Bee war!!!

[Redjunior]

So I have 2 hives fighting at my front door. Little bees with red bums going to war with huge black bees with white bums.
Now I thought at first, maybe they're mating.. then I remembered only queens mate. And when I looked around.. bodies were scattered everywhere. So at some point last night a war started. Bees with wings missing, bodies everywhere, little and big. I'm pretty sure its a battle for the bushes outside my door.

Anyways, the big bees I enjoy, they're nice. Friendly, buzz around, I have even handled a bunch. Never attacked me, my dog, my kid, or anyone around. But the little bees do.. and the little bees are invaders. The big bees live under my front step and I quite enjoy their presence. So when I walked out and seen my crew under attack, I had to back up my crew!! I'm using sticks and twigs to pull the little ones off the backs of the big ones (theyre reaching towards me like they're asking for help! And boy did I come in like a wrecking ball) I'm punching bees out the air and kicking them like a soccer ball, and they kept going after the big bees, they just didn't learn... mess with my bee buddies.. I'm going into my bushes launching an offensive, my dog is going after the little bees too!! He doesn't mess with the big ones so we collaborated a big offensive.. my woman walked out and acted like I was crazy.. but THEYRE MY HOMIES!!

Anyways.. so after about 2 hours of war things seem to calm down. Now I have to clean up the masses of dead bees all around my front door.

Have anyone ever had bee wars they've witnessed? I didn't even realize they fought.. that was crazy. Full on hive battle... when I find the little buggers hive. Its game over.. I've never seen so many bees at once. Was insane.

I came here to share, and ask.. did I do good? Or did I just destroy a ton of bees for nothing, and something else was attacking them?
I didn't see any wasps anywhere or hornets. So I don't know.

Whats your thoughts?

 

[Redjunior]

the big bees were desperately trying to get the little ones off their backs. Kinda what tipped me off something was wrong.

 

[schmiggle]

Bee colonies will absolutely attack each other, though I'm not sure that swatting a colony with sticks does much. If the small bee colony decided the big bee colony was vulnerable, they may have attacked it to try and steal its honey. I'd say these are both bumblebee species, and there's a good chance the nest of the small ones is not on your property.

 

[DomGom TheFather]

Bumble rumble!

I've got five bucks on the little guys.
Any takers?

 

[The Snark]

You should chat with an apiarist. Every now and then they place hives in the wrong locale and local bees declare war. One incident cost a friend of ours most of the bees in about 20 hives.

 

[schmiggle]

You should chat with an apiarist. Every now and then they place hives in the wrong locale and local bees declare war. One incident cost a friend of ours most of the bees in about 20 hives.

Makes sense in general, but are any apiarists working with small North American honey bee species? Those red rumped ones are definitely native, and the large ones were already established so can't have come from an apiary.

 

[myrmecophile]

Male female mating bumble bees. So by interacting in the manner you are, you are disrupting the reproductive cycle of these bees.

 

[schmiggle]

Male female mating bumble bees. So by interacting in the manner you are you disrupting the reproductive cycle of these bees.

Are you sure? These don't look like the same species to me.

 

[myrmecophile]

Yup 100 percent sure. So you have contributed to the decline of the bumblebees.

 

[The Snark]

Makes sense in general, but are any apiarists working with small North American honey bee species?

Good question. My info came from a bee keeper family that came from Europe. Spent many enjoyable days stomping their ranch. Centered in California they specialized in specialty honeys ranging over most of the western states. I'm forgetting a few. Sage, buckwheat, orange (ultra sweet), mountain (dark, strong flavor), mesquite (nutty taste), broom-heather? (plant unknown, came from the western central valley on out to the coast), clover (very sweet), alfalfa, avocado, wildflower, peach, pear, cherry and ......

 

[MrGhostMantis]

If there are bee bodies everywhere, they aren’t mating.

 

[Arthroverts]

I was about to say, if they are mating why are there so many dead bodies, and why are the larger bees trying to get the smaller bees off? Also, workers don't mate, so it really seems unusual for an entire colony to suddenly become kings and queens.

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[Arthroverts]

Makes sense in general, but are any apiarists working with small North American honey bee species? Those red rumped ones are definitely native, and the large ones were already established so can't have come from an apiary.

I didn't realize we had native honey bees?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

 

[schmiggle]

I didn't realize we had native honey bees?

