Possible dumb questions....

[kazmcc]

Everyone is aware of how scared I was at first. It's a long story, but I used to be extremely scared of anything that buzzes and kind of fell into beekeeping. I remember at one point last autumn not even being able to put the entrance block in as there were bees all on the front of the hive that day. A forum member had to come out and help me. Of course, the bees were behaving perfectly when he arrived, but someone being there gave me the confidence to do the job. Now, nearly a year on, I am inspecting a monster colony, just requeened our hive, and loving every minute I spend down there. Once you gain confidence in your protection you will relax more. Just spend a minute thinking about how to make yourself as safe as possible. I tape up the end of zips for example, as that was one of my biggest worries, a bee getting into my suit.

To this day I still haven't been stung, although I know it will happen sooner or later. Now I have more confidence I think I will be able to deal with it now, and I can't forsee anything ever putting me off beekeeping now. It has been a journey! lol. You are only up the road really from me. if there is no one nearby who can hold your smoker for you, I'd be glad to help

Ooo err, sounds a bit rude haha, you know what I mean

 

[OXFORDBEE]

I started when I was 14. I started with a nucleus hive. I had an old 6 frame one with a super. I cleaned it up and painted it over the winter and got it ready for the next winter.
I found an old Bingham smoker and repaired the bellows with a cut up old leather coat. I got a nucleus for free, well I had to exchange it for frames and foundation, but they were my bees.
I found a site for the bees at school, and you all know the proud feeling when you get your first bees, well I had that too..

Come the big day I went to inspect the bees, but the smoker did not smoke properly, it died just at the critical moment! I think I got a few whiffs into the hive but when I cracked the crown board
open I got well and truly greeted with some rather irate bees who were intensely keen on exchanging pleasantries!

I beat a hasty retreat but was accompanied by lots of bees busily ensuring that I went in the right direction (away from the hive!) as quickly as possible.
and remember being overtaken by the caretakers cat which had gained a few bee friends it did not want to keep.

I gave the bees an hour to calm down and then put the roof back on. I then got some more experienced help to move the bees into my nucleus hive the next weekend and saw where I was going wrong.

We were all beginners once and my beginning was not very auspicious. Well certainly not my efforts with a smoker at least!

 

[redpola]

Thanks all once again for the encouragement. And a special thanks to kazmcc but it's really not necessary to come over from Manchester to help!

The biggest problem is lack of experience and the accompanying feeling of "not knowing what I'm doing". I'm not actually scared of being stung, but I'd be lying if I said I'm nervous of that first sting. I've not been stung since I was a baby and I'm not sure what level of pain to expect as a lumbering adult. Ordinarily I'm quite robust and am always told off by my girlfriend for returning from pruning the garden with lots of bleeding lacerations which I've ignored because I'm so "gung ho", so I can't imagine a few stings will be much to worry about.

No, I just need to improve at "reading the hive" and of course the mechanics of handling the bees. At the moment I'm about to switch to rubber gloves as my "proper beekeeping gloves" are in the way. Ever frame I put down traps the end of a finger of the gloves and I have to wriggle it out, much to the girls' ire!

Time will improve my skills, I'm sure!

Thanks,

Neil.

 

[kazmcc]

My mentor always tells me that being stung is not that bad, and I have a couple of tattoos and peircings, if I can have them done, then being stung is a doddle. Thing is, I don't have venom injected into me when I have a peircing lol. That's the bit that worries me!

It all comes with experience. It's surprising how quickly you learn to read the bees, just by walking up and listening for a minute or two. Taking in the weather and what's going on nearby ( wasps etc ), time of year, circumstances from previous inspection....it all comes together, and fast. By the time they are slowing down for winter, you'll be on a roll and wishing you had more bee time ahead before winter. I know I was lol

 

[Ellem]

I have tats and piercings as well, so I can definitely say that being stung was definitely less painful than the nose piercing (which admittedly felt like I'd been punched, so not really too hard to feel better than that). More the sort of feeling got having fine-line or outline work with a tattoo, not the tickly infill feeling (until afterwards when it goes slightly itchy) but slightly scratchy. Closest to an injection done by a doctor who doesn't get to do them a lot

 

[beeatshellards]

hi Repola dont forget you said at the start you have only been doing this 7 days, so you have done extremly well. On your next inspection you will have learnt something from your previous inspection, and on it goes, it is a learning curve, dont worry about being stung it Will happen at some point!

 

[kazmcc]

I have tats and piercings as well, so I can definitely say that being stung was definitely less painful than the nose piercing (which admittedly felt like I'd been punched, so not really too hard to feel better than that). More the sort of feeling got having fine-line or outline work with a tattoo, not the tickly infill feeling (until afterwards when it goes slightly itchy) but slightly scratchy. Closest to an injection done by a doctor who doesn't get to do them a lot

Thanks Ellem. It has been my lifes ambition to stay as far away from stingy things and avoid it completely. That was until last year lol. I was successful too! but I know it's coming. You have alleviated my fears

 

[Ellem]

Thanks Ellem. It has been my lifes ambition to stay as far away from stingy things and avoid it completely. That was until last year lol. I was successful too! but I know it's coming. You have alleviated my fears

No problem I'll admit I panicked for a couple of seconds after it happened though (it was the first time I'd ever been stung!), then went and scraped it out with tweezers (using the one prong on slanted tweezers to scrape it out properly in front of a mirror (yay for being a girls who has these things ), because it was under my chin! Had taken my hood off without checking properly, needless to say we do a mutual bee-free check before undoing zips now )

Weirdest and most interesting thing was watching the venom sac still pumping for a couple of minutes afterwards,

 

[enrico]

Can I just say that this thread has been a pleasure to read.... so much help to someone who really needed it. Offers of practical help too. Well done to everyone who replied. Oh I love these threads full of love and not some of the iffy ones we had a few weeks ago!
GO REDPOLA! you will make a great beekeeper. We all believe in you
E

 

[OXFORDBEE]

The biggest problem is lack of experience and the accompanying feeling of "not knowing what I'm doing".
I'm not actually scared of being stung, but I'd be lying if I said I'm nervous of that first sting.
I've not been stung since I was a baby and I'm not sure what level of pain to expect as a lumbering adult.
Ordinarily I'm quite robust and am always told off by my girlfriend for returning from pruning the garden with lots of
bleeding lacerations which I've ignored because I'm so "gung ho", so I can't imagine a few stings will be much to worry about.

Oh I so agree about being stung. I absolutely HATE being stung, I'm a bloody big whimp and have to live with it!! I guess my pain threshold must
be fairly low because dentists and I simply don't get on, no matter how much they smile!

I've had bees for over 30 year and although I'm de-sensitised now the injection of venom when being stung still hurts. The only advice I can give you
is be gentle with the bees and move slowly. Bees attack fast moving object so if you can think of being in a slow motion movie when you move your
hands or arms over the top of the hive (in sight of the bees) this should help. I hardly ever get stung on the back but for my arms and wrists
its a different story.

Be gentle if you can and avoid sharp jerky movements of the frames and boxes when you
split them apart. Don't be miserly over the use of smoke either, give the entrance a good woffing of smoke and then give the bees a couple of minutes
to get the message.

Lack of experience is soon sorted out. The most important thing is to observe the bees and see how they respond to your actions. If they get aggiated
they what you are doing is upsetting them. I learnt to keep bees in shorts and a T shirt, no gloves, other than a veil.

I do think that big bugger-off gloves are not good as they really get in the way when moving frames about. Being tactile with rubber gloves
of the right size when moving frames really does pay off...


Enrico, I quit agree .. Threads like this are really postive and that's what it should all be about...!!