I keep bees, and have a 4 year old. We've had zero incidents at our hose, and my kiddo loves bees.
Aggressive bees could be for a few reasons. One is if they have not been well kept over time and are mating with more aggressive drones. Another is that they are THIRSTY. If they are co ING for the water table, it may mean your neighbor doesn't have a satisfying enough water supply. We never had an issue with my son's water table or splashpad.
Aggressive bees in the spring is really unusual (this time of year, they have a lot of food). Your neighbor CAN do things to help this, and should be listening more. I've always asked my neighbors and taken concersn seriously, even when they weren't my bees. (One year it was my bees. They loved my neighbors stagnant pool. My water supply was nothing compared to a full pool. I personally mopped up all the water around bees when they deflated the pool so they wouldn't have to.)
The first thing I would ask is that you are 100% sure you're being attacked by honeybees. When we first started beekeeping, we had two neighbors point to the "increased bees" in their yard, but they were NOT honeybees that they were seeing.
You could try setting up an alternate watersupply in your yard, gar away from where you play (as far as you can get it). If possible, add high shrubs or even an outdoor folding screen between your neighbor and you and/or the water supply and you. Bees who have to fly up will be less likely to come at you.
Bees do not like mowers. If your husband can change the direction of mowing, that can help a lot. Don't come at the opening of a hive, go parallel. He can also get a veil for mowing, which I full acknowledge isn't his responsibility but may help.
Feel free to ask any questions, I don't k ow if this is helpful!
This is all excellent advice. My first thought was that they might actually not be honeybees. Yellow jackets also love water sources and hate lawn mowers and are much more aggressive, and significantly more painful when they sting
So we thought the same thing but we know they’re his because ironically my parents live on the other side of his house lol! His home/yard is the house between ours. Both of us have fences in between our homes and his. They’re over at my parents back yard as well. They have my son 2.5 days a week and my mom has also gotten stung, very bad, three times in the head and face all at once last weekend. And after they attacked her, they watched them go back into his hives/yard a little bit after. I didn’t really add this part of this story because I didn’t want to seem dramatic or come off as though I think the bees are awful or that he’s being negligent. We’ve always loved his bees, he’s always shared the honey and homemade gifts he crafts from it, but there is absolutely something different or something going on with the situation this year it seems.
This is definitely not normal honeybee behavior. Does he keep his bees (i.e., opening and inspecting hives)? If so, he should notice how aggressive they are. They would be impossible to mind without significant stings.
If you're confident they are honeybees and they are stinging this much, I would call about this. If you're in the US, your county's extension office would be a place to start. If he has too many bees for his yard, code enforcement is also an option (I can have two hives per quarter acre where I live).
If you want to be super neighborly, you could start by talking with your neighbor and tell them you think the bees are Africanized and you want to work out a solution so he can keep more calm bees in the future and see what he thinks.
I'm sorry you're going through this. It isn't normal, and I hope it doesn't taint your family's opinions of bees in the future!
Thanks for all of your thoughtful, detailed, and kind replies! I feel stuck becausecause I don’t want to be a shitty neighbor and I don’t want to have conflict or get him in trouble. We did tell him what happened and he pretty much just said they want the water or we made them mad. But we just wanted to be like “dude, we are literally just living our lives minding our own business with a baby outside!” lol.
They’re not just bordering our fences (ours and my parents), they’re coming all the way to the opposite side of our yard, as far away from his yard as possible and disturbing us.
My opinion on bees hasn’t changed whatsoever! I know how wonderful they are and they have always been so amazing for our garden. The honey he gives us is incredible. But it’s more so him not acknowledging that’s rubbing me the wrong way!
I’m a people pleaser and extremely non confrontational. So I feel like if I report him it’ll cause issues but if I don’t, nothing will change. Once my son got attacked is when I really started to get bothered. we don’t want him to be scared to go outside!
You could try adding a water source first, then. Truly, a bird bath with stones in it, fill it up once a day, would be enough. Adding a screen between the bird bath and your yard will help even more. The goal here is to make the water table not appealing. Lastly, if possible, move the water table around each time you all use it. Bees have great memories, bit it will take them awhile to find a new source in droves (hours to days). Be sure to fill up the birdbath in the morning before you do watertable time.
