Bees And Wasps

[Isabel964]

I' have bees and wasps in my garden, I see two or three only a day but they hang out around the grass and I'm worried pbevofcthe dogs will eat or tread in one, or get stung.

I've looked and listened for a hive or two but can't find any. I thought if I could find a hive or two - do wasps have hives? ... I could contact the council or sober be to remove it/them.

Any tips on what to do?

Is there anything u can do to deter the hers and wasps (yes weirdly I have both) coming in to my garden?

My Neighbour has native trees and they may be just liking the flowers. But I can't see any hives.

Do they hang around a long time or do they move on to other locations every few days?

[Kirislin]

Bees are good in your garden. Usually a dog only gets stung once and they learn, although some are pretty dopey and dont learn. I dont think european wasps enhance anything and am happy to kill them if I can. You can google on how to make a wasp trap.

[Mrs Rusty Bucket]

European wasps have hives. Usually when they find something to eat and take back to the nest - they go directly towards the hive.

So you can put out a small amount of meat or maybe something sweet depending what time of year it is, and they will pick some of that and make a direct line back to the nest. You can then move the tin of food further along that line until you find where the nest is, or triangulate with several tins and where the lines intersect is where the nest is.

My brother's house had a most enormous nest under his verandah, I noticed when they hosted a birthday party right next to it... ugh. Nobody got stung.

Mostly if I see them out in my back yard - there's not many, I get out the fast knock down fly spray and kill them. European wasps find food by doing careful searches, and when they get back to the nest they don't tell all the other wasps. So if there's not many you can stop them by killing them, spray and duck.

[Maddy]

We have plenty of bees around, both the European honey bees and the bumble bees, and in ten years, only one of my dogs has ever been stung by one. And that was the Idiot Dog anyway, when he decided to pick up a bee in his mouth that had been crawling on the concrete in front of him (and minding its own business). I scraped the stinger out of his lip and he was fine. Interestingly, he didn't yelp or anything when it happened. I turned around in time to see him chewing at the bee and then spit it out. I wasn't sure he'd actually been stung until he started pawing at his face and I had a really close look. At no point did he really seem all that distressed by it. Although before we draw any conclusions from that, worth pointing out that Idiot Dog is an idiot. Either way, I wouldn't worry about bees because they tend to do their own thing and only sting if really threatened.

Wasps, on the other hand.. they get more and more aggro as the weather starts to cool. Don't leave anything outside they could eat- no bones, no dog food, don't leave fruit/berries on plants and pick up any that have dropped to the ground (which should be done when you have dogs around anyway) and remove as many water sources as possible. Wasp traps are an option for control but personally, I'd rather give them zero reasons to come visit me. So dogs only get fed after dark in later summer/autumn and anything not eaten gets picked up. We still get the ones passing through but at least they're not hanging around.

[persephone]

we have heaps of bees ..and the paper wasps (no European wasps thank goodness) Only once has any dog been stung ...in many many years ,

if you have European wasps - do NOT leave any dog/bird/cat food out anywhere .

bees are so important to the world - just make sure they have a water source up somewhere away from the dog's water containers : )

[spice_1]

I'm having trouble with Wasps atm they only come out when I feed my puppy raw, I can't find the nest, anyone else been in this situation know how to stop it?

[Bundyburger]

It's the time of year where bees and wasps hang around. I wouldn't be too concerned unless you see an excessive number or a hive. My dog chases flies, he got stung by a bee once, and wasn't stupid enough to do it again.

[The Spotted Devil]

Ginny was stung by a European wasp on her muzzle today whilst trying to bite at it. Ouch. She had some impressive swelling but barely registered it and has been hooning around all day. Having been stung before I know how much they hurt so I reckon she's made of some stern stuff! We put wasp traps out the back and minimise water/food where the dogs are but they are difficult to manage.

[Steph M]

Gus ate a bee once, much like Idiot Dog he was not phased and just bought us a ball with a face like a Pei and wanted to play. Haha.

I love the bees, can I have your bees? Haha.

[The Spotted Devil]

Yes! Face like a Pei :laugh: Ginny is in season so both ends are swollen

[gillybob]

Lately I have been having huge blue black wasps in my yard. I have to watch Cedro when he is out there, he thinks any thing is worth chasing and I don't want him stung by such big wasps.

[YippeeGirl]

One of our dogs hates bees. I think he got stung when he was young, and ever since then, he has been stung probably dozens of times. You can tell by his body language that he anticipates being stung, but it doesn't stop him. If you watch him, you can see him hunting them out.

I try to keep flowering weeds cut short in our lawn because this is the main area the bees congregate, and I go around emptying any full pot bottoms on hot days because this definitely attracts the bees.

Apart from that, all I can do is yell from the window when I see him chasing the bees, and bring him inside if the bees are particularly bad (we have a lot of flowering plants and shrubs in the garden and our neighbour has a bee hive in the wall of his house).