I wasn't sure which board to list this under so here goes...!
We have an area near a drain on our slabs which bees and wasps are really attracted to. There is no nest nearby, it just seems that this is a really good congregating area for them. Each year as it gets a bit warmer we notice several flying about and also landing on the slabs. Today has been a bit warmer and yes, they are back. Of course the younger dogs think its great to chase them and try and catch them (the older dogs have a bit more sense and are not as bothered.) My youngster (6 months) thought this would be a great game and came into the kitchen with a muzzle the size of a tennis ball this afternoon! I could see the sting and after a bit of a struggle managed to pull it out, then give him some Piriton. He is sleepy now and the swelling has subsided slightly and seems fine. But is there anything I can do to get these pesky bees to move away? The slabs are disinfected and sprayed down daily and there are no plants about which they may be drawn to so not sure what else to do.....HELP!!!!!

Lavender - they hate it ;)   Try putting a potted bush or two beside the area they're attracted too.   They also don't like citronella and I think if I remember rightly orange blossom - but sure someone will correct me on that :P

If you don't want to have a potted plant there for any reason, rather than rigourously attending to it with washing it down get some lavender essential oil and put that around instead.

regards, Teri :)

ps. funny - I've just been covering this for my next breed notes so will be interested to see any other suggestions!  

Are you sure bees hate lavender? They always buzz around our bushes very merrily.

I've got a jar of Lavender Honey in my kitchen cupboard :)

I was thinking wasps :D   They don't like my lavender - bushed, potted, or oiled :D

Bees like anything "flowery" I think LOL.

Good, I was about to phone Asda and ask who on earth had made that honey :D

LOL :P :P :P

LOL!!

it tends to be the other way round here - distract the silly dog from the bee since the bee and wasp population outnumber him by what appears to be several million.  so if we get through his first full summer without him eventually getting stung i'll eat my hat. with a side order of bread and honey. :rolleyes:

Thanks for the replies! I will try the lavender oil as I think the dogs would just try and prune a bush - or pee up it!!

Where we lived before we would get wasps nests in our loft on average every other year.  I asked the environmental man why did we seem to get so many and he thought it was because we were in a perfect location as we had fruit trees and our neighbour had a pond.  So I guess it might be the water aspect that is attracting the bees and wasps.  They might be checking out local amenities before settling in the neighbourhood

Incidentally he told us to give a squirt of Raid into the loft hatch weekly from February onwards to discourage the wasps and it seemed to work as we didn't get any in the subsequent years.

Seem to have lots of wasps and bees coming into the house this last week.  Yesterday a was that came in was huge

I have noticed some HUGE bees and wasps this year and they seem to have appeared much earlier too. Does anyone have the mayflies (think that's what they're called) about too? Not dangerous but huge, flying beetle things that are about 2 inches long. The dogs try to catch those too, then crunch them up......eukkkkk!!!

each year I have seen a lot of wasps about Its usually because a nest is around I would check as its amazing where they nest there was one in a tree a good few years ago with hundreds of them we had to get the pest control out to sort it.
Plus I think it was bees nest in the ground in my neighbours garden they had to smoke it out.
The pest control told us that they are ony sleeping during the winter and come around again when the weather changes .
We have also had them in the loft space two years on the run.

Well there was a flippin great big wasp in here last week -HUGE  it was,  the size of my thumb and talking of huge, last night there was a spider on the wall the size of a small island!
ooh I've gone all itchy now - shudder

there was something on the news tonight about flippin great wasps coming over from france. spider wasps i think they are called but i've got quite enough local wasps to be going along with right now so i don't need tourists!

Wasps from France? Not more illegal imigrants :rolleyes: :D

Found first big spider in the house last week.  It was on the kitchen ceiling I am a wuss that has a genuine phobia of spiders.  Thank goodness the dog is happy to chase and kill them for me. Obviously had to knock this one off the ceiling, although dog was jumping as high as she could on back legs.  Still couldn't stop myself squealing while she chased and killed it though. :rolleyes:

Trouble is Cheryl if they are tooo big the thought of my dogs munching on them would make me physically sick. I have a real phobia of spiders, won't be in the same house as them. Last night my poor son was kept from his bed till he had killed it. He didn't want to because it was too big and he was scared aswell but I convinced him I was more scared LOL.  I can't even look at them without screaming and thats when things get worse because maddie goes beserk if I start jumping up and down wailing like a mad woman possessed and she starts jumping up and barking at me and it is complete and utter madness then :rolleyes:

I feel sick just from seeing them.  It's taking the lesser evils though isn't it?  I have had some monsters in my bedroom and my OH won't kill them and just gets angry with me so I have to deal with them myself. One I ended up watching from my bed with me getting more and more wound up until I got up and hit it with a shoe.  It stuck to the wall and stayed there for weeks because I couldn't bear to look at it.  Eventally I had to deal with it and felt sick cleaning it off.