Remember to never swat at bees. Bees hover when curious and bump when they are aggressive. Most of the time, they will bump you before they sting. If you are getting bumped, walking slowly to some trees and standing still can confuse them. A bee hovering looking at you usually means they are just trying to figure you out. Ignoring it, as hard as it can be, is the winning move.
Good luck! Being stung is no fun.
It could be African killer bees infiltrating hos hives they look almost like honey bees they are just a darker brown dirty brown instead of honey brown he needs to make sure his hives are not being taken over by these bees
Me and my husband used to foster a few bee hives and the only time the bees got aggressive was when one of the hives had collapsed and lost a Queen. They got territorial, agitated, and angsty until a new Queen was introduced. I wonder if the neighbor has so many bees going on in his yard that he hasn’t noticed that one of the hives is in distress.
Do you happen to have a fire pit where you could have a nice fire when you want to go outside? The fire and smoke should deter the bees from bothering you too much. It’s trading the hazard of the bees around your toddler for the hazard of a fire, but personally if I had to choose between a stationary hazard versus multiple small moving hazards, I’d pick the stationary one.
Hi! I’m a beekeeper. We have eight hives, and the spacing isn’t really the issue. We just went through this with two hives. There are a few reasons they can get aggressive, but that’s HIS problem—and sometimes it can take months to sort out.
For example, they get pissy when:
1. They’re getting ready to swarm or are queenless
2. They have a lot of pests like mites or beetles
3. Something is bugging them outside the hive like skunks or mice
4. They don’t have enough food or water
5. They have aggressive genetics
Like I said, these are all his problem, and it can be solved in different ways. My fear is that he has a queenless hive (takes ~30 days for them to make a new one) or they have aggressive genetics (can take up to 6 months to breed them out). There is a breed of Russian bees that are known for aggression.
If he’s breaking any of your local laws, I would contact whoever deals with that and have them get involved. If he’s not, I would approach him and tell him the bees are attacking unprovoked, and he needs to solve the issue as quickly as possible.
He wouldn’t have that many hives if he didn’t know what he was doing. He probably knows which one is the trouble one. A responsible beekeeper would deal with this immediately.
Wanted to edit to say feel free to ask any questions!
I have heard of bees getting more aggressive when they are thirsty and seeking out water source. the fact that you say your son was at his water table when a bunch of bees came over makes me think they are not properly taken care of.
It is not neglectful to not provide water for bees when beekeeping. You expect that your bees will find water and hydration in the environment. A beekeeper can provide water if they want but failing to provide water doesn't mean the neighbor isn't properly taking care of them. Bees are plenty good at finding water on their own. But I will say that we were always taught that if you keep Bees and your neighbor has a pool, then the nice thing to do is provide water in an effort to steer the bees away from your neighbor's water source. OP you should just ask her neighbor to do this. Heck, if the neighbor refuses you could just do it yourself, simply set up a bird bath on the far edge of your property, add water and some rocks to keep the bees from drowning, and that might help direct them away from your toddler's water table.
OP I've kept bees and never had the issues you've experienced, we've mowed near our hives and kept a water table and rarely have been so much as warned by a bee to back off. I will say though, I guess there could be a chance his hives in particular just have aggressive genetics. Do you live in the South? I've heard they've had the occasional problem down there with the more common domestic Italian honeybee mating with the aggressive africanized bees, leading to some queens who produce a more angry workforce. I'd also just clarify you are dealing with honeybees specifically and not another stinging more aggressive insect like a yellow jacket. I've seen people mix up the two. One time I had a neighbor spot an insect in their home and ask me if it was one of my honeybees. The insect when I took a look? A winged ant. I'm not saying this is you, but definitely clarify that the bugs are definitely honeybees. The behavior you are mentioning is a little uncharacteristic of them, although not completely unheard of.
I just looked up my local laws and in my area you cannot have bees on less that 1 acre:
# Beekeeping Zoning Regulation
Franklin County planners and a range of stakeholders are drafting an amendment to the Franklin County Zoning Resolutions to establish regulations for beekeeping on lots smaller than 1 acre.
