wasp sting with venom

Its only tiny but it hurts, its is best to get some relief for the pain, cry a bit, shout and maybe don't rub it as that may spread it about and make the pain worse. Not sure about this point and will have to find out a bit more about the biology of venon and the effect on the human body.

stings and things

This is the bee sting

The bee dies in the process

This is the bruised

swollen skin the

next day

Bee Eater

found this on flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/7533960@N02/

hungry wasp

mailto:greensmiths@greensmiths.com

Brill picturetaken by the folks above.

Still to come

Killer Bees
Stinging Bees
Allergy to the Bee Venom
and other things you will need to know to keep a healthy hive.

Pollen

This is a bee with the pollen all over its hairy body, sometimes the legs look really heavy and yet it flys on to the hive where the work is in progess. All the pollen gets transferred into the various plants along the way and the bees dance they 8 figured dance to tell they other bees where they found the pollen. This communication is vital to the health of the hive and the reason for writing the blog. If the bees get drunk they are not able to do the dance very well. They hive keepers are saying to cut off the chemical in the insecticides and then the bees will come.

Hairy Footed Bees

The bees have cool names, let me introduce the Hairy Footed Flower Bee, this is the male, and they do a lot on work on the ground.

As you can see the wing are able to lift a body that seem large and heavy, somehow it works.

Toxic Chemicals and bees

Bees can suffer serious effects from toxic chemicals in their environment. This includes various synthetic chemicals, such as insecticides and fertilizers, as well as a variety of naturally-occurring chemicals from plants, such as ethanol resulting from the fermentation of organic material. Bee intoxication can result from exposure to ethanol from fermented nectar, ripe fruits, and manmade and natural chemicals in the environment.[1][2]

Colony Collapse Disorder

Watching how the bee collects pollen and why it does this activity and how much that influences the food chain, we were alarmed to find that this problem is affecting the bees in great numbers.

Colony Collapse Disorder (or CCD) is a poorly understood phenomenon in which worker bees from a beehive or Western honey bee colony abruptly disappear. While such disappearances have occurred throughout the history of apiculture, the term 'Colony Collapse Disorder' was first applied to a drastic rise in the number of disappearances of Western honey bee colonies in North America in late 2006

African Bees

Bees in USA and EU are having a tough time due to insecticides being sprayed on all seeds. Insecticides affect honey bees working in the hives, and collecting the pollen they need, it is thought the bees become drunk and unable to do their 8 figured dance to point other honey bees in the right direction.
The Africanized hybrid bees have become the preferred type of bee for beekeeping in Central America and in tropical areas of South America because of improved productivity. However, in most areas the Africanized hybrid is initially feared because it tends to retain certain behavioral traits from its African ancestors that make it less desirable for domestic beekeeping. Specifically (as compared with the European bee types), the Africanized bee:
Tends to swarm more frequently.
Is more likely to migrate as part of a seasonal response to lowered food supply.
Is more likely to "abscond"—the entire colony leaves the hive and relocates—in response to repeated intrusions by the beekeeper.
Has greater defensiveness when in a resting swarm.
Lives more often in ground cavities than the European types.
Guards the hive aggressively, with a larger alarm zone around the hive.
Has a higher proportion of "guard" bees within the hive.
Deploys in greater numbers for defense and pursues perceived threats over much longer distances from the hive.
Cannot survive extended periods of forage deprivation, preventing intrusion into areas with harsh winters or extremely dry late summers