Stings?

[GRIMBEE]

Do honeybees half sting? I have been hit 4 times since I started beekeeping May 10. 1 leg 1 hand 2 face. Yet i never had to pull out a stinger:confused:

[paulnewbee1]

Yes at times I have been stung also had the same problem no swelling, no stinger this year only hit twice once in the face no vale dumb, she got stuck in my hair and watched her swing down like on a rope and hit me just above the eye. That time she left her stinger lots of swelling. I teach so the class thought I looked a little funny. it went down my face around the eye.

Now I wear a vale most of the time when I open things up

[Rob S]

I have had a few hives since 2006. Up til this year stings were not too bad -few hours of minor discomfort. This year I got stung twice, just above the elbow where my canvas gloves stop. I wish they went all the way up to the shoulder. The 1st was not too bad -the 2nd I can still feel going on 48hrs later. It must have been a direct hit in an area that was already grazed

rs

[Ben Brewcat]

I only get half-stings through clothing. On bare skin I always have to scrape out a stinger.

[Mike the Rookie]

In my experience with stings, the pain and swelling are directly proportional to how long the stinger stays in your flesh, pumping in the venom. Last week one got me on the fingertip and left the stinger in me while she flew away. I got it out almost instantly, and two hours later I had to push down on the area with my other fingers, just to feel it enough to locate it.

I guess it could be possible that one got you, but for whatever reason (thick clothes, funny angle) didn't get in deep enough for the barb on the stinger to engage, and as a result, she only got a piece of you.

Remember, the bees don't "eject" their stinger, it is RIPPED out violently when they fly away and it is committed to staying in you.

I guess what I am saying is the bee could have had the hymenopteran equivalent of a premature stinger ejaculation.

[dcross]

I've had one stick me multiple times without lodging it, and the other day I had one stick in a callus, I had to scrape it out but felt no effect at all.

[blackhawkpillc]

Last week I got my first one right on my lower leg. I let it pump the venom for a while thinking of the tolerance it would help me build up. Needless to say I was limping around the rest of the day and itching at the sting area 5 days later.

[sds888]

I was wondering about this too because I got stung last thursday and my arm went twice the size it normally is and the arm not the sting site still itches. Last week I got stung in the neck for the first time in years and hardly no effect. So my question is what are the toxins in the sting that make you swell and itch and will I become immune to it or it or will I react like this every time I get stung.

[msmithnewbee]

i got stung in the neck for the first time. let me tell you it felt like a 1/2in drill bit being drilled in. the stinger was in for a while i got it out. dont know if you will ever be immuned to ti or not? i have been stung 6 times this year. i swell and it itches like heck for 4-6 days!

[Ravenseye]

I've been half stung through gloves but never right on the skin. My reaction depends on where I get hit. I took a bunch a few weeks ago with only a little swelling. They were on the arms and hands. I got one under the eye a couple years ago and had a bad reaction. Mostly, I just get a little swelling and later, the itching. Again, it depends on where you get stung and the length of time that the stinger stays in.

[Mike the Rookie]

I was wondering about this too because I got stung last thursday and my arm went twice the size it normally is and the arm not the sting site still itches. Last week I got stung in the neck for the first time in years and hardly no effect. So my question is what are the toxins in the sting that make you swell and itch and will I become immune to it or it or will I react like this every time I get stung.

I'd like to hear an authority on this. I have always regarded the idea of building up resistance to a poison through constant exposure as something of a wive's tale. While I am sure there is SOME kernel of truth to it, I am not sure that the mechanisms involved are reliable enough and consistent enough for a method to be built around.

Even if I am completely off on that, it seems a simple affair to just pull the stinger out every time and avoid the trouble of needing a "resistance".

[silvsk]

Just anecdotal, but I have mean bees and have been stung many times. At first, my arm would really swell up. Now, it is usually quite minimal, except for the last sting at the eyebrow.
Benedryl has not helped me at all, just made me fall asleep.
I think my resistance is building.

[Hillbillynursery]

Mossie bites bother me more than bee stings. I am immune to stings. But this year I took about 15 stings on my right hand. I had one knuckle that got very sore with minor swelling. It was gone in a couple of days though. I think the sting must have hit something it should not of in the joint. That is what I get for working hives in thin cloth gloves when needing to do serious work in the hives.

[Mabe]

Gosh darn it! You'd think that when they sting me on the face they could aim for the BIG wrinkles. This week I'm enjoying no wrinkles on one side of my forhead!!!

But seriously... two stings this year, both my fault. Don't wear any gear till harvest, but only have a dozen hives.

Mabe

ps.. found that impatience capensis, Jewelweed (the yellow and orange flowers that grow near poison ivy blloming now in Wisconsin) takes the sting out of nettles, poison ivy, and minor bee stings. Squash a plant up and rub on.