My First Sting!

[CherGarr]

Well, ladies and gentleman, I got my first sting Saturday! Right on the chis no less. I went out JUST to check the hive top feeder...but there was SO MUCH GONE! I'd only put it on 3 days before. So then I had to just take a peek under it. Which of course led to pulling out just one frame, and they were behaving so well I decided to pull out another. Needless to say on a venture out to only check the feeder I had on no equiptment and hadn't even put up my hair. One of the little biddies came right at me off that second frame. She got caught in my hair and stung me on the chin. I high tailed it out of there fast! I felt bad leaving it apart, but I wasn't about to become a target (any more than I already had!). I went and took some benadryl and put on all the schtuff to put the hive back together. The good news is that my reaction was pretty mild! It swelled only moderately and hurt for just a few hours. The most irritating part is that it still itches! Anyway, lesson learned .

[Branman]

ooooh, the itching is the worst part by far, IMO. I only got stung occasionally the past few months, but when I robbed, I got stung about 20-30 times...my foot swelled up a bit, but the itching was intense. I had to soak my feet in scalding hot water to stop the itching. Got 37lbs of honey, though - first batch!

[GA-BEE]

Always wear a veil. - What if it had been your eye?

[This message has been edited by GA-BEE (edited June 14, 2004).]

[Scot Mc Pherson]

The eyelids react too fast. You have a much better chance of getting stung on the lids. Which happened to me incidentally, but it wasn't my bees it was a red wasp that flew under my eyeglasses 15 minutes before going to work.

If the bee launched itself from the comb like that, good chance is that your breathed directly on teh comb. They can smell your breath and will launch towards where the breath came from.

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Scot Mc Pherson
Foundationless Small Cell Top Bar Hives
BeeWiki: http://linuxfromscratch.org/~scot/beewiki/

[CherGarr]

Good gravy, would you believe I got stung again today!?! It wasn't one of my girls this time...a wasp got mad when I was banging around getting some stuff out of the shed. What are the odds? I feel like a walking target now!

[CherGarr]

It's very strange to me how different my reactions were though. This one welted almost immediately and throbs terribly. I'd rather a honey bee sting anyday.

[Beetime]

The wasp sting is a lot worse than the honey bee sting....I know the feeling.