Termite Inspection Orange County Termite Terry Pest Control

Costa Mesa, Newport Beach, Huntington Beach, South Orange County, Long Beach Area

Using Perfume To Help Prevent Bee Stings?

    I’ve been out on jobs where homeowners have asked for us to remove bee hives on many different occasions. Most of these projects go along pretty smooth but every once in a while, my techs and I will get attacked by hundreds of bees. Let me tell you, being stung dozens of times and seeing your face and body swelling up in pain is no fun at all.

    Morgane Nouvian, a PhD student at the University of Queensland in Brisbane, Australia, has introduced some new research showing that floral scents may be just what we need to help prevent bee stings.bees

    We all know that bees will attack when they feel their hive is being threatened. When a bee stings an attacker, it releases a “sting alarm pheromone” that signals the other members of the colony to come out and defend the hive. I can tell you that this so true because once I get stung by one bee, it seems like every bee in the neighborhood starts coming after me!

    Ms. Nouvian wanted to see if other smells might interfere with this pheromone and reduce the number of stings. She started by putting pairs of bees into a special arena with a threatening dummy, which was a black leather pad with a rotating feather. When she applied the pheromone onto the dummy, the bees became aggressive and stung the dummy more often than without. However, when she added floral scents to the pheromone, the bees acted as if there was no pheromone present and the number of stings was greatly reduced.

    I may try this next time I’m working with bees. Just thinking . . . I wonder what my wife would say if I came home from work wearing the strong scent of lavender perfume?