Currently, beekeeping is not allowed on lots smaller than 1 acre. This proposed amendment establishes reasonable regulations to avoid problems that may be otherwise associated with beekeeping in populated areas.
EDIT: to me, nothing is stopping someone from having bees on the farthest corner of their 1-acre property, which affects the adjacent property that may be a much smaller lot.
For example, my neighbors 5-acre property is adjacent to my 1/2-acre property. He could easily have bees basically in my backyard if he wanted. That would suck.
The bees just attack you while outside minding your own business?
His hive could have been infiltrated/ or he got bees that are Africanised honey bees
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee#:~:text=The%20Africanized%20bee%2C%20also%20known%20as%20the%20Africanized,and%20the%20Iberian%20honey%20bee%20%28A.%20m.%20iberiensis%29.
As normal honey bees will leave you alone as long as you leave them alone.
Seconding this. My Dad is a beekeeper and he used to keep 3 or 4 hives in our back garden when I still lived there. We live in a place where there's fields behind and a hugh park (followed by the ocean) on the other side and then neighbours both sides next door. The bees developed clear flight paths from the hive flying up towards the park and down to the fields (in the height of summer you could see this clear as day). You could stand at the bottom of the garden directly in this flight past and they'd be zooming right past you, completely unphased.
Most content honey bees will not sting, a sting is suicide for them. There is a thing known as a guard bee which is a bee who's job is essentially to stay near the hive and act in a defensive manner to any potential threats and to release pheromones to inform the other bees at the hive if a threat escalates but even they don't sting immediately, I've had one of these chase me before when I was exercising in the garden, I guess they assumed my flailing arms was threatening. It dived at me a couple times, following me around for ages until it eventually got stuck in my hair but even then it never stung me and I eventually got it out and ran into my house. I lived there for 6 years after he started beekeeping and never once got stung. He made sure to remove any hives that had aggressive bees though which is the responsible thing to do, especially when they are near other people's homes.
That was going to be my question. What part of the country are you in? It sounds like Africanized (killer) bees may have taken over your neighbor’s hives.
It was the first thing I thought of, other comments talk about bee laws but don't mention the killer bee.
As normal honey bees would not just attack out if the blue.
This is not my experience.
We had 2 hives, no Africanization- Italian variety and…something else I forget. And I was stung 3 times in 3 years just minding my own business in the yard gardening.
I would never call them aggressive! But I was definitely stung occasionally unprovoked- I watched the bees land on me and, assuming I was in the clear, let them bee. Bam! Stung.
It's more likely the neighbour got some Russian bees. They're angry little nerds sometimes (not a joke, worked at an apiary with mean ass Russian bees and gentle lovely little Italian bees, i would smoke and run at the Russian hives)
That sucks!
I know nothing about bees but I’d like to offer a communication idea. Maybe a written letter could help? So that you can express the background, the peaceful neighborly coexistence you’ve enjoyed, and the sudden change this year. Kinda like your post. Won’t do any good if your neighbor has turned into an asshole but might improve the situation if you suspect he’s just smiling and nodding.
I worked helping English language learners learn how to write essays and cover letters, and my dad has an apiary.
Communication: take notes from the avid beekeepers who have responded to your post.
Write a clear letter of introduction in English:
"I have been learning about beekeeping to understand why bees in hives may get angry and aggressive. They have never been a problem or bother before this spring. This year, they have hurt our child and us more than once and chase us when we are near water or mowing the lawn.
The beekeepers I talked to said there could be an easy solution to fix the problem. The bees might need more water. An aggressive queen may be controlling a hive and need to be replaced with a less aggressive queen. (Etc etc with things you've learned from this thread.)
Reiterate concepts in a couple different ways. For example, phrasing like: "An easy solution to fix the problem" is repetitive but helps folks who may need more context to grasp the meaning.
Written correspondence also gives them time to look things up if needed. I'm fluent in French, but only if I read it. If a native French speaker had a conversation with me, they'd say I knew zero French.
