Young family member was sitting on a hill aways away in the yard during a BBQ. Wasp flies over. Two carpenter bees very obviously lock on to this and make a bee-line to the wasp and drive it off. Now this is a couple acres away but they still flew the whole distance just to drive the wasp away.
Anyway a couple minutes later another wasp tries to land on him, and again the carpenter bees zoom over there and aggressively drive away the wasp, before flying back to their nest near the porch.
Only reason we haven't cleared em is because the porch is getting replaced anyway.
I'll install treated wood during the renovation, maybe set up an untreated post near by for the wood bees.
Little fuckers will stop and stare at me when I'm working the yard and garden, just hover there minding their business, all curious like.
The males are stingless, but territorial, and don't mess with people from what I gather. Like wasps they also readily recognize faces. Maybe they figured out don't fuck with the humans and aren't happy that the wasps behavior could lead to another house-wide nest removal, who knows.
I've become one with the wasp. It happened on accident. I was pretty full after coming home from the bar, and I had stashed my keys under this tarp next to my house. I went to drunkenly retrieve my keys and grabbed a handful of something that wasn't keys, it felt like nothing I'd ever felt before, so out of drunken reaction I went back in, and got the same sensation, twice. Only to then realize I had bare handed grabbed a large wasp nest that they built into this old tarp. Next morning my hand felt perfectly normal. Ever since then I've become their brother, they pay me no mind. They can fly all around me, I don't care.
BTW; african bees don't produce too much honey, they hang around the hive most of the time and only seem interested in mating with the queen bee. They are very easily irritated and become very aggressive upon the slightest provocation. They negatively alter the ecological landscape wherever they’ve established themselves.
The two carpenter bees worked together? They infested my parent's carport where I would smoke cigarettes. They would constantly slam into each other for some kind of dominance and also hover right in front of my face but never do anything.
A neighbor got robbed during the afternoon. Two cops came over to talk to me but quickly paused when they saw I was the Lord of the Bees. I had to go over to talk to them, haha.
I planted 5 hibiscus bushes at my house. Am out there closely admiring the big red flowers every day. Being one who killed every wasp he ever saw, one day I found big black wasp in a branch of the larges plant. Uh oh.
Cannot use wasp spray in the plant knowing that the wasp killer also kills vegetation. So I grabbed the garden hose an hit him with a hard spray of water. But he just held on. Next day, same again. He never flew away or tried to sting me. Then it became a game for me to spray him every day, and after a few months, I looked up what wasps east and aphids was one of the things they liked. Sure enough, the hibiscus plants had aphids and the was was gobbling them up.
So with continued sprayings just for fun, I figured that the wasp like being sprayed. So I would spray, just stand right there and started talkin to the wasp. He never once buzzed me or stung me or flew away as long as I stood there. Finally, to my wife's dismay, I named him Wally the Wasp and called him my pet. And to this day, Wally can be found near my door on the bushes. We've become pals.
There's a story in my family that's been passed down for generations. Don't even know if it's true or not, but we all heard it at one time or another while growing up.
One of my GGG+grandfathers was the first to befriend those bees. They were called borer bees back then and they called my ancestor The Bore. My last name is Bora, opps, doxed myself. Anyways, he would show up in front of a well-defended cave and let those borer bees... I mean carpenter bees... go and observe their defenses. When the other cave men saw him commanding the borer bees... I mean carpenter bees... they threw down their stone weapons and surrendered their women and children. In this way, grandpa conquered all of Europe.
Of course, they didn't call it Europe back then. And there were no written records. So, take what you will from this family lore.
We shoot them when intoxicated afternoons get boring. It's always a sporting chance as we use Daisy Red Ryder BB guns that are over 70 yrs old(bought new in 1945) and run like new. They are thick around here and really tear up shit. Most use traps and catchs hundreds every season
[ - ] bobdole9 1 point 1 monthApr 5, 2025 03:29:13 ago (+1/-0)
I keep telling my oldest that the carpenter bees will not harm you as long as you leave them alone. I like the buggers, even when they get a bit uppity with me when I water the flowers.
Some bumble bees will make honey. My dad said when he was growing up he found a huge bumble bee hive. I think they were in a hollow tree that my dad had to cut down, for some reason. Anyway, he said there was about a quart of honey in the hive. They don't produce as much as honey bees do so they wouldn't be worth it to try to "keep" them in a hive. He did say that it was the best honey he had ever eaten. I've always wanted to find a hive with honey in it to see how good that honey is.
