BECAUSE YOU ASKED
Q: I found a beehive at my house, and when I went to a hardware store to buy an insecticide, I was told that it was illegal to kill bees in Colorado. Is this true?
A: That is not true. The store clerk may have been referring to some pesticides that have restrictions on the labels that say to not spray trees while the trees are in bloom.
If you have nests in or near your house, make sure to determine what type of bee or wasp it is. Honeybees can produce huge nests that have large quantities of honey and wax. There is a 2-to-1 chance that they are yellow jackets or hornets, not honeybees. If the insect looks like it has hair, it is a bee. If you can see very clear banding and colors, like black and white or black and yellow, it is a hornet. Bees are not ground nesters, so if they come from under your porch, it is usually a hornet or yellow jacket.
Sources: Jerry Cochran, program manager with the Colorado Department of Agriculture; Al Summers, Ichiban Honey Co.
Q: I was driving on West Alameda Parkway over the hogback the other day and about at midpoint or peak of Alameda Parkway across the hogback (referred to as Dinosaur Ridge in this area), there is a round, eyeball-looking stone in the wall. A plaque is nearby that calls the stone a concretion but also states that scientists are not sure what caused it to form.
A: A concretion is a geologic phenomenon not really organic in nature. At one point, some form of organic material, animal or plant, decomposed and rocks formed around it, but concretions are not fossils. Because of the nature of the rock and the organic material that was decaying, it bonded very tightly, generally in some sort of egg or spherical shape. Some of the rock is eroding, which makes the concretion more noticeable.
Source: Brian Davidson, Dinosaur Ridge
– Compiled by staff writer Bonnie Gilbert
Have you ever wondered how to register your child for school? What a political caucus is and how to get information about one? How many “fourteeners” Colorado has? If you’d like information about something in the state outside Denver, send questions by e-mail to becauseyouasked@denverpost.com or mail to Because You Asked, The Denver Post, 1560 Broadway, Denver, CO 80202. Include your name, city of residence and phone number.