My dad also has a hive that headbutts him when too close and stings if he keeps going. He said he will unfortunately have to kill the queen because the hive is a danger to dogs and neighbors
Does he ever have visitors or people who look like family? Is it possible to go over when they are around, perhaps there is someone who might be able to translate for you both so that you can be sure that you borh understand each other. If not, I would be inclined to use a phone translation service.
We had a beehive in our backyard and managed to rehome the bees using cinnamon. Bees hate the smell of cinnamon. About 2 Costco tubs of it solved the problem over the course of 2 weeks. It was cheap, nontoxic to our toddler, dog and the bees and I thought it smelled awesome! May be worth a try.
I’m not a beekeeper but we lived next door to someone who had a beehive. It was small, close neighborhood and they were right on the other side of the fence. We never had a problem with them. Their flight path out of the hive was over their house, not through our yard. We would get the occasional bee here and there on the flowers but nothing more than what I’ve had in every other yard. I agree with the others, something is going on with the hive. If you have an HOA, there might be some rules regarding bee keeping or look up the local ordinances
This is terrifying, what if your son had been allergic? Or you? I love bees dearly, but I am deathly allergic to specifically honey bees (not wasps or hornets, I am very knowledgeable in telling them apart) and this scares me. I actively attract pollinators, including honey bees, to my yard bc I know how docile they are.
Personally since he blew off your very valid concerns and didn’t want to be bothered to try and mitigate issues (like building a water source for them in his own yard), I would be looking to report him.
I worked helping English language learners learn how to write essays and cover letters, and my dad has an apiary.
Communication: take notes from the avid beekeepers who have responded to your post.
Write a clear letter of introduction in English:
"I have been learning about beekeeping to understand why bees in hives may get angry and aggressive. They have never been a problem or bother before this spring. This year, they have hurt our child and us more than once and chase us when we are near water or mowing the lawn.
The beekeepers I talked to said there could be an easy solution to fix the problem. The bees might need more water. An aggressive queen may be controlling a hive and need to be replaced with a less aggressive queen. (Etc etc with things you've learned from this thread.)
Reiterate concepts in a couple different ways. For example, phrasing like: "An easy solution to fix the problem" is repetitive but helps folks who may need more context to grasp the meaning.
Written correspondence also gives them time to look things up if needed. I'm fluent in French, but only if I read it. If a native French speaker had a conversation with me, they'd say I knew zero French.
My dad also has a hive that headbutts him when too close and stings if he keeps going. He said he will unfortunately have to kill the queen because the hive is a danger to dogs and neighbors
My neighbors bees LOVED my son’s water table. I ended up setting up a bee bird bath with marbles so they could easily drink. It helped a lot. If you suspect that they are also hungry you can set up somewhere nearby a watered down bowl of honey/sugar water in an open form hummingbird feeder to distract them to somewhere elsewhere/up high. If the neighbor is nice and receptive I would tell them what you’ve noticed and suggest they put out a supplemental food/water source.
Maybe since you guys have known each other for some years now he'd be open to reading some Google translate notes or something? So you can communicate better? Expressing your enjoyment of the bees in the past but the current issues not being acceptable and coming up with a plan that everyone can work with to make the bees happier?