[ + ] PoundOfFlesh
[ - ] PoundOfFlesh 13 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 18:47:52 ago (+13/-0)
[ + ] registered_bot
[ - ] registered_bot 7 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 18:18:57 ago (+7/-0)
The Lord of Wasps.
[ + ] prototype
[ - ] prototype [op] 3 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 18:50:30 ago (+3/-0)
This is my second favorite story on voat now.
[ + ] Consensus_Reality
[ - ] Consensus_Reality 1 point 1 monthApr 4, 2025 19:50:38 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic
[ - ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic 1 point 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:23:25 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] registered_bot
[ - ] registered_bot 1 point 1 monthApr 4, 2025 21:04:10 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] bohmoonx
[ - ] bohmoonx 7 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:50:55 ago (+7/-0)
[ + ] Ragnar
[ - ] Ragnar 1 point 1 monthApr 5, 2025 00:19:53 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] GrayDragon
[ - ] GrayDragon 4 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 16:54:46 ago (+4/-0)
A neighbor got robbed during the afternoon. Two cops came over to talk to me but quickly paused when they saw I was the Lord of the Bees. I had to go over to talk to them, haha.
[ + ] Crackinjokes
[ - ] Crackinjokes 2 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 16:33:27 ago (+2/-0)
[ + ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic
[ - ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic 0 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:22:50 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Panic
[ - ] Panic 2 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 17:57:53 ago (+2/-0)
I planted 5 hibiscus bushes at my house. Am out there closely admiring the big red flowers every day. Being one who killed every wasp he ever saw, one day I found big black wasp in a branch of the larges plant. Uh oh.
Cannot use wasp spray in the plant knowing that the wasp killer also kills vegetation. So I grabbed the garden hose an hit him with a hard spray of water. But he just held on. Next day, same again. He never flew away or tried to sting me. Then it became a game for me to spray him every day, and after a few months, I looked up what wasps east and aphids was one of the things they liked. Sure enough, the hibiscus plants had aphids and the was was gobbling them up.
So with continued sprayings just for fun, I figured that the wasp like being sprayed. So I would spray, just stand right there and started talkin to the wasp. He never once buzzed me or stung me or flew away as long as I stood there. Finally, to my wife's dismay, I named him Wally the Wasp and called him my pet. And to this day, Wally can be found near my door on the bushes. We've become pals.
[ + ] __47__
[ - ] __47__ 2 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:30:03 ago (+2/-0)
Hives also have bouncers for drunk bees.
[ + ] Puller_of_Noses
[ - ] Puller_of_Noses 2 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:35:52 ago (+2/-0)*
One of my GGG+grandfathers was the first to befriend those bees. They were called borer bees back then and they called my ancestor The Bore. My last name is Bora, opps, doxed myself. Anyways, he would show up in front of a well-defended cave and let those borer bees... I mean carpenter bees... go and observe their defenses. When the other cave men saw him commanding the borer bees... I mean carpenter bees... they threw down their stone weapons and surrendered their women and children. In this way, grandpa conquered all of Europe.
Of course, they didn't call it Europe back then. And there were no written records. So, take what you will from this family lore.
[ + ] texasblood
[ - ] texasblood 1 point 1 monthApr 4, 2025 16:47:31 ago (+1/-0)*
It's always a sporting chance as we use Daisy Red Ryder BB guns that are over 70 yrs old(bought new in 1945) and run like new.
They are thick around here and really tear up shit.
Most use traps and catchs hundreds every season
[ + ] prototype
[ - ] prototype [op] 0 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 16:50:38 ago (+1/-1)
your prerogative, they're bees that eat wood. Frankly though instead of acting like a fool, you should just do the white thing and get treated wood.
[ + ] texasblood
[ - ] texasblood 2 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 17:16:14 ago (+2/-0)
Alpha of species stuff, beta's always question then deny
[ + ] prototype
[ - ] prototype [op] 0 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 18:52:13 ago (+0/-0)
Britbong brave-new-world niggershit.
[ + ] HelenHighwater
[ - ] HelenHighwater 1 point 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:01:19 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] bobdole9
[ - ] bobdole9 1 point 1 monthApr 5, 2025 03:29:13 ago (+1/-0)
[ + ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic
[ - ] HonkyMcNiggerSpic 0 points 1 monthApr 4, 2025 20:21:43 ago (+0/-0)
[ + ] Peleg
[ - ] Peleg 0 points 1 monthApr 5, 2025 09:36:35 ago (+0/-0)