Bees
Bee and wasp stings
Bee and wasp stings cause several human deaths in the United States
each year. The ability to sting, coupled with great mobility, make bees
and wasps some of the most feared of all insects. A bee or wasp sting
results in local pain, swelling, redness and itching for most persons.
To minimize the sting, a poultice of meat tenderizer or salt can be applied
to the site as soon as possible
after the incident and left on for about 30 minutes.
Use about 0.5 teaspoon mixed with enough water to produce a paste. Commercial swabs are available that do about the same thing. Some people may react violently if they are stung. Symptoms can include difficulty in breathing, dizziness and nausea, as well as the more common symptoms listed above. With severe reactions, medical attention is needed. Anyone with a history of hypersensitive reactions should have a sting emergency kit available and should wear a medical alert bracelet or other alert item. Consult your physician about desensitization treatments.
Stinging insects such as ants, bees and wasps belong to the order Hymenoptera.
Some hymenopterous insects such as sawflies and horntails do not possess
stingers. In groups that do sting, only the females have stingers. Wasps
sting repeatedly, but bees sting only once because bees have a barbed
stinger that remains in the victim’s skin.
When the bee moves or is brushed away, the stinger is pulled from the bee’s
body along with the venom sac, which continues to pump venom into the
victim. The bee dies after this one sting.
Most bees and wasps are social insects living in colonies, where tasks
are divided among three castes: queens, males and workers. Queens are
responsible for nest establishment and egg-laying. In most species, only
one queen is present during most of the season. Workers are all females
equipped with stingers. They constitute the vast majority of the colony’s
individuals. Males are usually small in number and appear for only a short
time during the annual cycle.
Honey bees
Honey bees are about 0.5 inch long with a fuzzy light brown to black
appearance, with striped brown and black abdomens. They are considered
to be the most beneficial species of insect because they pollinate plants
and produce honey and bee’s wax. However, because they sting in
defense of their nest, honey bees may become a pest if nests are in the
wrong location.
Wild colonies of honey bees nest in existing cavities such as hollow trees.
Domestic bees are housed in manufactured hives. A honey bee colony occupies
the same nest from year to year. A queen and many workers survive the
winter inside the nest. At various times during the year, new queens are
produced and the old queen and a number of workers leave the hive to “swarm.”
Swarming is the process of searching for a new home. If the swarm settles
in a place where bees are not welcome, such as the wall of a house, then
they become pests. There is a lower risk of being stung around a swarm
because it is a period of vulnerability and the colony has no hive or
honey to protect.
Ideally, honey bee swarms should be picked up before they start to establish a nest in an undesirable location. Some beekeepers will capture and remove swarms. Once a swarm establishes a nest inside a wall, it requires killing the bees.
Haley pest control provides this service for a fee. A pesticide is injected into the nest can kill the colony. A second treatment should be made as a precaution within 7 days after the first. After all activity in the nest has ceased, open the wall and remove the dead bees, honey and wax. If left behind, wax can melt, allowing the honey and wax to run. This would damage the finished side of the wall. Nests above ceilings are an even greater problem in this regard. Remains of the nest can also attract other household pests such as dermestid beetles and mice.
Haley Pest Control offers Pest Control and Termite Control in Lawrence,
KS and in Topeka, Kansas, Baldwin, Eudora, Overland Park, Olathe, Lenexa,
Leawood, Shawnee Mission, Stanley, Ottawa, Kansas City, Basehor, Linwood,
Tonganoxie, Mclouth, and Perry-Lecompton. We offer Pest Management and
Exterminator services for the following counties: Douglas, Johnson, Jefferson,
Franklin, Shawnee, Wyandotte and Leavenworth, KS.