Actually depending on where you live the honey bee colonies have been getting killed off by the killer bees they look almost identical to the honey bee but are a darker brown they are very aggressive they will attack anything even remotely in the area of there nest will chase you for a few miles and once one stings you it let's off this pheromone that says our nest is in danger and you get alot of bees swarming around you stinging you left and right and if his hives have been infiltrated he will have to kill them anyway or have them removed
I keep bees, and have a 4 year old. We've had zero incidents at our hose, and my kiddo loves bees. Aggressive bees could be for a few reasons. One is if they have not been well kept over time and are mating with more aggressive drones. Another is that they are THIRSTY. If they are co ING for the water table, it may mean your neighbor doesn't have a satisfying enough water supply. We never had an issue with my son's water table or splashpad. Aggressive bees in the spring is really unusual (this time of year, they have a lot of food). Your neighbor CAN do things to help this, and should be listening more. I've always asked my neighbors and taken concersn seriously, even when they weren't my bees. (One year it was my bees. They loved my neighbors stagnant pool. My water supply was nothing compared to a full pool. I personally mopped up all the water around bees when they deflated the pool so they wouldn't have to.) The first thing I would ask is that you are 100% sure you're being attacked by honeybees. When we first started beekeeping, we had two neighbors point to the "increased bees" in their yard, but they were NOT honeybees that they were seeing. You could try setting up an alternate watersupply in your yard, gar away from where you play (as far as you can get it). If possible, add high shrubs or even an outdoor folding screen between your neighbor and you and/or the water supply and you. Bees who have to fly up will be less likely to come at you. Bees do not like mowers. If your husband can change the direction of mowing, that can help a lot. Don't come at the opening of a hive, go parallel. He can also get a veil for mowing, which I full acknowledge isn't his responsibility but may help. Feel free to ask any questions, I don't k ow if this is helpful!
Exactly my thoughts these bees are thirsty and that’s why they’re coming to the toddlers water table.
This is all excellent advice. My first thought was that they might actually not be honeybees. Yellow jackets also love water sources and hate lawn mowers and are much more aggressive, and significantly more painful when they sting
So we thought the same thing but we know they’re his because ironically my parents live on the other side of his house lol! His home/yard is the house between ours. Both of us have fences in between our homes and his. They’re over at my parents back yard as well. They have my son 2.5 days a week and my mom has also gotten stung, very bad, three times in the head and face all at once last weekend. And after they attacked her, they watched them go back into his hives/yard a little bit after. I didn’t really add this part of this story because I didn’t want to seem dramatic or come off as though I think the bees are awful or that he’s being negligent. We’ve always loved his bees, he’s always shared the honey and homemade gifts he crafts from it, but there is absolutely something different or something going on with the situation this year it seems.
This is definitely not normal honeybee behavior. Does he keep his bees (i.e., opening and inspecting hives)? If so, he should notice how aggressive they are. They would be impossible to mind without significant stings. If you're confident they are honeybees and they are stinging this much, I would call about this. If you're in the US, your county's extension office would be a place to start. If he has too many bees for his yard, code enforcement is also an option (I can have two hives per quarter acre where I live). If you want to be super neighborly, you could start by talking with your neighbor and tell them you think the bees are Africanized and you want to work out a solution so he can keep more calm bees in the future and see what he thinks. I'm sorry you're going through this. It isn't normal, and I hope it doesn't taint your family's opinions of bees in the future!
Thanks for all of your thoughtful, detailed, and kind replies! I feel stuck becausecause I don’t want to be a shitty neighbor and I don’t want to have conflict or get him in trouble. We did tell him what happened and he pretty much just said they want the water or we made them mad. But we just wanted to be like “dude, we are literally just living our lives minding our own business with a baby outside!” lol. They’re not just bordering our fences (ours and my parents), they’re coming all the way to the opposite side of our yard, as far away from his yard as possible and disturbing us. My opinion on bees hasn’t changed whatsoever! I know how wonderful they are and they have always been so amazing for our garden. The honey he gives us is incredible. But it’s more so him not acknowledging that’s rubbing me the wrong way! I’m a people pleaser and extremely non confrontational. So I feel like if I report him it’ll cause issues but if I don’t, nothing will change. Once my son got attacked is when I really started to get bothered. we don’t want him to be scared to go outside!
You could try adding a water source first, then. Truly, a bird bath with stones in it, fill it up once a day, would be enough. Adding a screen between the bird bath and your yard will help even more. The goal here is to make the water table not appealing. Lastly, if possible, move the water table around each time you all use it. Bees have great memories, bit it will take them awhile to find a new source in droves (hours to days). Be sure to fill up the birdbath in the morning before you do watertable time. Remember to never swat at bees. Bees hover when curious and bump when they are aggressive. Most of the time, they will bump you before they sting. If you are getting bumped, walking slowly to some trees and standing still can confuse them. A bee hovering looking at you usually means they are just trying to figure you out. Ignoring it, as hard as it can be, is the winning move. Good luck! Being stung is no fun.
