vicious bees and allergy

[beesleybees]

I can't honest believe that I'm reading the OP post!!

Allergic or not, I would not have stood there and allowed them to sting me 20 times. Once is bad enough but a person that isn't allergic that receives 20 stings is putting their life at risk.

 

[kathrynat]

Where.................please

I bought a lovely pitch black queen from Ricky Wilson in blaenporth, Cardigan

 

[Swarm]

 

[bees4u]

Not connected but this is the only way I put anything of this forum.
Has anyone done a post on homeopathy for treatments, friend just sent me this article that you all may want to read.

http://www.a-r-h.org/Publications/Journal/sampleArts/Bees Kathryn Johnson.pdf

 

[lilybetbee]

glad someone had better luck than me.

With what?

 

[peter genders]

with the queens that were listed in the contact number no comments on the bees just my luck. I hope that answers your question lily.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I bought a lovely pitch black queen from Ricky Wilson in blaenporth, Cardigan

Thanks

 

[BeeJayBee]

Allergic or not, I would not have stood there and allowed them to sting me 20 times.

I'm not sure if that's a fair criticism.

You don't exactly 'allow' bees to sting. Once they've started it can happen very quickly and you have to close up and retreat gracefully without making things worse.

I was with another beekeeper recently when the bees from one of their hives suddenly turned nasty. They were bombarded with bees, and were stung many times within a matter of moments. They retreated, and I closed up as quickly as I could. Then we counted the stings. There were about 16 on one arm, at least 12 on the other - all very close together, so the bees were targetting wherever the first sting of that day had been. It could have been as simple as one bee being squashed between glove and hive tool.

No idea what caused it, not something they've ever experienced before in their many years of beekeeping - and it didn't happen with the next inspection. Clothing/gloves/equipment were washed straight away, so there were no remaining pheromones.

 

[user 6228]

We use cover Boards. Made from 2mm black correx sheet from jewsons. My job at inspections is to move the board while the beekeeper does her inspection. On opening if there is roar we pop them on a wait a short while they calm down.

 

[NickB]

My dilemma is that talking to the old gentleman I had the bees from they come from 'an old English' strain. They're very dark, produce loads of honey (last year 50-60lbs per hive), they don't tend to swarm and I've found very little varroa (none this year so far).

I don't want to sound facetious....and I certainly am not intending to BE facetious,though I expect to get flak for suggesting this....but why don't you just leave them alone?
Get a transparent crown-board,super them up as-and-when,take the honey off when they are full...you seem to live in a rural area (certainly compared to me) so in the event of a swarm,no great harm done...minimal intervention beekeeping.

 

[Swarm]

I don't want to sound facetious....and I certainly am not intending to BE facetious,though I expect to get flak for suggesting this....but why don't you just leave them alone?
Get a transparent crown-board,super them up as-and-when,take the honey off when they are full...you seem to live in a rural area (certainly compared to me) so in the event of a swarm,no great harm done...minimal intervention beekeeping.

No flak from me NickB, considering what we have heard (tendency not to swarm) I think your suggestion is a good one, definitely something to consider.

I still want to know if they have always been defensive.

 

[TOBY-3652]

I'm not sure if that's a fair criticism.

You don't exactly 'allow' bees to sting. Once they've started it can happen very quickly and you have to close up and retreat gracefully without making things worse.

I was with another beekeeper recently when the bees from one of their hives suddenly turned nasty. They were bombarded with bees, and were stung many times within a matter of moments. They retreated, and I closed up as quickly as I could. Then we counted the stings. There were about 16 on one arm, at least 12 on the other - all very close together, so the bees were targetting wherever the first sting of that day had been. It could have been as simple as one bee being squashed between glove and hive tool.

No idea what caused it, not something they've ever experienced before in their many years of beekeeping - and it didn't happen with the next inspection. Clothing/gloves/equipment were washed straight away, so there were no remaining pheromones.

DO THESE PEOPLE WEAR BEE SUITES????? I GOT 20 STINGS THE OTHER DAY {IN MY SUIT] and not 1 got through it

 

[Swarm]

I don't know about your beesuit but I've not come across one that is impenetrable to stings, it depends what you wear beneath it. I was stung on my forearm on Wednesday, through the suit but I only had a T shirt on underneath.

 

[abi-e]

My dad had some bees as a young man that he talks of as 'russian bees' that were fiercely aggressive - this would have been back in the mid- 1960s. He follows the rule of applying a vast amount of smoke to subdue the bees - or asphyxiate them !! His current bees I consider to be 'a bit zippy' but he consider them to be 'very well behaved' all things are relative I suppose.

 

[BeeJayBee]

I'm not sure if that's a fair criticism.

You don't exactly 'allow' bees to sting. Once they've started it can happen very quickly and you have to close up and retreat gracefully without making things worse.

I was with another beekeeper recently when the bees from one of their hives suddenly turned nasty. They were bombarded with bees, and were stung many times within a matter of moments. They retreated, and I closed up as quickly as I could. Then we counted the stings. There were about 16 on one arm, at least 12 on the other - all very close together, so the bees were targetting wherever the first sting of that day had been. It could have been as simple as one bee being squashed between glove and hive tool.

No idea what caused it, not something they've ever experienced before in their many years of beekeeping - and it didn't happen with the next inspection. Clothing/gloves/equipment were washed straight away, so there were no remaining pheromones.

DO THESE PEOPLE WEAR BEE SUITES????? I GOT 20 STINGS THE OTHER DAY {IN MY SUIT] and not 1 got through it

Umm, there's no need to SHOUT, and the information is there in the very last sentence of my post although I didn't add that the stings were around the top of the glove, where the suit is actually closest to the body. Not all went through to the skin, but enough did to cause a lot of discomfort.

I might add that the beekeeper in question knows what they're doing, and has known what they're doing for a good few years. They knew that the bees behaviour was unusual. This year is, I think, unusual for a lot of beekeepers.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I picked up a bottle of lemon grass oil with the idea of re-annointing the bait hive on my way to the apiary at the last inspection. I thought better of it as I spotted a tiny speck of oil on the cap as I picked it up.
Even though I wore marigolds the bees went mad for my hand and in no time at all I had a small "swarm" on one finger.