Rarely sting? Man I hope so, they were pretty intimidating!!
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The ones who were acting in an aggressive manner can't sting, they are males. One suggestion that might help is not to walk on your lawn in bare feet. The wasps live in burrows and the best chance for getting stung is if you step on one of the females while she is emerging from the burrow after leaving food for the emerging young.
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That's awesome, Hal--nice find & great photos!

Your post reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8ncUANdbvlY
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:-) :-) :-)
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I would definitely throw a rock at it.
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Unless you threw it from a moving closed vehicle, you would probably be stung to death.
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This right here is what you should do with those bees

http://www.somethingawful.com/d/come...dmine/bees.php
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HOLY CRAP those are the hornets!! Their sting can disolve human flesh! :-)
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Just blow a little cigar smoke at 'em!!!:-)
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That sounds like a challenge:-)
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Crap, now I understand, I think I used to date a Queen Bee :-):-):-)
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I checked them again today while walking the dogs.... They are still there in the same place? The formation shape has changed though.. Must be too cheap to pay rent and got kicked out. :-):-)
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The cool thing about the "swarm" is that you can walk right up to it with an empty super (those wooden boxes used in bee-keeping), gently rake the swarm around until you can spot the queen, easily brush her into the super, and the rest of the bees will follow her in. Put the lid on the super, and you have the start of a colony.

Hard to tell without a reference, but they look big enough to be Italian bees. If they were wild bees, probably wouldn't be able to get close enough for those photos. Italian bees tend to be very docile, even when in a swarm. Mainly, they are looking for a home. I've helped capture half a dozen swarms in the past, all but one without the need of protection other than a bee hood. The one exception was a wild bee swarm. They tend to be a little more excitable.

I would imagine that somewhere within a mile or so away, someone is missing a colony out of their hive! As a rule, you would keep a "queen excluder" between the layer of supers with the queen and the super with the exit slot. This keeps the queen inside the hive, and the colony around to serve her.

Maybe a good opportunity for you to take up a new hobby??
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So, you wanna give it a go?:-)
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Sounds like fun. I have messed around with some bees in the past but it was all just helping out for me. An old friend of mine from back home had a nice little colony. I remember having to go to the USPS to pickup a large humming box. I had no idea you could order bees online and have them sent to you. (I would imagine a mean joke could be played somewhere with these capabilities.) When it arrived the queen was inside a little wooden box with two or three drones to keep her safe, etc. Looks like it would be a fun hobby.
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Make sure you have an autoinjector of benadryl when you start messing with them.
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Sting allergies is why I gave up bee keeping. I still have an epi pen close by in the warm months.
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i knew benadril wasn't right, but my mind wouldn't tell me epi.:-) And I am the guy that picks you up in the ambulance, scary aint it?
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Maybe you can be room mates with Scott in the Gaytor Home for the Bewildered.:-)
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Well maybe, but the GAYTOR part wouldn't work out too good. I hate the gaytors.:-)
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