Badly stung today

[Bakerbee]

I agree i used to blow up like that but each sting ive had has got less. I spoke with the doc n they said having a reaction like that doesnt mean youll get anaphalaxis either. When i started i didnt realize that ibuprofen made the reaction worse. There i was taking them diligently to relieve the inflamation and it was actually making them worse. Fortunatly anpther beek put me straight.

 

[enrico]

Think about it. That's why we wear bee suits so we don't get stung. Most of us react like that and hence the suits , veils and gloves.
But as I said in the first place. You didn't like it and getting over it is really difficult so I understand your reluctance to carry on!!!
E

 

[Millet]

I don't get Stung these days apart from on my fingers when i goof up, i wear a bee jacket only and i am yet to be stung on the legs wearing Dickies work trousers..

If you really really want to keep bees you will over come this little problem, but if your mind is set on giving up then so be it..

 

[Beefriendly]

As this is probably going to be how my body deals with stings in the future, I'm going to give in before it gets more serious.

As a few posters have said it probably isn't, but you can never tell. If any future reactions are as bad then I would consider give up. Nothing is certain and it's a hell of an enjoyable hobby.....
And as you originally said you weren't even wearing a bee suit when they kicked off..
One suggestion buy an Ozarmour suit...you simply cannot be stung through one...unless you forget to do up the zips

 

[Amari]

Thanks for replying so quickly Tim, think you can feel my despair.

I was probably 2-3 feet away from the queenless hive entrance so yes I could have been in their flight path although when I've been watching they usually come out, up & fly off the opposite way but maybe today that wasn't the case. I also had dark blue leggings on, so sounds like that didn't help either.
I have to say, it's knocked my confidence now....big time.

Were they fleece-like? I was amazed a couple of months ago when my mentee got attacked wearing fleece gloves while I was ignored.
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=41468

 

[mickbees23]

I have had no less than 2 colonies of our local mongrels 5 yards from my back door and as many as 6 colonies some times every year for the last 6 years and only ever been stung once when I was using the petrol strimmer. We have BBQ's and party's and never think twice about it.
Yes I could be blabbing my mouth off and end up stung on the face for my hubris, but I think you need to think about the bees you are keeping, they don't sound nice to me.

 

[Beefriendly]

I have had no less than 2 colonies of our local mongrels 5 yards from my back door .

I'll send you some of my locals ( or some of my F2's=75% local- big colonies on double brood).....you'll enjoy the comparison
Defensive range starts when you open your front door.
30 miles separation geographically but our local bees are worlds apart....

 

[Bakerbee]

One last thing Hoopers house. You got 50 stings! Of course your body went into overdrive with histamine hence the bad reaction. Surely this is a lesson learned but probably wont happen again as you will take precautions. Its early days give yourself some time to heal before giving up.

 

[HoopersHouse]

Goodbye to the hobby for now....

Hi all

Thanks once again for all your replies.

I've just been down to the hives and done full inspections & all is calm. The queenless hive has 2 capped queen cells from the frame of eggs I put in. The hive that I split a while ago & marked the queen in last week is all looking good with full frames of capped brood, lots of lavae and eggs. The original hive is doing really well so I added a 3rd super.

However for me, today doing the inspections wasn't the same, can't quite explain it but it just didn't' feel the same. I've been thinking about it all week. I even put an ad on here last night to sell everything. The inspections today for me just confirmed that I definitely want to give up for now.....but who knows, when we move in a few years to hopefully somewhere with a bit more land, where I can guarantee that the apiary will be well away from friends & family, I may pick it up again. As enrico said, keeping bees in a garden should really be on over an acre to be sensible. I know lots of you have hives in your gardens with great success and I very much hope it continues for you

For me though for now it's goodbye to beekeeping. I do feel pretty sad about it but at the same time I know it's the right decision.

So thank you to everyone for your knowledge (this is such a great forum for it) and for your help and support.

As I say, I have put everything as a whole package up for sale on the 'for sale page' yesterday & paid the selling fee (not sure when the moderators will upload it?), if anyone is interested. I'm sure someone on here can give them a good home.

Thanks all,

Eileen

 

[simonforeman]

Sorry to hear that.... I'm just starting out and have been stung about 5 times already. Not too bad a reaction but still hurt...

I have taken something from your post so Thank you for sharing your story. I cut all my hedges in my garden today and suited up to do all, bloody hot work but no stings. If you had not posted I Would of done it without and may of been the same as yourself.

All the best Simon.

 

[HoopersHouse]

Giving up.....maybe not!

Well I've been dithering about it for days....

Reading all the comments, support, advice & photos and with huge thanks to one person in particular (you know who you are) who took the time to send me a private message, talked through all my concerns with me and gave me options and answers for every situation, he made me realise that I have in fact been too hasty to cut loose keeping bees.

So, for now at least, I'm staying & so are the bees!

Had a bit of a blip, it knocked me sideways but now back to feeling positive about the future of beekeeping.

Who knew beekeeping would be such a journey in so many ways!!

