At 03:13 AM 7/19/98 -0600, you wrote:
>
>I was cutting the grass in my front yard (which has one TOWER :-)
>when I received an intense sting just above my left elbow. When
>I came in the house and patted down my pants, two bees fell out
>of the bottoms and another one or two stung me just above the
>knee. I was stung on the finger and between my thunb joints.
>
>I have been stung by ground bees (or sweat bees) in the past
>and while not pleasant, the pain and swelling were no where
>near as intense as these stings. The bees were skinny and
>about 1/2 inch long. Could these be the dreaded African
>Killer Bees?
Nope, Africanised ("Killer") bee stings are no worse than European honey
bees, the difference is the aggressivness of the Africanised bee's E.G.
MORE stings not worse individual stings.
>Do they live in the ground?
Not normaly they live in the same hive structures that European bees do.
Sounds like you ran into Yellow Jackets, a bee like wasp that lives in the
ground stings like hell and is moderately aggressive when irritated. Co
worker of mine using a snapper hi-vac riding mower had a VERY interesting
run in with a nest of them, the mower was sucking the beasties out of the
nest and they swarmed around the mower...he left the mower quickly!
> Any suggestions
>on relieving the intense pain?
Topical sprays or lotions containing benzocaine as well as an
anti-histimine taken internally, something like Benadryl.
> How does one get rid of
>these pests?
If you can find the entrance a product called "Bee Bopper" sprayed into the
nest hole should do it. Note: It has instant knock down capability, unlike
most flying insect sprays which just piss them off first! This is an
excelent product for any flying wasp or bee, I have used it often on paper
wasps who have decided my antenna is just the right spot to build their
nests. Late evening being the best time to spray as there is usualy less
wind and most of the denizens are "home" for the night. It will spray a
stream up to 10 to 12 FEET, a nice protective factor!
>This happened just before sunset. Besides
>night time, when are they LEAST active?
Night time is the right time....
> My hunch is that
>these are not the same old garden variety ground bees
>that succumb to a funnel and some "lawn mower juice".
Actualy they will but then you have poisioned a part of the lawn. Use the
Bee Bopper.
>
>Final question, HOW DOES ONE PROTECT ONESELF
>while cutting the rest of the lawn? I never saw these
>suckers and I was looking!
Pure luck?
>
>de Tom N4KG
>
Good luck Tom,
73's
Dave WA4EMR
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