On 6/29/2017 10:20 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 6/29/2017 2:09 PM, Frank wrote:
On 6/29/2017 2:59 PM, Muggles wrote:
On 6/29/2017 6:53 AM, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 6/28/2017 10:27 PM, Muggles wrote:
I've hesitated taking it up because of the "getting stung" thing. Do
you get stung often?


Not really , the secret is lightly smoking them , and moving slowly .
Sudden motion makes them defensive . Timing makes a difference too , you
want to go into the hives while most of the foragers are out doing their
thing . And during times when there is no nectar out there they tend to
be defensive - they think you're there to steal their food ... I've
gotten so when i do get stung it burns for a few minutes then goes away
. Skeeter bites bother me a lot more than bee stings . Did you know that
some people sting themselves on purpose ? Something in the venom has
medicinal properties , look up "apitherapy" for more detail .
ugh... I don't think I could get used to getting stung. I'd jump or
shout and probably scare the bees and get stung MORE.
Yellow jacket stings were painful to but I tolerated them but now appear
to be allergic. I needed a prednisone pack for one that stung me on the
finger and my whole hand was swollen like I had a glove on the next day.
Honeybees are fairly docile but I would not take any chances.
I got a sting from a wasp that felt like I had been shot. After that
I've been a bit jumpy around insects that sting.

You get used to it ... some develop a sensitivity , others an
immunity . I caught one sting on my forearm yesterday , burned for about
a minute then just nothing . I'm hoping that the rain lets me pull the 2
medium boxes today for extraction . I was putting "escape boards" on the
hives to get the bees out of the supers (boxes with frames for honey
storage) I plan to harvest today . I won't get much from #2 hive ,
that's the one that I've been using for a donor to start new colonies
this year . Next year I'll probably pull from #1 for new colonies ...
"You can make bees or you can make honey" .

--

Snag