I'm from MI originally, and we used to have TONS of tiny bees, about the size of an average black ant. We used to call them "sweat bee's" as they seemed to be attracted to people who were sweaty, but left most others alone unless you disturb the hive. They like to nest at ground level near or in dead wood. They also could sting more than once. Rumor once they actually bite, not sting, but I dont know, as I dont know what they really are. Much smaller than yellow jackets, but same coloaration (probly just a yellow jacket sub-species or something, but they were less that 1/4 they size of regular yellow jackets, as there were plenty of them around also, so you could see they werent the same bee just being misidentified) though. MI has tons of those too, along with wasps. "sweat bee" stings sure felt just as painful as any other bee to me, which is inpressive given thier tiny size. Dont know anybody who didnt at one point or another run into a nest and get chewed up pretty good. Very unpleasant.
A can of starter fluid with the red tube to make a longer range liquid stream, and a lighter was a favorite method of beehive dispatch with kids. Flaming bees serve as a warning to others, and other bees dont have a hive to take over like if you just Raid them.
