Bees at the pool

[ree-Xi]

Does anyone have any solutions for keeping bees away from dive-bombing you in the pool? Most of them are sweat bees (a few wasps), but they sting nonetheless. I've read that putting yourself under water isn't going to help because the bees will wait for you to come up for air.

I'm moderately allergic (get bad localized reactions) and scared to death. I know that there is a bee shortage in the world, so I don't want to kill them, but I don't know what else to do.

There is no nest that we can find. I'm calling the bug people on Monday to see if they have solutions, but I was wondering if anyone else had success keeping these suckers away.

[Drolefille]

Killing the bees in your pool will have little to no impact on the sudden hive death issue. Hit them until they die if necessary.

Also if they're actively seeking you out, then you're probably disturbing a hive, not just annoying them with your presence. They don't typically dive bomb for shits and giggles (and the whole waiting for you to surface thing is more of a swarm/'killer bee' thing, not so much your average household bee.)'

So if you do find a hive and they're honeybees, sometimes a keeper will take them from you. Sweatbees are something like the lowest on the sting index, and will typically only cause problems to people like you who are allergic. So kill them, and keep some benedryl near by (and an epipen.)

[ree-Xi]

Originally Posted by Drolefille

Killing the bees in your pool will have little to no impact on the sudden hive death issue. Hit them until they die.

Also if they're actively seeking you out, then you're probably disturbing a hive, not just annoying them with your presence. They don't typically dive bomb for shits and giggles (and the whole waiting for you to surface thing is more of a swarm/'killer bee' thing, not so much your average household bee.)

I know that they usually don't bother you unless you bother them, but I'll be floating around and they just show up. We also find them dead in the pool.

Ugh, I just hate them so much.

Thanks for the info.

[IrishLake]

Unless they are honey bees (small and fuzzy), carpenter bees (mostly black and fuzzy like a bumble bee), or bumble bees (bigger and fuzzy)... feel free to kill away. If they are the small "sweat" bees, they really aren't bees, they're a species of fly that mimics bees (at least, that is what we call them in this region). And killing a wasp is nothing, so long as they're good and dead. One of my kids got stung by a paper wasp in the backyard today. Wasp was still alive and flying around after it stung, so it was just asking for me to kill it, which I did happily. Wasps can sting repeatedly and not die, while bees will die when they sting. Oh yes, and yellow jackets, while they resemble bees, are wasps, and are the evilest little things. Rule of thumb: if it's fuzzy/hairy, it's a bee. If it's not, it's a wasp.

My grandma swears by this for keeping bee away. 1/4 cup of liquid dish detergent in a pint of water (or maybe it's a quart). Spray the nuisance bees. They'll die. She also does this for getting rid of gnats in her kitchen, only she puts the mixture in a plate, and the gnats flock to it, get stuck and die.