Thanks,

Arthroverts

We don't, and I mistyped. I meant bumblebees. There are bumblebee breeders because bumblebees are more efficient pollinators than honeybees (or at least that's what I remember they told us in Iceland)

 

[The Snark]

There are bumblebee breeders because bumblebees are more efficient pollinators than honeybees

Don't remember which studies I read but the common N. American bee, Apis Mellifera, is quite a way down the list of pollinators. All it's target flowers in the US are adaptations. There are numerous other flying insects, bees, wasps, flies, even some beetles that are more efficient. Mellifera got it's reputation primarily from marketing, both honey and the wax. There is also a sunbird that pollinates more flowers in a day than insects can do in a month as well as pollinate some plants that most insects shun for various reasons. It picks up pollen on it's body and wings as it feeds then sprays the pollen over entire bushes as it goes about it's business.

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9c/Loten%27s_Sunbird_Cinnyris_lotenius_Male_DSCN0107_%287%29.jpg

 

[myrmecophile]

Small bees are the males, essentially raping the much larger virgin queens. Dead bees in masses are those killed by the OP..At certain times of the year the colony produces large numbers of reproductives as opposed to workers, remember in the case of bumble bees typically only the queens survive the winter.

 

[schmiggle]

Small bees are the males, essentially raping the much larger virgin queens. Dead bees in masses are those killed by the OP..At certain times of the year the colony produces large numbers of reproductives as opposed to workers, remember in the case of bumble bees typically only the queens survive the winter.

The OP said there were already loads of dead bees when he looked outside, so he can't really have been killing all of them. Not to mention the following website casts doubt on the rape idea:

Bumblebee mating, death and hibernation; Stage 4 in the lifecycle of a bumblebee colony

Bumblebee males and new queen emerge, bumblebees mate, the bumblebee colony disintegrates and new queens hibernate. Some species can have two colony cycles in one year.

bumblebee.org

The queen has to voluntarily extend her sting in order to mate, and mating can last between 10 and 80 minutes. In addition, mating tends to happen on vegetation and males tend to fly in specific circuits where they are located by virgin queens, rather than makes flying to existing nests.

 

[myrmecophile]

Mating behavior varies greatly by species, I guarantee you that these bees are mating. The website pretty much spells out that mating varies between species and nothing in the linked website suggests otherwise. And the images of bumblebee mating is pretty much exactly what the OP posted. However there is no point arguing

 

[Shervivor]

So I have 2 hives fighting at my front door. Little bees with red bums going to war with huge black bees with white bums.
Now I thought at first, maybe they're mating.. then I remembered only queens mate. And when I looked around.. bodies were scattered everywhere. So at some point last night a war started. Bees with wings missing, bodies everywhere, little and big. I'm pretty sure its a battle for the bushes outside my door.

Anyways, the big bees I enjoy, they're nice. Friendly, buzz around, I have even handled a bunch. Never attacked me, my dog, my kid, or anyone around. But the little bees do.. and the little bees are invaders. The big bees live under my front step and I quite enjoy their presence. So when I walked out and seen my crew under attack, I had to back up my crew!! I'm using sticks and twigs to pull the little ones off the backs of the big ones (theyre reaching towards me like they're asking for help! And boy did I come in like a wrecking ball) I'm punching bees out the air and kicking them like a soccer ball, and they kept going after the big bees, they just didn't learn... mess with my bee buddies.. I'm going into my bushes launching an offensive, my dog is going after the little bees too!! He doesn't mess with the big ones so we collaborated a big offensive.. my woman walked out and acted like I was crazy.. but THEYRE MY HOMIES!!

Anyways.. so after about 2 hours of war things seem to calm down. Now I have to clean up the masses of dead bees all around my front door.

Have anyone ever had bee wars they've witnessed? I didn't even realize they fought.. that was crazy. Full on hive battle... when I find the little buggers hive. Its game over.. I've never seen so many bees at once. Was insane.

I came here to share, and ask.. did I do good? Or did I just destroy a ton of bees for nothing, and something else was attacking them?
I didn't see any wasps anywhere or hornets. So I don't know.

Whats your thoughts? View attachment 356341

I think you did a great things protecting your homebees! Please tell me there is video of these shenanigans???

 

[EpicEpic]

Bodies amassed and we get a pic of 1 dead bee and not a soul anywhere close?

That along with this crazy story makes me think the author got you all by writing quite a funny fictional tale.