Home » Discussion Forums » Blog Post Discussion » steps on the way to bee-keeping ii, guest post by ajlr
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| Re: steps on the way to bee-keeping ii, guest post by ajlr [message #41591 is a reply to message #41579 ] |
Sun, 24 April 2011 13:13   |
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 AJLR
Messages: 2566
Registered: September 2008
Location: England, UK |
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| Lissy wrote on Sun, 24 April 2011 09:49 |
At the bee club I go to, many of the 'old-timers' wander round in shorts and bare arms! They do wear veils - apparently angry bees are more likely to go for the neck and throat (eek)- but they claim not to get stung much, and that you crush fewer bees when not wearing gloves. All the same, I'm sticking with my overalls, gloves, gumboots and veils... I can't imagine the - er - distress if a bee got stuck in your shorts (especially for males)!
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I've heard people here talk about working unprotected and I daresay that's fine if you've had a hand in breeding your own queens and have bred for a very docile and nice natured bee (when people say they've got that, I have a mental image of the bee-equivalent of a ragdoll cat  ) over a long period. Particularly in my first year, I'll work with whatever I get and learn from that.
And yes, bees in the pants/shorts/whatever! *shudder*
"Never let a computer know you're in a hurry."
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| Re: steps on the way to bee-keeping ii, guest post by ajlr [message #41645 is a reply to message #41629 ] |
Mon, 25 April 2011 09:24 |
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Robin
Messages: 6006
Registered: September 2008
Location: England |
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A 'bad reaction' can include stopping breathing, you know. At which point unless you get a *really* fast ambulance, it's probably too late for the ER. But if anyone who's just been stung starts wheezing or the swelling starts getting general GO TO THE FREAKING ER. I've got one of these husbands too, but I've occasionally done my nut when clearly necessary and a good thing too.
But remember that allergies--possibly particularly histamine allergies?--are not written in stone. I used to be death-defyingly allergic to all kinds of things and carried one of those adrenaline self-administered jabs with me for years. The next time I get stung, if I do start wheezing, I'll start carrying again--although I don't think I will (start wheezing, but I'd rather not get stung). So my next question is, when you say did NOT have a bad reaction, did he wheeze *at all*? Because if he did, it could be the NEXT time he gets stung that he has the FATAL reaction.
You probably know all this and were just using forum shorthand, and if so I apologise. It's just . . . you don't mess around with allergies.
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| Re: steps on the way to bee-keeping ii, guest post by ajlr [message #41670 is a reply to message #41645 ] |
Tue, 26 April 2011 04:57 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2732
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| Robin wrote on Mon, 25 April 2011 08:24 |
You probably know all this and were just using forum shorthand, and if so I apologise. It's just . . . you don't mess around with allergies.
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No need to apologize! I do know about allergies, first-hand, and if he'd been doing anything other than catching his breath after fleeing inside and dispatching the clinging yellowjackets, I would have said to hell with male idiocy and called the ambulance. But he was lucky.
There are yellowjackets around here, but mostly we have solitary mud-daubers or paper wasps that pretty much ignore us. Just as well.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: steps on the way to bee-keeping ii, guest post by ajlr [message #41695 is a reply to message #41689 ] |
Wed, 27 April 2011 01:48 |
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Diane in MN
Messages: 2732
Registered: October 2008
Location: Twin Cities, MN, USA |
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| Melissa Mead wrote on Tue, 26 April 2011 17:18 |
He said it was creepy, listening to them ping-ping-ping off the blades, until they were all mulched. Like listening to really macabre popcorn in a microwave.
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Attacking the blades, is what they were probably doing. You must know this already, but for anyone not familiar with yellowjackets, when one gets nailed, it release a pheromone that says "Yellowjacket enemy-kill it!" Which the rest of them are only to happy to do.
"The point of books is to have way too many but to always feel you never have enough . . . " Louise Erdrich
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| Re: steps on the way to bee-keeping ii, guest post by ajlr [message #41709 is a reply to message #41569 ] |
Wed, 27 April 2011 17:27 |
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Fortunately honeybees - except I suppose for the Africanized colonies - are less aggressive than yellow-jackets. Of course, we don’t go around running lawnmowers over their nests, either  Beekeepers do try to move slowly and disturb the bees as little as possible.
I have done fine, mostly, with ordinary clothes rather than a coverall. My bee outfit is a pair of old faded colorless jeans with narrow legs, thick, tight-knitted merino hiking socks and walking shoes, and a man’s dress shirt from the thrift shop - very tight weave, slightly oversize, with a collar that turns up so I feel like a Regency dandy with collar points up beside my jaw. This means when I put on my veil there is a very positive overlap of the elasticized lower edge over the shirt. And leather gloves with long canvas extensions up my arms. With this outfit on I have only been stung once, this January on a day that was perhaps not quite warm enough, so the bees were all to home instead of out foraging, and one stung me on the upper arm, above the glove, through the shirt. They were very loud and buzzy -- I should have heeded and waited for another day.
I have had several stings at other times. I thought once it would be better to put my socks up over the pants cuffs. They were thinner more open knit cotton crew socks, and they kept the jeans cuff up higher than where it naturally hangs down at the top of my shoe, and I was stung on that exposed ankle through the sock. Once I didn’t bother to change from the nicer jeans I had been wearing in town, which were black (not recommended) and wide-legged ("boot-cut"). Apparently a cluster of bees from down in the grass come up the leg of the jeans. I got about six stings on the thigh, and was NOT happy.
I have several times examined the bees, just the upper box, with no protection at all, successfully, though once I did get stung. But they really are quite tolerant if you move gently. And listen to them, and if they sound loud and peeved, pay attention and don’t insist on bothering them that day.
And never wear insect repellent near the hive; they purely despise it. My very first sting was when I had been sitting 10 feet from the hive just watching them, and was bothered by a lot of biting flies. So I went and sprayed some repellent on my ankles. NOT SMART. When I got close to the hive they came boiling out and chased me across the yard. I never tried that again!
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