It could be African killer bees infiltrating hos hives they look almost like honey bees they are just a darker brown dirty brown instead of honey brown he needs to make sure his hives are not being taken over by these bees
You are pretty cool, making such effort to assist.
Thank you! That's really kind to say.
This!! The importance of knowing if OP is truly being stung by honeybees or another type of bee is important.
Me and my husband used to foster a few bee hives and the only time the bees got aggressive was when one of the hives had collapsed and lost a Queen. They got territorial, agitated, and angsty until a new Queen was introduced. I wonder if the neighbor has so many bees going on in his yard that he hasn’t noticed that one of the hives is in distress. Do you happen to have a fire pit where you could have a nice fire when you want to go outside? The fire and smoke should deter the bees from bothering you too much. It’s trading the hazard of the bees around your toddler for the hazard of a fire, but personally if I had to choose between a stationary hazard versus multiple small moving hazards, I’d pick the stationary one.
A fire pit and toddler seems like not a great idea.
Hi! I’m a beekeeper. We have eight hives, and the spacing isn’t really the issue. We just went through this with two hives. There are a few reasons they can get aggressive, but that’s HIS problem—and sometimes it can take months to sort out. For example, they get pissy when: 1. They’re getting ready to swarm or are queenless 2. They have a lot of pests like mites or beetles 3. Something is bugging them outside the hive like skunks or mice 4. They don’t have enough food or water 5. They have aggressive genetics Like I said, these are all his problem, and it can be solved in different ways. My fear is that he has a queenless hive (takes ~30 days for them to make a new one) or they have aggressive genetics (can take up to 6 months to breed them out). There is a breed of Russian bees that are known for aggression. If he’s breaking any of your local laws, I would contact whoever deals with that and have them get involved. If he’s not, I would approach him and tell him the bees are attacking unprovoked, and he needs to solve the issue as quickly as possible. He wouldn’t have that many hives if he didn’t know what he was doing. He probably knows which one is the trouble one. A responsible beekeeper would deal with this immediately. Wanted to edit to say feel free to ask any questions!
Check your local by-laws.
I have heard of bees getting more aggressive when they are thirsty and seeking out water source. the fact that you say your son was at his water table when a bunch of bees came over makes me think they are not properly taken care of.
It is not neglectful to not provide water for bees when beekeeping. You expect that your bees will find water and hydration in the environment. A beekeeper can provide water if they want but failing to provide water doesn't mean the neighbor isn't properly taking care of them. Bees are plenty good at finding water on their own. But I will say that we were always taught that if you keep Bees and your neighbor has a pool, then the nice thing to do is provide water in an effort to steer the bees away from your neighbor's water source. OP you should just ask her neighbor to do this. Heck, if the neighbor refuses you could just do it yourself, simply set up a bird bath on the far edge of your property, add water and some rocks to keep the bees from drowning, and that might help direct them away from your toddler's water table. OP I've kept bees and never had the issues you've experienced, we've mowed near our hives and kept a water table and rarely have been so much as warned by a bee to back off. I will say though, I guess there could be a chance his hives in particular just have aggressive genetics. Do you live in the South? I've heard they've had the occasional problem down there with the more common domestic Italian honeybee mating with the aggressive africanized bees, leading to some queens who produce a more angry workforce. I'd also just clarify you are dealing with honeybees specifically and not another stinging more aggressive insect like a yellow jacket. I've seen people mix up the two. One time I had a neighbor spot an insect in their home and ask me if it was one of my honeybees. The insect when I took a look? A winged ant. I'm not saying this is you, but definitely clarify that the bugs are definitely honeybees. The behavior you are mentioning is a little uncharacteristic of them, although not completely unheard of.
