Soap and water will kill them, but you need a full bee suit. Those kind of bees don't mess around. Don't worry about going to the hospital, worry about dying. I don't remember the exact number of stings per pound of body it takes to kill a person, but its not many. I'm thinking its around 7. I had a dog killed by killer bees, and I killed the whole hive. It was massive, around 3' with multiple rows of honeycomb. The spraying is best done at night when they are calm. This isn't something to take lightly, and if you do it yourself, you'd better be prepared or pay a professional to do it. Search YouTube for videos. Don't mow again without protection or killing the hive first. You might not be so lucky next time.

 

Probably just ground bees, but if they are truly killer bees it ain't something to mess with yourself. I suggest calling out a beekeeper unless you just want to stare death in the face.

 

I doubt they were true killer bees, they are much like a honey bee in that they make a hive/cone in the air somewhere, not in the ground that you would disturb with a shredder. My guess is ground hornets or bumble bees, neither of which is nice to deal with. However, since you have shredded their nest most likely they will move anyway. They like to build under a piece of plywood or wood pile/tight twisted brush tight to the ground.

And it doesn't have to be killer bees for them to chase you, hornets and bumble bees will do the same thing, especially when stirred up by a shredder. The noise/vibration drives them crazy.

 

spray with soap and water. borax powder will work as well.

I have used a pressure washer to get rid of them, very effective from a decent range.

 

I used to deal with bees (sometimes very large hives) on Kenedy Ranch while doing wind farm work. We had a pest control company come out to help with the big stuff. On at least one occasion, the pest control guys told us that we had killer bees. They were telling me that it is usually pretty obvious when you've got Africanized bees by their level of aggression. American Honey bees will attack, but are not terribly aggressive. Killer bees are. You can take some of the dead bees and have a pest control company examine them under a microscope as well.

 

I watched a really good special on killer bees several years ago. Researchers in Costa Rica had two established hives, one killer and one European. They had a ton of data on how much more aggressive the killer bees were, how many more of them go after you, how much farther they pursued, etc.

One thing the head researcher mentioned was that as you approach a killer bee hive they'll give you a warning. They constantly have sentries flying around at some distance from the hive and they will do a close buzz job on you. He said if you ever have a couple of bees zoom around you, turn around immediately and haul butt in the opposite direction. I guess that works if you're walking around, but probably not much help to people on tractors like the OP. All the noise and vibration and you'd probably miss the warning fly by.

 

Kill it with fire!

 

Call a bee keeper. My buddy had bees in the walls of his house. They were very aggressive. He also had a swarm in one of his out buildings, that were not aggressive. The bee keeper he called made him a deal. He discounted his fee for the aggressive bees, because my buddy let him remove the other hive also. He also told him you could breed the non aggressive bees with the more aggressive bees, and the offspring would be more gentle than the aggressive.

 

Sevin Dust. Will kill the ones it gets on and run the rest off.

 

If it was only 30 or say I say paper wasp or ground hornets. I had an old screen door I would drop on them early in the a.m. and then flood nest with soapy water.

 

Most bees in the wild are Africanized (killers), smoke them firs to tame them and then soapy water. If you want to keep the hive, swap the queen with one that is not Africanized.

 

You don't think the rest of them would turn a good woman, bad? lol

 

bonfire

 

Back in the late '90's my dad was shredding and hit a log with the shredder. He said all heck broke loose, he was on an open cab tractor. He ran the tractor into some thick overhanging limbs and shut the tractor down. He said after it got quite the bees started moving off. Mom took him to the hospital and the dr. quit counting after 120 stings, gave him some meds and kept him over night. Had some guys from A&M come out and kill the bees, they called a few days later and confirmed they were killer bees. The guy told dad to burn that log because they leave some kind of scent and if anymore came thru they would reestablish a colony in that log.

 

Local man last year got hit 400+ times. He was in bad shape and that was his second run in with them. if I shred someplace that hasn't been done in awhile I'll always use the enclosed tractor or bobcat. I don't wanna feel that pain.

 

• Guard bees will initially challenge a potential threat by first “bumping.” Bumping is when a bee rams into you without stinging. This usually occurs around the face, head, neck and shoulder area. It is a warning and in all cases should be heeded â€" you are being told that you are not wanted in that area. The bees initially track into the carbon dioxide expulsions of your breath, and then will begin to sting tender areas around the eyes, ears and mouth, as well. If bumping occurs, identify the direction the bees are coming from and leave the area quickly.

http://www.aaabeeremoval.com/articles/2-bee-smart-bee-safe/

 

That's exactly what the Costa Rican researcher I mentioned talked about. I couldn't remember if they did a buzz job or actually made contact.

 

I understand it is ILLEGAL to kill them nowadays. You need to contact a beekeeper and he will come get the hive. (I aint no PETA person by any means and have killed a hive years ago with soapy water, but have a buddy that raises bees for honey and he said some law was recently passed outlawing killing hives-you may wanna check on that before posting about killing the hive if that's what ya end up doing).

 

Thanks for all the help. Brush was under a big oak tree so I don't know where they came from as I was too busy running and swatting with ball cap. Friend has a bee suit so I think I will use it when I work in same area until I can spot the origin of problem.

 

Use a gopro.......please

 

Bee suits only mostly keep you from getting stung. Mesh or vented suits work pretty good most of the time, but the canvas ones not so much. Don't underestimate the ability of a bee to get inside the suit!