| Archive for Downsizer For an ethical approach to consumption |
| tahir |
HornetsFound a hornet buzzing around in the dining room t'other day (quite a sight), found a couple of dead ones in there last year, what kind of places do they nest, and exactly how aggressive/dangerous are they. I was speaking to someone who said that we MUST seek out and destroy the nest before they kill us all in our beds.... |
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| wellington womble |
No idea. I believe you had a medical discharge from the RAF if you got stung three times. Might be worth getting rentokill in? They look scary, to me. | ||
| Treacodactyl |
Assuming wiki is accurate it states that European hornet stings are similar to wasps so if you're allergic to wasp stings then you should take more care. Otherwise you'd need 100s of stings to kill you as they are less toxic to bee stings.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hornet I'd say the thing to worry about is them eating your fruit but then I'd put up with that. I've stood in a middle of a vineyard with hornets all over the fruit and never felt threatened at all but I don't know if they get dopey like wasps at the end of the season. |
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| Tavascarow |
Even if your not allergic stings around the throat can be dangerous. I don't have an allergic reaction but still get localised swelling & 6 or more wasp, bee or hornet stings to the throat could cause breathing difficulties. Personally I would seek out the nest & destroy it but that's because I keep bees & hornets can be a major bee pest but otherwise if they are not to close to the house I would leave them alone. |
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| tahir |
Hmm, bees, the missus who's been working in the orchards pretty much every day for the last 2 weeks says there haven't been many around, but we have got good pollination 
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| bodger |
Get rid ASAP !  Hornets are fantastic creatures but only in the right place, preferably someone elses. 
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| ksia |
Absolutely bodger.
Tahir get rid! Their stings can be really nasty (due respect to Wiki - but I find what Trea quoted very wrong. In France we have 2 types of hornet which could account for the difference) much much worse than bee/wasp. Hornets aren't aggressive - but if you accidentally sit on one, they're probably not going to like it. I've 'sorted' nests myself (underneath eaves, in chimney) but this isn't recommended. In France you call the fire brigade - and boy do they take precautions before tackling a nest. It could be a queen looking to set up a place (???) so killing now will solve lots of prob's later. Find nest, call someone, get rid. |
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| mousjoos |
Seconded, very nasty! | ||
| wellington womble |
Ah, that's it - it was cyprus and you got sent home, not discharged. |
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| Treacodactyl |
Do people really get stung that often by bees, wasps or hornets? I spend a fair bit of time outdoors, often seeing loads of bees and wasps and even shepherding them out of places with my hands and I've only been stung about three times in my life. Once by a wasp that had flown into my pocket and I put my hand it, once by a bee I accidentally landed on when playing football and once by another bee I caught whilst weeding - all my fault. OH hasn't been stung at all.
I'm not nagging, just curious to see if we're lucky. I've also seen loads of bees and wasps about this year in our garden which seems to be unusual. |
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| mousjoos |
I've only been stung 3 or 4 times in my life (once just below my eye, by a wasp, when I was about 8... but I was very brave about it) but I've seen that the hornets here can be very aggressive, & heard that they will attack if disturbed. I know 1 chap who was stung 3 times whilst working on a roof, thankfully only single storey, as he had to jump off to escape...I have to add that I couldn't help laughing when he told me | ||
| tahir |
I've never been stung. | ||
| Green Rosie |
I've been stung twice by bees (no bad reaction) and 5 times by wasps. With each wasp sting my reaction to them gets worse. The last one got me on the foot and I couldn't walk for 2 days. However the french gave some fantastic anit-allergic tablets so when OH got stung on the mouth (the old wasp in the beer problem) where-as he usually swells up massively he was fine, just a bit sore. I carry the tablets wioth me all the time in wasp season. | ||
| TheGrange |
i quite like hornets bees and wasps - hornets are like the lancaster bombers of the three..
We get over run with wasps nest in the summer they like the haystack and nest in that or the stables, the sheds or even one nested in the engine of a very very old disused horse box. Hornets are VERY aggressive if you upset them, i recall my Father trimming a privet hedge and slicing through a hornet nest they had him surrounded and stung ten's of times within minutes i can still picture him running into the house with screams from my mother as he was hotly pursued. He was in so much pain the doctor had to be called - its a nasty business - they are not to be messed with 
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| yummersetter |
Yes, I'm sure there are many more pollinators than honeybees, in fact my mother had far higher fruit set twenty-five years ago when this area was all livestock farming and no beekeepers nearby than we have had recently with non-organic arable farming in the fields around us and up to ten hives of honeybees in the orchard Here's one I saw yesterday on the quince flowers, when it was too wet and windy for the honeybees to be out 
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| alison |
I have been stung a few times, with my bees, or at the apairy. I now take anti histimine before handling the bees, and this helps with the reaction I have, if I do get stung. | ||
| dpack |
hornets far worse than a worse thing
get rid or move from personal hornet stings are at least a factor of ten nastier than bee or wasp , |
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| Mr O |
Hornets are much more docile than wasps, but if one stings you it realeases an attack signal to all the others, and a multiple attack will follow. | ||
| Tavascarow |
The same applies to honey bees & probably wasps as well. I get stung 3 or 4 times a year usually when I'm just stood watching the bees not when I'm working with them. 
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