Giving Back to Nature

[Death by Fish Tanks]

Today I learned my 100 gallon tub has enough duckweed to hold up honey bees as they drink!
When I was a kid, I used to catch bees in jars to try to get them to make honey for me(Clearly that's not how that works, but little kids don't know that, see), and they always died. I always felt bad that I played a small part in them becoming endangered.
It's good to see my little efforts, both as a fish keeper and endangered species advocate, bear fruit.

 

[Back in the fold]

I’ve never seen that . I have seen wasps come to my birdbath and drink and that surprised me . I wonder if it’s to help them make up that paper mache stuff they build their hornets nests out of .
Your efforts are bearing fruit but not honey .

 

[GaryE]

We used to have a pond in a central courtyard at a school I worked in. Someone gave me some pond liner and a strong pump, and some kids and I dug a stream to circle behind it and fall in as a tiny water fall. I put X nezahualcoyotl swordtails in it for the summer, and they did very well. All along the banks of the fake stream, all short summer long, we'd have honeybees drinking. The school had a couple of hives, and we'd sell honey as a fund raiser. It was neat to see how the systems developed as one.

 

[Death by Fish Tanks]

Your efforts are bearing fruit but not honey .

Ayyyyyyy!

 

[anewbie]

I only have one story about bees or bee related. My neighborhood friend older brother (we were around 6 and he was 9 or 10); found a wasp nest (ok not a honeybee); and said it would be great fun to take a baseball bat and whack it. So we followed him to the nest and he took a bat and whacked it - and boy did we run to the nearest lake and jump into it shoes still on. Never again could i approach a bee or bee like creature. I did not get stung but my friend's older brother who was braver and refused to jump in the lake picked up a few.

 

[bgarthe]

My grandpa lived in NJ and was a bee keeper. I lived in IL growing up and when we visited grandma and grandpa, his yard was a paradise for butterfly collectors……flowers as far as the eyes could see. As expected, the neatest butterfly specimens landed on glowers right at the hives. I would slowly approach the nectaring butterfly beside the white box hive, then I’d swoop my net and run real fast away from the hives. It worked like a charm….catch the butterfly, run away, and not get stung. Then, of course, I had to push my luck. The next morning, I tried the same strategy except, unknown to me, the grass was wet from dew. I went to turn and run after netting the butterfly and, instead if running away, I slipped and fell in the dewy grass and got stung in the gluteus maximus about seven times. Grandma and grandpa warmly laughed and told me…..” I told you so”.
Btw…I still have a jar of his honey from the 50s. He was one of the top (many awards) bee keepers on the east coast all those years ago.

And……yes, I continued to collect butterflies to the present day and have many insect (including bee) stories from all the years of studying butterflies and moths.

 

[Death by Fish Tanks]

My neighborhood friend older brother (we were around 6 and he was 9 or 10); found a wasp nest (ok not a honeybee); and said it would be great fun to take a baseball bat and whack it. So we followed him to the nest and he took a bat and whacked it - and boy did we run to the nearest lake and jump into it shoes still on.

I'll do ya one better-
Once, when I was a boy, I came across a ground hornet nest in our yard, and decided to pee in it. Don't ask my why. At first i thought there was no consequence until I felt one trying to sting my thumb. Then I looked down and they were COATING MY PANTS! So I took em off and ran in the house.
Till this day, I *still* can't believe that didn't go badly.

 

[Back in the fold]

Once, when I was a boy, I came across a ground hornet nest in our yard, and decided to pee in it. Don't ask my why.

That’s just what boys do . It probably seemed like the thing to do at the time for one reason or another . If nothing else you weren’t playing with matches . Wanna talk about fire ? That was always my boyhood downfall .