The absolute worst time though was waking up and when I went to the bathroom I noticed a darkish stain on the shoulde of my nightshirt. I was just baffled at first wondering how I missed this before putting it on the night before.  Wasn't until I made the bed did I notice halfway down under the duvet was a huge squashed spider

Sweet dreams :D

Spider phobics look away now - I thought our CKCS was a pretty good spider catcher, he wasn't bothered by the size of them except that he obviously didn't crunch one hard enough to kill it and 20 mins after catching it, it crawled out of his mouth and onto his nose!!! It was a biggie too!!!

*faints*

AHA...a good tip, given to me by Derek when I lived in Scotty Land, on my small holding I had HUGE spides that used to visit!! LOL, well a hoover comes in very handy...you can suck them up without getting too near!!!

ahh but Newfie when I was in Belgium I was trying to hoover a spider up and it was huge, just wouldn't go. I had to get the neighbour round and the spiders feet got neatly trimmed off when he tried to put him in a pint glass have never seen one so big in my life, even my husband was running lol :-p

Was it a wasp, or a hornet? We get hornets and they fly slower than wasps and look even scarier they are mahhossive

Yup and their stings are really nasty :(

I have a real phobia for wasps and got stung by a hornet   I thought, well that's it then, I've coped with that so maybe I'm cured now - but NOooooo :(  just as scared but now I know exactly why :( :(

We have loads of wasps and bees about at the moment one of which is currently terrorising me round the house :rolleyes::rolleyes:

I hope Dudley stays away from them after her sting a few weeks ago :)

Always have a can of Raid ready to hand and blast the b*****S!

Got a can upstairs, one in the living room and one in the kitchen - to kill spiders. Only trouble is I can't spray them either as just the thought of one moving as the spray hits it has me jumping up and down so I just hand it to whoever is available :P then scream whilst they do it instead as I dare not leave the room in case they miss it and it runs off, I like to know where its gone! oooohhhh

Does Raid kill spiders?  I didn't think fly spray killed spiders. However, I do know that a good hairspray renders them inactive :D

I've got the ant and cockroach killer raid :) and yes it does kill spiders :)

If you blast them enough, it will kill them. Deodorant also works if you are desperate!!

Deodorant also works if you are desperate!!

as long as its not the 'roll on' type :D :D

Power washer - they're not gonna out run you with that teensy weensy problem with cleaning up of course

I abandon and seal off household areas that have attracted anything with more than four legs until OH gets home - been known to move into daughter's room for days if there's a Boris in ours and he's working away :rolleyes: :P

I remember being trapped in the bedroom once. Hubby had gone to a footie match, daughter at work and kids out. Went in the bedroom to grab a towel and as I turned round I looked up only to see a big HUGE black one above the door Soooo there I was, all alone, no where to run, frozen to the spot. Phoned hubby but he refused to leave the game to come rescue me. Luckily daughter was on the bus on her way home so I only had 45 mins to wait. But that 45 minutes felt like hours. She got the raid, chucked it in the room (she wouldn't come in) and as I jogged up and down screaming as I sprayed (oh it sounds so silly writing it down) it dropped to the floor, I jumped on the bed hitting my head off the fan (good job it wasn't on) and carried on spraying until it disintergrated! even then it took me ages to work up enough courage to jump over the thing, they even scare me when they are dead :rolleyes:

Not tarantulas! Made that mistake once. It just leapt at me. I bolted in the house and it chased after me. Then it tried to open the screen door and get it. Mr Shovel had to come out and do the job instead.

FYI - just in case any lucky southerners, in their 25 degree weather, run into a tourist. Safe up here in the fridge.

Edited - supposed to be a reply to Missie and the Raid.

:D :D

Lots of sprays will work because they clog up the insect's breathing holes.  I've used hairspray in desperation.  Just be sure to keep pets and children away from sprayed areas for a while; check the canister for advice.  Whatever kills or injures insects is likely not going to be good for pets or children either.  You may get some "burning" on nearby green things too.

Something "green" to try.  Put fruit peelings, away from the areas your pets and children use, to entice the flying pests to go there instead.  If you can, that is.  Not on your neighbours' property or where the public will then have to contend with them.  You can also try plugging up the small crevices that they are attempting to build their nests in.