How would you like to mow around this?

Some bees have decided to make our front lawn their home. They were here last year too and disappeared one day on their own. Hubby remembers that they never bothered him when he mowed but rather moved out of his way. He went out a little while ago and took a picture of them and then did some searching on the internet to try and identify them before mowing (hoping they were the same docile ones as last year). It turns out that they are. :) They are called cicada killer bees because they kill cicadas. Makes sense. :) They are supposedly harmless to humans unless you "handle them roughly." No chance of that happening here. :p In fact, one of the sexes (can't remember which) is incapable of stinging. I am attaching a couple of pictures of them and their home in our lawn. They are very beautiful, and now even more so that we have read they are not aggressive. :) Hubby is about to mow. I am wondering if I should stand by with 911 on my speed dial just in case. :p

Cicada Killer Bees ????
Well I guess so long as hubby and yourself are not cicadas, you should be
Ok :D
Wom

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Originally Posted by wombat2u2004

Cicada Killer Bees ????
Well I guess so long as hubby and yourself are not cicadas, you should be
Ok :D
Wom

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Wom, if they turn out to be aggressive I am guessing you would suggest pouring boiling water over their mound. :p :p :D

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Originally Posted by Pam

Wom, if they turn out to be aggressive I am guessing you would suggest pouring boiling water over their mound. :p :p :D

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Mate, that could work, and is certainly worth a try.
But if it was me doing that....I would sit in my car and pour the boiling water onto it out of the window, and then wind the window up very quickly.
But I would think plastic explosive would be the best way to go....so if hubby has a few spare boxes of it laying around the shed somewhere....try that !!!! :D
Wom

:eek: 911 would be on speed dial.. Them Bees sound like Cujo & my butt would be in the house with doors locked.. :D

I have never seen a bee that looks like that. It is pretty but NO THANKS, I would be in the house with the doors locked too!

:eek: :eek: :eek:
Are you sure they are harmless?? I wouldn't dare walking on that frontlawn as long as those "creeps" are there... :eek: I've never seen this kind of vees, and I must admit that they are beautiful :D

Wow - they really are beautiful. I have never seen a bee like that before.

I used to be scared to death of the huge black carpenter bees. They sound like jets coming at you. But when I found out that they do not sting - only the queen can sting - I lost my fear of them.

Look, I will stay in your house with the phone in my hand - and just give me the signal and I will call 911.:eek:

He just finished the front (where the mound is located) and has come out of it unscathed! Now he is pushing his luck and has gone back out with the edger. :p Thank you for you willingness to help Gini :p and Wom for your wonderful suggestion! :p

I remember i held one of thoes bees. It never stinged me, instead it sat on my finger.It was one of the most beautiful bees i had ever seen. Then it flew away.:( But i saw it did have a stinger so have 911 on speed dial, just in case.:)

Here is a picture of a Cicada Killer Wasp:http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/....thumbnail.jpg
Here is the link to a website with information on them:http://www.ipm.iastate.edu/ipm/iiin/bdigwas.html
The website says that they sting if handled but the one that i held had a stinger but didnt sting.
Here is another link about Cicada Killer Wasps:http://cals.arizona.edu/urbanipm/ins...adakiller.html
Hope this helped!

They are cacada ((sp?)) killer bees. like othrs have said...
We used to have them too... No worries :D

Hehe that would be kind of scary to mow around...I probably wouldn't want to do it, but its good that they are pretty much harmless. My favorite bees are the fat round fluffy ones. My mom always runs away from them because she's dealthy allergic, but I always stay just because I think they are so cute. If I could pet them without getting stung I would lol.

No thanks, not me. :p They are very interesting looking though.

On the other hand...long grass can give you that "meadow" look and is very fashionable. Just let it grow....sow some wild flower seeds and...voila! :D :D

Being a profeesional grass cutter, (I'm a groundskeeper on a golf course), I've mowed arouind many bees nests. My feeling is if you leave them alone they'll leave you alone, but I cut around it quickly and leave!!

Wow, Pam! How neat to have such cool 'guests' on your lawn! Are cicadas somewhat of a nuisance? Their striping sure is pretty. :)

I've been reading a few books that have beekeepers as main characters and bees are so very interesting!

I'm glad Hubby can mow the lawn safely around the cicada killer bees. :) Thanks for the pictures...their "hive" or home is very interesting!

lol, your braver then me! I am terrified of bee's, they hate me...ya I am one of those people that bee's are attracted to, and try to sting no matter what I am doing :p. people who dont experience it, dont believe it, I have been told im crazy so often, that bee's dont like going after me anymore they they like going after anyone else, and if I stand still, they will leave me alone etc.. bull. lol the d*mn things go out of their way to attack me! I have been standing there minding my own buisness before, not moving, and had bees fly out of nowhere and come after me.

We have those down here, only we call them tarantula wasps. Thankfully, we haven't had any in our yard in quite some time!

Those sure look alot like the hornets I just read about in a gardening magazine. They're good, they clean up pest insects and don't usually bug humans, however they, if they are indeed hornets, can sting repeatedly, unlike bees that lose their stinger, they do not. So don't make them mad!!

Those bees are beautiful, Pam, but, I don't know if I would like to get too close to them. I think leaving the lawn unmowed is a good idea ;)

Glad to hear hubby is ok :)

They are wasps, not bees and the main thing to be aware of is that wasps can sting multiple times whereas a bee only stings once.

I thought you might like to see something I found last week along the edge of my lawn. At first I thought they were coffee grounds, but closer inspection showed they were moving. They were very small ants and it made me itchy just looking at them!

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Originally Posted by Freckles

I thought you might like to see something I found last week along the edge of my lawn. At first I thought they were coffee grounds, but closer inspection showed they were moving. They were very small ants and it made me itchy just looking at them!

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They do look like coffee grounds! Isn't it amazing how they stay together in a clump like that as they move along? It reminds me of how birds fly in formation. Makes me wonder who is the leader! :p :D I agree....itch, itch, itch!

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Freckles

I thought you might like to see something I found last week along the edge of my lawn. At first I thought they were coffee grounds, but closer inspection showed they were moving. They were very small ants and it made me itchy just looking at them!

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You haven't lived till you've stepped on something like that with bare feet.
There must be thousands of those little suckers. :D

Wish we had bees like that here. but we have Yellow Jackets that will sting/bite your butt for just looking in their general direction.