Help! What kind of mites are these?!

StevieBevie

Well-Known Member
Looks like a swarm of honey bee's well hopefully honey bee's and not africanized honey bee's aka...killer bee's. Good luck...might want to get the identified by a professional...
 

cactusbudz

Active Member
holy shit. time to get some neem oil and dawn dish soap(non frangrant and non anti bacteria) the original formula
 

cactusbudz

Active Member
don't know what you got but I can assure you that those are not spider mites. spider mites can barely be seen by the naked eye and are usually found under the leaf. 1st signs of mites are usually white pinhole size dots on your leafs
 

StevieBevie

Well-Known Member
Seriously, that is a swarm of bee's and they may just be stopping by or are going to take over your plant as their new home. If they do not take off in a day or two, you need to get a professional beekeeper to remove them, unless you want to keep a swarm on your property and collect honey...if they are africanized that is just bad news all around and you still need a professional beekeeper/exterminator to remove them... don't try on your own, even if not africanized you do not need a swarm of bee's after you...
 

Appalachianhills

Well-Known Member
Should have caught them. Whenever bees are swarmed like that they're searching for a new home. Those would've been working their little asses off in my apiary had I found them. Whatever you do don't harm them... bees are having a hard enough time as it is
 

Appalachianhills

Well-Known Member
No need for a bee keeper if you're not in African bee territory. Simply shake them into a box and you're done. I don't even wear a veil for swarms. They aren't even aggressive when swarmed up like that.
 

mwooten102

Well-Known Member
No need for a bee keeper if you're not in African bee territory. Simply shake them into a box and you're done. I don't even wear a veil for swarms. They aren't even aggressive when swarmed up like that.
I found this online, it's not really mine.

Those are bees in what's called a bibwak they'll move within the day in search of a permanent home.

Sent from my HTC One M9 using Rollitup mobile app
 

StevieBevie

Well-Known Member
They actually can sting, you can be lucky or not. I have been stung before as my neighbor keeps bee's. I can visit him 20 times and not get stung and then every once in a while one or a few decides to be aggressive. You can be not allergic and then become allergic, so why risk it. Hopefully, they will be gone in a day or two, but if they do not leave I would get a beekeeper to remove them, but that is me. Beekeepers are happy to remove the for you.
Africanized bee's are in California...
 

Appalachianhills

Well-Known Member
They actually can sting, you can be lucky or not. I have been stung before as my neighbor keeps bee's. I can visit him 20 times and not get stung and then every once in a while one or a few decides to be aggressive. You can be not allergic and then become allergic, so why risk it. Hopefully, they will be gone in a day or two, but if they do not leave I would get a beekeeper to remove them, but that is me. Beekeepers are happy to remove the for you.
Africanized bee's are in California...
They act completely different in a swarm situation, that's how bees reproduce, a new queen is hatched and she leaves with a portion of the workers to start a new hive. I've caught dozens of swarms and never been stung unless I did something stupid
 

StevieBevie

Well-Known Member
They act completely different in a swarm situation, that's how bees reproduce, a new queen is hatched and she leaves with a portion of the workers to start a new hive. I've caught dozens of swarms and never been stung unless I did something stupid
I here you, and I would still say that someone that has no experience and has never done it before would be well advised to have a beekeeper come in and do it for them. They also have africanized bee's in california, so is best to be safe. Hopefully they will take off in a day or two and this will all be moot.
 

Larry {the} Gardener

Well-Known Member
They act completely different in a swarm situation, that's how bees reproduce, a new queen is hatched and she leaves with a portion of the workers to start a new hive. I've caught dozens of swarms and never been stung unless I did something stupid
I agree completely. We have caught a couple of swarms over the years.

I had wild bees in a hollow tree at my house for years, but a storm broke a limb higher up the tree, and they swarmed and left. I'm guessing the broken limb allowed rain to get down to where they were.
 
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