This has never happened to me before and I am baffled. Bumble Bee gone mad!

I was in the yard with the two dogs, minding our own business, when a Bumble Bee cops an attitude and starts charging at us. First one dog, then the other, then me and just kept it up. I had to scoop up the dogs and run into the house. We were not in close proximity to the plants where the Bumble Bees usually work and nowhere near the nest which is under my house about 25 feet away. Can anyone tell me what would have caused this behavior so I can avoid any future problems.

Oh, and I was under the impression that Bumble Bees don't sting. I did a Google search and yes, they can sting but thankfully not today.

In my experience, they are usually too busy gathering pollen to sting.

I have a nest in a one of my flower beds this year. I found out as I was digging up daylilies to divide early this spring. They came directly at me and stung me! Got me on the chin. It was very scary and made for a very long summer.

Mine have been very active lately & with cooler weather bees & wasp seem to get more aggressive some times.

That must have been a terrible experience.

Claudia, that is so frightening. Thank you for sharing.
All my life I worked around Bumble Bees 'knowing' (incorrectly) that they either could not or would not attack or sting. I have learned a lot from this, thank you. I will be more watchful from now on.

It does sound scary!

I think the social bees/wasps that build nests together can become aggressive if they feel their territory is threatened. But otherwise my experience is the same as J's--the solitary bees/wasps just go about their business gathering pollen and pretty much ignore me. Maybe it was one of the social bees?

Only the females can sting. The males do not have a stinger.

Carpenter bees, which look a lot like bumblebees, are reported to actually charge and chase people and other animals, bumblebees not so much.

In the fall, with the cooler weather, at least in places with 'winter', the thing that is going on is survival of the species--the old queen, all the males and workers will die, only the new queens survive to start over the next spring.

Depending on where you are at in *their* life cycle...
...when the new queens are still in the nest, the males and the workers are very protective of the nest, and become much more aggressive about it to ensure the survival of the new queens.
...once the new queens have hatched and ventured off to find a new winter hibernaculum, they are not so obsessed with protecting the now old nest, but the new queens are themselves, rather aggressive about protecting themselves.

It is possible that you have a nest somewhere near that part of the garden that you are unaware of, or you may have encountered a new queen.

For the most part, they will fly at you and generally skim your head until you get the message and back off; they don't sting unless you initiate contact with them by swatting or grabbing them or in the case of the dogs, snapping at them (unlike the social wasps, which will swarm you, land on you, and sting you repeatedly as they crawl under your clothes to sting you better!).

Thank you; that was very helpful.

I know about carpenter bees. We have a few and they generally hover "in your face" but have never shown aggression. They live at the house next door and one protects the front porch, the other protects the eaves/overhang.

This is the first year I have ever had an actual nest of Bumble Bees (that I know of) and it is under my mobile home. I do not walk within 4 feet of the area and am watchful when in their flight path.

There could well be another nest I have not yet discovered.

The only new or unusual thing I had done in the area was to empty 2 bags of potting soil (which had been sitting under a tree for several months) and to haul some finished compost to add to the potting soil. I was guessing there may have been one or more Bumble Bees in either of those two things, the bags of soil or the bin of compost. Either way I have learned to treat Bumble Bees with a bit more respect - kind of the way I treat snakes; nice to have in the garden but I wouldn't want to surprise or upset one.

Thanks again for all the help and advice everyone!

Dirt, really good info.!

Thought I would mention, there are other bee-look-alikes, such as the Robberfly, Southern Bee Killer.

I've had a few incounters with them buzzing at me, usually if I get in the way of them mating or stalking their prey. They like to attack their prey mid-air. I've learned to recognize them by the way they hang out on plants, instead of browsing the flowers. But now I see them because I think they look cool in their big dark shades.

Southern Bee Killer (Mallophora orcina)

Great photos! I need some of those robberflies in my yard!

I have a row of garlic planted next to my garage and 2 years ago I was digging up my garlic and came too close to a bumble bee's nest that must have been under the foundation of my garage. I had long pants on and got stung right through the pants. After they sting you I was told they send out a warning signal to the rest of the hive. Next thing I knew I had 3 or 4 buzzing me. Got stung a second time and then I ran for the house. I had to go out after dark and spray where they were going under the garage. I didn't want to deal with being attacked every time I went to the garden.

We used to have bumble bees around a lot and never once had a problem with them. Once in a while, one would accidentally fly too close and kind of run into me. No harm, no foul. Now we don't see them often (both honeybees and bumblebees are declining in numbers in many parts of the country). The only thing that ever stings us is yellow jacket wasps, which aren't around much.

We used to have bumble bees around a lot and never once had a problem with them. Once in a while, one would accidentally fly too close and kind of run into me. No harm, no foul. Now we don't see them often (both honeybees and bumblebees are declining in numbers in many parts of the country). The only thing that ever stings us is yellow jacket wasps, which aren't around much.

The only thing I've ever been stung by is a yellow jacket hornet too. They are mean, that hurt for a gfood month! They live under the ground, we actually had some living right under our house.

Cynthia, could it have been yelllow jacket that you encountered? https://www.google.com/search?...

Several types of bees nest in the ground it seems. What got me was the big black & yellow bumblebee. I had no idea that they nested in the ground until this summer.

Yes they do and their existence is tied to our crops and our well being if they were to go extinct ( something thats prodicted to happen by 2040) then alot of bad things would happen

The native flowers which are already being killed off by invasive plants would have no way to reproduce which would lead to a drasasic fall in insects which would lead to huge die offs of 70% of native birds which feed chicks insects the humans would have no choice but to turn toward gmo crops that self pollinate our crops food supply

@Dave,
Can you close or lock this thread. I have my answer, thank you.

@greene, you can "unwatch" this thread if you are no longer interested in viewing or keeping up with current comments.

I am aware of that option but I would prefer it be either locked or closed, thank you. If anyone wants to start a new discussion about Bumblebees there is tons of room available.

As moderator, I don't feel comfortable locking a thread when people might still want to comment on it. If you are no longer interested, I think it's better to "unwatch" it, like Christine said.