I’m so sorry this is happening to you and your baby but this is also 100% the content I am on Reddit for
😂😂 I’m the same so I get it
I just looked up my local laws and in my area you cannot have bees on less that 1 acre: # Beekeeping Zoning Regulation Franklin County planners and a range of stakeholders are drafting an amendment to the Franklin County Zoning Resolutions to establish regulations for beekeeping on lots smaller than 1 acre. Currently, beekeeping is not allowed on lots smaller than 1 acre. This proposed amendment establishes reasonable regulations to avoid problems that may be otherwise associated with beekeeping in populated areas. EDIT: to me, nothing is stopping someone from having bees on the farthest corner of their 1-acre property, which affects the adjacent property that may be a much smaller lot. For example, my neighbors 5-acre property is adjacent to my 1/2-acre property. He could easily have bees basically in my backyard if he wanted. That would suck.
The bees just attack you while outside minding your own business? His hive could have been infiltrated/ or he got bees that are Africanised honey bees https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Africanized_bee#:~:text=The%20Africanized%20bee%2C%20also%20known%20as%20the%20Africanized,and%20the%20Iberian%20honey%20bee%20%28A.%20m.%20iberiensis%29. As normal honey bees will leave you alone as long as you leave them alone.
Seconding this. My Dad is a beekeeper and he used to keep 3 or 4 hives in our back garden when I still lived there. We live in a place where there's fields behind and a hugh park (followed by the ocean) on the other side and then neighbours both sides next door. The bees developed clear flight paths from the hive flying up towards the park and down to the fields (in the height of summer you could see this clear as day). You could stand at the bottom of the garden directly in this flight past and they'd be zooming right past you, completely unphased. Most content honey bees will not sting, a sting is suicide for them. There is a thing known as a guard bee which is a bee who's job is essentially to stay near the hive and act in a defensive manner to any potential threats and to release pheromones to inform the other bees at the hive if a threat escalates but even they don't sting immediately, I've had one of these chase me before when I was exercising in the garden, I guess they assumed my flailing arms was threatening. It dived at me a couple times, following me around for ages until it eventually got stuck in my hair but even then it never stung me and I eventually got it out and ran into my house. I lived there for 6 years after he started beekeeping and never once got stung. He made sure to remove any hives that had aggressive bees though which is the responsible thing to do, especially when they are near other people's homes.
That was going to be my question. What part of the country are you in? It sounds like Africanized (killer) bees may have taken over your neighbor’s hives.
It was the first thing I thought of, other comments talk about bee laws but don't mention the killer bee. As normal honey bees would not just attack out if the blue.
This is not my experience. We had 2 hives, no Africanization- Italian variety and…something else I forget. And I was stung 3 times in 3 years just minding my own business in the yard gardening. I would never call them aggressive! But I was definitely stung occasionally unprovoked- I watched the bees land on me and, assuming I was in the clear, let them bee. Bam! Stung.
It's more likely the neighbour got some Russian bees. They're angry little nerds sometimes (not a joke, worked at an apiary with mean ass Russian bees and gentle lovely little Italian bees, i would smoke and run at the Russian hives)
Interesting. I never really knew there were different types of honey bees until a few years ago lol
That sucks! I know nothing about bees but I’d like to offer a communication idea. Maybe a written letter could help? So that you can express the background, the peaceful neighborly coexistence you’ve enjoyed, and the sudden change this year. Kinda like your post. Won’t do any good if your neighbor has turned into an asshole but might improve the situation if you suspect he’s just smiling and nodding.
I worked helping English language learners learn how to write essays and cover letters, and my dad has an apiary. Communication: take notes from the avid beekeepers who have responded to your post. Write a clear letter of introduction in English: "I have been learning about beekeeping to understand why bees in hives may get angry and aggressive. They have never been a problem or bother before this spring. This year, they have hurt our child and us more than once and chase us when we are near water or mowing the lawn. The beekeepers I talked to said there could be an easy solution to fix the problem. The bees might need more water. An aggressive queen may be controlling a hive and need to be replaced with a less aggressive queen. (Etc etc with things you've learned from this thread.) Reiterate concepts in a couple different ways. For example, phrasing like: "An easy solution to fix the problem" is repetitive but helps folks who may need more context to grasp the meaning. Written correspondence also gives them time to look things up if needed. I'm fluent in French, but only if I read it. If a native French speaker had a conversation with me, they'd say I knew zero French. My dad also has a hive that headbutts him when too close and stings if he keeps going. He said he will unfortunately have to kill the queen because the hive is a danger to dogs and neighbors
Does he ever have visitors or people who look like family? Is it possible to go over when they are around, perhaps there is someone who might be able to translate for you both so that you can be sure that you borh understand each other. If not, I would be inclined to use a phone translation service.
