What is your worst experience re: bee behaviour

[kazmcc]

Reading some threads, I was wondering what are peoples worst experiences with their bees, and what behaviour did the exhibit?

Mine was when I was treating the second time with Api Life Var. They didn't bother with the first treatment, but boy did they smell me coming the second time! They poured out of the hive, like you see in cartoons, and were pinging me like bullets! The noise was frenzied and they were throwing themselves at me so badly, one bee ended up wedged in the foil packet I had in my hand! That was the only time they misbehaved, and I forgave them. Not action was necessary as it was out of the ordinary behaviour and I understand why.

What are your experiences?

 

[greatbritishhoney]

I accidentally rammed the lawnmower into the side of a recently hived swarm last night. They poured out in great numbers and had a real go at me.
Good job I wore my suit and gloves.

 

[kazmcc]

It really is like in the cartoons, isn't it? They came out in a wave for me, that was last autumn, when I was still new and scared. By rights, I should never have returned lol, but I was hooked....what can I say

 

[Erichalfbee]

Two
Having to squish my first queen.....ie the first queen I ever had.
Opening up a hive and finding it empty

PS sorry that first one isn't really bee behaviour is it......doh!!!!

 

[greatbritishhoney]

I got some really bad stings on my ankles the other day.
I went to check on a nuc at an out apiary. I had forgotten my wellies but decided I would be alright in shoes (despite having read a warning in the forum not to do this a few days earlier). I took out the first frame, made sure the queen wasn't on it, and propped it up carefully on the floor by the hive stand. Instantly, pretty much every bee on that frame went straight for my socks. I got quite a few stings and I had the worst swelling I have ever had from a bee sting.
I wish someone had taken a video of my manic dance as I tried to get them off me!

 

[kazmcc]

I wish someone had taken a video of my manic dance as I tried to get them off me!

LOL, shouldn't laugh, but you could have started a new craze!

 

[Otleybee]

A bee crawled up my trousers and very nearly got to my right testicle before it stung me. Huge panic and then huge pain.

As you can imagine I now wear wellies.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

A bee crawled up my trousers and very nearly got to my right testicle before it stung me. Huge panic and then huge pain.

As you can imagine I now wear wellies.

what, on your testicles?

 

[moby]

I was doing an AS and a couple managed to get into my smock got stung twice in the armpit!!! Dont wear a smock anymore

 

[kazmcc]

what, on your testicles?

Heh heh

 

[Lizard165]

Looking at a bee on my veil and thinking "something looks funny about that bee" at that point I realized it was on the inside! She at the same time jumped over and pinged me on the cheek.

 

[kazmcc]

Looking at a bee on my veil and thinking "something looks funny about that bee" at that point I realized it was on the inside! She at the same time jumped over and pinged me on the cheek.

 

[garethbryson]

Looking at a bee on my veil and thinking "something looks funny about that bee" at that point I realized it was on the inside! She at the same time jumped over and pinged me on the cheek.

That happened 2 days ago when i was hiveing a nuc. not very pleasant and as you say it takes a minute to register that your seeing the top of the bee and not the underside..

 

[Bucks_Boy]

Clipped the floor of the hive on the lip of the car boot when moving a couple of colonies and as the straps had worked a bit loose during the drive, a bee sized gap appeared.

70 stings extracted from elbow to fingertip, a hive in the middle of my drive for a week and a nickname of "hellboy" at work that has never been lost.

 

[YorkshireBees]

Inspecting a hived swarm after a week or so and wearing the wrong socks with my trousers tucked in. 5-6 stings on the ankles and a manic dance round the field trying to remove the rest of them!

Have since re-queened that colony and bought a full suit!

Also decided that it is black material the bees don't like as I had one bee go crazy about the little black size label on the side of my white leather gloves + one trying like crazy to sting my black fleece top after I had taken my suit off!

Don't wear anything black when I am beekeeping anymore!

 

[psafloyd]

A bee crawled up my trousers and very nearly got to my right testicle before it stung me. Huge panic and then huge pain.

As you can imagine I now wear wellies.

Over your testicles?

 

[bellabee]

Last night a bee go into my suit, like above took a while to notice it was in there, so grabbed my hair as it seemed to be stuck in there, manically trying to squash the poor thing in my hair. Eventually the thing got lose and stung my ear

Trip to A&E as I went red and itchy all over...

Think I will get a boiler suit to go over my normal suit as well, extra protection.

 

[keith pierce]

My first bee’s that I got was a five story hive ,that had been advertised for free in some magazine. When I say five stories it was a commercial hive with four supers on, and no queen excluder. We had no way of moving them except in the back an estate car, so the hive had to be split in two, in order to get it into the car(by two novices). Spare roof and floor ready, we smoked the hive, inserted the hive tool in between the brood chamber and supers, cracked open a gap to get our fingers in, when all hell broke loose. Bees poured out of the gap like black oil out of a barrel, and we learned about five years of beekeeping in the next five seconds. The farmer ran for the house and all cattle that had come over for a look, took off for the next parish with tails in the air, while we were left to battle on with what we had started. They were that bad that in order to get rid of the bees, we had to drive laps around a twenty acre field with the windows and boot open, stopping every time in the far corner of the field to try and brush the bees off each other, while back at the hive they just getting ready for round two.
Never had a hive like them since.

 

[Grub]

Mine is realy easy!!!

Buying bees last year from Gloucester

Grub

 

[BBG]

He stomped around like a child, wildly glaring, shouting at one point, eyes bulging and face so red he looked like a Swan Vestas match.......

On no sorry, that was my fruit cake 'tutor' at the club because I told him for one, it is generally the old Queen who leaves the hive and mostly before...... , you had to see it to believe it.

Gave everybody a grin and created a bad atmosphere for days, he's elderly but isn't growing old gracefully.