Swarms of Bees

[davidanthonyporter]

Two times this week we have encountered HUGE swarms of bees. One swarm flew over our heads about 5 feet up. It was rather unnerving.

Not being native to massive swarms of bees, can anyone offer sage advice on how to become invisible to them and what to do if they were to advance on us?

[te_wa]

rub your friend with honey and run like hell...*
they were prolly migrating, and such behavior will not cause alarm. bees tend to look for a new hive all at once, every bee. weird.



*same wisdom applies to bears

[joebartels]

No clue on the proper technique.

Had a HUGH swarm fly right over me on Feb 10th coming back to Telegraph Pass from the Alta Trail. I could hear them coming for a good thirty seconds. Sounded like a low decibel chainsaw. The pack was about 5-10 feet high and about 40 feet long. I just stood dead still. It was a little freaky with them literally a few feet away. As much as I wanted the photo I opted for life.

[fairweather8588]

We had a swarm fly right over us a few years ago at football practice, so I yelled hit the deck and some of us jumped behind some dummies that were laying around. Had a pretty good laugh about it and yeah, it was pretty loud as they all buzzed by

[chumley]

Swarms of bees migrating are natural. They mean no harm, and are not affected by you hiking.

BUT ... bees (especially the Africanized variety, which I believe have now cross-bred with all Arizona bee species) which feel threatened near their nest can be very dangerous and swarm with the purpose of defending their home (and hurting you).

I'm not an apiologist (triple-word score! ) but from what I've read, if you should accidentally anger bees near their nest and therefore cause an attack, the best thing you can do is cover your mouth, nose, ears, and eyes, as the bees will instinctively try to sting in these areas. The next step is to RUN. Run fast and far. Normal bees will only chase a victim a few hundred yards from the nest site, but Africanized bees have been known to chase for over half a mile. If you can get inside a building or car, that is your best option, even if a few bees follow you in.

Spraying water on bees, flailing arms, jackets, etc. are all just causes of further aggravation. I've also read that jumping into water is a terrible idea as bees will wait for you to surface, and then you're toast.

I don't like bees at all and am freaked out when I see a swarm. But like most wildlife, bees want no part of us, and only attack when they think you are threatening their hive.

[Vaporman]

Swarms of bees...that's wierd. Didn't I catch some stories a few months back about bee colonies used for polonizing were strangely disappearing? Perhaps they just went feral. =)