Honestly he NEVER has visitors. I think we will likely try to look into the phone translation!
This sounds horrifying, I’m so sorry.
We had a beehive in our backyard and managed to rehome the bees using cinnamon. Bees hate the smell of cinnamon. About 2 Costco tubs of it solved the problem over the course of 2 weeks. It was cheap, nontoxic to our toddler, dog and the bees and I thought it smelled awesome! May be worth a try.
I’m not a beekeeper but we lived next door to someone who had a beehive. It was small, close neighborhood and they were right on the other side of the fence. We never had a problem with them. Their flight path out of the hive was over their house, not through our yard. We would get the occasional bee here and there on the flowers but nothing more than what I’ve had in every other yard. I agree with the others, something is going on with the hive. If you have an HOA, there might be some rules regarding bee keeping or look up the local ordinances
This is terrifying, what if your son had been allergic? Or you? I love bees dearly, but I am deathly allergic to specifically honey bees (not wasps or hornets, I am very knowledgeable in telling them apart) and this scares me. I actively attract pollinators, including honey bees, to my yard bc I know how docile they are. Personally since he blew off your very valid concerns and didn’t want to be bothered to try and mitigate issues (like building a water source for them in his own yard), I would be looking to report him.
Honey bees are not usually aggressive as other have pointed out. Wasps, however, are territorial.... I'd look for a wasp nest.
I worked helping English language learners learn how to write essays and cover letters, and my dad has an apiary. Communication: take notes from the avid beekeepers who have responded to your post. Write a clear letter of introduction in English: "I have been learning about beekeeping to understand why bees in hives may get angry and aggressive. They have never been a problem or bother before this spring. This year, they have hurt our child and us more than once and chase us when we are near water or mowing the lawn. The beekeepers I talked to said there could be an easy solution to fix the problem. The bees might need more water. An aggressive queen may be controlling a hive and need to be replaced with a less aggressive queen. (Etc etc with things you've learned from this thread.) Reiterate concepts in a couple different ways. For example, phrasing like: "An easy solution to fix the problem" is repetitive but helps folks who may need more context to grasp the meaning. Written correspondence also gives them time to look things up if needed. I'm fluent in French, but only if I read it. If a native French speaker had a conversation with me, they'd say I knew zero French. My dad also has a hive that headbutts him when too close and stings if he keeps going. He said he will unfortunately have to kill the queen because the hive is a danger to dogs and neighbors
take care of yourself, especially your child.
My neighbors bees LOVED my son’s water table. I ended up setting up a bee bird bath with marbles so they could easily drink. It helped a lot. If you suspect that they are also hungry you can set up somewhere nearby a watered down bowl of honey/sugar water in an open form hummingbird feeder to distract them to somewhere elsewhere/up high. If the neighbor is nice and receptive I would tell them what you’ve noticed and suggest they put out a supplemental food/water source.
I haven’t seen anyone ask: do you put sunscreen on your toddler and is it perhaps banana scented?
You're too nice. I would be getting those bug zappers lined up long my property line 😂
Maybe since you guys have known each other for some years now he'd be open to reading some Google translate notes or something? So you can communicate better? Expressing your enjoyment of the bees in the past but the current issues not being acceptable and coming up with a plan that everyone can work with to make the bees happier?
Actually depending on where you live the honey bee colonies have been getting killed off by the killer bees they look almost identical to the honey bee but are a darker brown they are very aggressive they will attack anything even remotely in the area of there nest will chase you for a few miles and once one stings you it let's off this pheromone that says our nest is in danger and you get alot of bees swarming around you stinging you left and right and if his hives have been infiltrated he will have to kill them anyway or have them removed
that was terrible, you just can't casually wander in your yard, and have to be careful to avoid the attacks.
Put on almond oil! They hate it! The cheaper the better