Brew1

And two hours later it's still throbbing...
It was a hot (mid 90's) and windy (20-30mph) ride today so I had my jersey open about 1/2 way. After the ride I came inside and started talking to my son and it felt like an armpit hair was being pulled by my jersey. So I try to pull on the jersey and it keeps getting worse and worse so I take my jersey off and out fly's hornet!!! It flew to the patio door window and my dog destroyed it but damn it still hurts......

Allegheny Jet

I know the feeling. Last Saturday a wasp or hornet got wedged between the helmet strap and my temple. It stung me at least 3 times before I was able to smash it.

B. Carfree

I once put on a shirt that I had just brought in from the laundry line. My room mate thought I had gone insane when I started slapping myself and ripping the shirt off. I had a fine collection of welts all over my chest courtesy of the wasp that was in the shirt.

On the bike I have taken a few inadvertent stingers in the knees when I ran into insects. I wish they would cross at the crosswalks.

sknhgy 

I know someone who had a hornet fly into his soda can. He won't drink from a can outside anymore.

David Bierbaum

Hornets. I hate 'em. They're always building nests near the house. I really hate 'em!

jim p

I was riding slow yesterday and had a yellow jacket escort me for about 100 yards. It was buzzing around my fingers and I kept on thinking that if I make a mistake and mash the yellow jacket that I would be stung. I also don't line the stinging insects.

qcpmsame 

My dad had a survey crew member killed by hornets in the early 60's. He stuck a bateau pole into a hornet's nest, in a tree overhanging the creek he was on, that fell into the bateau. He was dead before they could get to him, from over 100 stings. These big insects can sting repeatedly, not die after a single sting like a bee. One time for me and as you said it throbbed for hours as if the muscle was bruised from the toxin. We have far more yellow jackets in our part of the state but we had a huge hornet's nest on our house in 2008. Got the pest spray guy to juice it and melt the nest, killing all the hornets. Not something to play around with.

Bill

Phil_gretz

I'm listening to "Flight of the Bumblebee" by Nikolai Rimsky-Korsakov on the classical radio station right now. How appropriate! PG

David Bierbaum

Heh. I found out that yellowjackets build their nests in the ground the hard way, when I found a group had built their nest near our (now dead) apple tree. I was used to them being all over the fallen apples, but the swarm that came out of nowhere surprised the living daylights out of me. I don't think I stopped running till I was in the next county! I exaggerate. A bit. Maybe.

Phil85207

I had a friend get one caught in his helmet and very nearly crashed by the time he stopped and got it off. We all thought he lost his mind there for a while.

leob1

Been there, got the stinger. Same as you, came in from a ride, felt something in my shirt, so I did a pull on the spot, then a scratch, and a rub them WHAM, OUCH! Quickly reached in and smashed it. I've also stepped on one. in bare feet. Drove the lawn tractor over a ground nest just before getting off of it, that was good for five or six stings. And had to slowly and carefully stop on my bike to remove a bee that was crawling around the inside surface of my glasses.

overthehillmedi

If you have a hanging nest on the house or property, kill the wasps with a spray but Don't destroy the nest. Leave it hanging and other wasps wont build within fifty feet of it. Spray the nest after dark when the little girls are all snuggled down nice and tight in their beds.

Blanchje

I got stung square on the nipple a couple weeks ago during a charity ride. Darn near went in the ditch.

PatW

Yeah, I have been stung a number of times over the years. It is always unpleasant. Fortunately, I just get the stinging, the pain and a bit of swelling. If it makes you feel better, only the female wasps (or bees) sting.

Bikey Mikey

...and the VAST majority of the wasp or bee population are female.

TomD77

Being a Georgia Tech alum, I'm OK with yellow jackets. Actually been stung by them a fair number of times but it's pretty mild. Got hit twice (same instance) by a white faced hornet and that was NOT MILD!!! It felt to me immediately like getting hit with 277 volts followed by intense pain.

teachme

Gees! I can't imagine what could be worse; a hornet in the armpit; or getting stung on the nipple... I am totally perplexed...

gitarzan

I was once stung on the arm while riding a motorcycle. I thought someone threw a cigaret out a car window and it stuck to my arm. I still have the scar 35 years later.

B. Carfree

That white-faced hornet must be the cousin our our bald-faced hornets. My wife got stung in the face by one once and looked like a batman character for two weeks (one side of her face was HUGE). We never found their nest, but she got in the habit of putting on her bee-keeping gear and killing the hornets that were killing her bees. I've never seen anyone enjoy killing an insect as much as she enjoyed swatting those bald-faced hornets.

Dchiefransom

Got nailed in the right temple once while riding, and got a honey bee down my boot at work a couple of months ago that nailed me right in the curve between the ankle and the foot.

Bikey Mikey

When I was a kid, 12 or so, I stepped on a ground nest. Got home and took a shower--counted about 25 ~ 30 stings. Obviously I survived. Been stung a few times since then so definitely not allergic, but never have been stung while cycling.

leob1

I think they are the same little bastards. They are mean, nasty SOBs. We had a nest about the size of a soccer ball. One got one of my dogs, she wouldn't go near that part of the yard for a month. We needed 2 cans of wasp spray to kill them all.

We also have honey bees in one our dead trees. We don't bother them, they don't bother us. Except when they swarmed, into the house. A shopvac is great for collecting bees in your bed room.

Bikey Mikey

We had a ground nest near our garage, wasps or hornets, unsure which, and, like you leob1, it took 2 cans to eradicate those nasties.

Honey bees are very sensitive and whenever they are going to spray for mosquitoes in this area, they warn the local beekeepers to protect the bees. Unfortunately, this does not help the wild hives--but unchecked mosquitoes can create all sorts of big problems. It would be nice if they developed a pesticide to deal with mosquitoes and leave the honey bees and other pollinating insects, especially the bees, unharmed.

David Bierbaum

Why did the song "Let it bee" just pop into my head?