere.

Try dusting them with a white powder, and then go see if they are returning to your hives covered in white.

[randydrivesabus]

what is the farmer growing where you put your bees?

[papa bear]

hey dhood. i have heard the statement "i don't ever remember being like this" insert dry, wet, bad economics, ect., many many times. when you know it was the same way before. don't know if it's a old timers thing or southern. could this person have not noticed, till you mentioned it? i know people that have lived their whole life in an area and never pay attention of their surroundings. i wouldn't let it bother you. hey maybe there are some free bees around there somewhere

[Budster]

Could just be a local dearth. During the dearth, those non-empty soda cans could look mighty apealing to the bees. After the dearth is gone, the bees will be too!!!

[dhood]

what is the farmer growing where you put your bees?

Pumpkins

[IndianaHoney]

Are you sure they are bees? I can't ever remember a honeybee going after soda.

As for pumpkins, his crop will be better, larger and more pumpkins.

[dhood]

Yes they were honeybees, although I never said they were after soda. I really dont know what they were after, the cans were empty. But I looked like somone had poured sugar water in the can with the number of bees flying.

[Scrapfe]

You could advertise rootbeer flavored honey.

[dhood]

I was at the same store and there was not many cars in the lot. So I actually watched to see which direction they were flying. They were flying in the opposite direction from my hives. I drove that direction to go home. And looked closely, right down the road beside an old church there is an old building with a few broken windows and several holes in the siding. I saw several bees fly out of that direction and several to that direction. I am pretty sure that the colony is in those walls right near that store. But I'm positive that there not my bees. I didn't think that they were feral because they are just as big and the same color as my Itailians. Maybe a first year swarm?