Thank you to everyone who's been so kind.

Eileen x

 

[Beefriendly]

Well done Eileen.
The only tip I can give you is keep gentle bees.

 

[Millet]

Well done you..on wards and upwards from now on .

 

[Bakerbee]

Eileen, im really happy to hear youre going to keep going. Its horrid to have had such a nasty experience. Brave lady, hats off. Let us know how you get on. On beefriendly comment, i cant agree more. I started with a feisty hive of mongrels. I had to suit up to do gardening 10meters away. Ive requeened with buckfasts and the difference is noticeable and has made beekeeping thoroughly more enjoyable. Watching the hive turns from one queens prodginy to another was interesting too as they were very different looking bees. Good luck.

 

[madasafish]

Well done..

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Queenless colonies can occasionally be troublesome. Beekeeping is a real journey as you mention Eileen. As Madasafish has written "Beekeeping is a series of mishaps and near disasters and bodges".
Very true!

 

[denise washington]

stings

i got stung inside nose on saturday my own fault forgot to pick smoker up and allready took jacket off but they were calm i thought had probs driving home stings dont bother me as a rule but a bit down this week and paid for it bloody hurt

 

[HoopersHouse]

Thanks everyone

This really has been a huge learning curve. I should also learn to ask more questions too rather than just downing tools!! Sooooo not used to forums....promise I'll get better.

Blimey Denise, that must have made your eyes water!!!

I started off in 2016 with a buckfast queen, hive then swarmed last year which we managed to catch in a tree in the garden (husband had to get up there with a ladder balanced on a branch!!). We hived the swarm and so had 2 hives. Sadly this hive didn't make it through our -6 weather. So as the remaining hive was doing well earlier in the year I split it. Even though I did that the other hive still decided it wanted to swarm so I performed an A/S. I checked it & it had 2 sealed QC but then somehow became Q- (probably my interference again). So, so far I haven't bought any more queens in. Is it better to buy queens in annually, rather than make my own? Do I still have buckfast queens, as I don't know who the dirty deeds were made by? Does it matter, as long as they are not all aggressive? The 2 queens I have do look different (1 light & 1 dark) Questions, questions....

It's good to be back

Eileen

 

[Beefriendly]

I started off in 2016 with a buckfast queen, hive then swarmed last year.

Do I still have buckfast queens, as I don't know who the dirty deeds were made by? Does it matter, as long as they are not all aggressive? The 2 queens I have do look different (1 light & 1 dark) Questions, questions....

It's good to be back

Eileen

Buckfast..open mated or mating station mated?
I'll presume open as I don't think you will have paid over £100 for a pedigree queen.
Next part is supplier....not all Buckfast queen bee sellers are equal...in fact some are downright rogues.

Okay, open mated means there is no guarantee that the queen has mated with similar Buckfast drones. These are for heading your production hives. The mistake many make is to breed from them...a big no no in most areas. If the local mongrels (which dominate the drones in an area) are a bit feisty this comes through immediately in the next generation..
If we assume the open mated Buckfast queen you bought did not mate with other Buckfast then her daughters can only be 50% Buckfast....You breed from her daughters that then mate with local mongrels and the bees her daughters produce are now predominantly mongrel (75%). I see similar colour changes when I do the same . Basically you don't have Buckfast bees any more, just mongrels plus their aggression and whatever. This doesn't sometimes apply in areas where the mongrels are not aggressive...bit like post code lottery..
The shorter answers is yes you do need to buy in new Buckfast queens to keep having docile bees.

The next problem is most beekeeping books don't deal with the amount of room Buckfast bees need. I suspect they swarmed because she was on a single brood box?...Big no no they need double Nationals at the very least and lots (and lots) of supers for storing the honey.

 

[HoopersHouse]

Buckfast..open mated or mating station mated?
I'll presume open as I don't think you will have paid over £100 for a pedigree queen.
Next part is supplier....not all Buckfast queen bee sellers are equal...in fact some are downright rogues.

Okay, open mated means there is no guarantee that the queen has mated with similar Buckfast drones. These are for heading your production hives. The mistake many make is to breed from them...a big no no in most areas. If the local mongrels (which dominate the drones in an area) are a bit feisty this comes through immediately in the next generation..
If we assume the open mated Buckfast queen you bought did not mate with other Buckfast then her daughters can only be 50% Buckfast....You breed from her daughters that then mate with local mongrels and the bees her daughters produce are now predominantly mongrel (75%). I see similar colour changes when I do the same . Basically you don't have Buckfast bees any more, just mongrels plus their aggression and whatever. This doesn't sometimes apply in areas where the mongrels are not aggressive...bit like post code lottery..
The shorter answers is yes you do need to buy in new Buckfast queens to keep having docile bees.

The next problem is most beekeeping books don't deal with the amount of room Buckfast bees need. I suspect they swarmed because she was on a single brood box?...Big no no they need double Nationals at the very least and lots (and lots) of supers for storing the honey.

Thanks Beefriendly, that all makes perfect sense. I definitely have mongrels then