I got stung by one of my bees last Saturday. Ouch. It really hurt. It made me hurry to finish the hive inspection.
The bee stung me on my ankle through a thin sock. I tuck my pants into my socks because I once had bees trying to climb up my leg. (That was when I installed my packages on a cold rainy day this spring. The bees were all over me then, but not up to stinging – fortunately for me.)
My ankle hurt quite bad for a day, then itched really bad for two days. It didn’t really swell much. I hope I don’t develop an allergy. I’ve had a bunch of bee stings before, so I don’t think I will.
From now on, I’ll wear my plastic boots to protect my ankles. I don’t think I’m ever going to be one of those cool bee keepers who goes bear handed and without protection.
I did know that my bees were annoyed with me before the sting. My smoke kept running out and it was taking me a very long time to inspect the whole hive. It seems there’s a balance for inspections between moving slow and getting the job over with. Especially with a jam packed hive of bees.
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Eventually you'll have enough immunity that the sting won't even cause an itch (I still haven't reached that point but a lot of the older beekeepers I watch get stung 4-6 times without an issue).
Remember to smoke the area after a sting to get rid of the alarm pheromones that she left.
3 years in and I still will wear a veil, though I do wear shorts and a t-shirt to check on their honey production and long pants to perform a hive inspection.
On the other hand, some say for certain individuals there is a threshold of bee stings then one becomes extremely allergic.
Be careful!! Yes, wear your rubber boots.
I got two tiny half stings today through heavy pants. That should help build up my immunity ..