An Experience of Anaphylaxis

Roy S said:

I cant see why there is so much opposition to people using gloves??? how would you explain this to a widow or children of a beekeeper encouraged to go gloveless??

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No one I believe is saying go gloveless, it's just the usual thick leather gloves do, beyond any shadow of doubt make you a clumsy beekeeper, more likely to crush bees, upset them and thus get you and others in the vicinity stung. With thin gloves you know instantly when a bee is under your finger when manipulating a frame, with thick leather gloves you don't know until the bee dies, stings you or more usually you never know at all.

In the no so distant past beeks kept bees that could be handled without gloves or veils, with the multiple layers of protection all enclosing suits and wellies and thick gloves we are all isolating ourselves from bees that probably should be culled.

But an inspection can go quickly very wrong, which is why wellies and a veil are a good idea, maybe extended to an all enclosing suit, and thin gloves. But thick gloves should IMHO be reserved for the bastard from hell colonies - you don't want to loose grip on the can of unleaded.

If it's any consolation ,I've had the same reaction to stinging in the ankle.
It was a long time ago .
At the time I blamed contamination at the sting sites form dye in my socks to sweat .
I had huge watery blisters all over the top of my foot .
In casualty, they popped the blisters and casualty doctor hollered out " Is it vinegar or baking soda for bee stings ?"
Antibiotics were prescribed , they did their job no worries!

John Wilkinson

[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7F5u7Uqt1U[/ame]

Check this out (pre-varroa of course )

No gloves no veil er! and no audio soz.

John Wilkinson

As long as you can breath and you whole body is not covered in blotches its normal. It means your immune system is good.

As far as I'm concerned.

boring

Then don't read it! Simple! Why you did not think of that?

This post may save a life, more important perhaps than explaining an artificial swarm to umpteen different posters, or discussing bee space and brace comb?

RAB

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OK RAB am I not allowed to voice my opinion? or have I to curtail down to the peer pressure?
I still say this thread has now shot its bolt, I do say that it has some extremely good pertinent points regarding safety of individuals.
We all know of beekeepers who after a sting the affected area swells up rather badly but to me that is part and parcel of beekeeping. Don't get me wrong I am not saying that its the individuals fault (but then again sometimes it is through bad handling).
All area's of this thread have been covered so how many more times do we need to read about members mishaps?

Oh, and by the way yes I do read it because as you so eloquently put it This post may save a life

Mo

Onge said:

As long as you can breath and you whole body is not covered in blotches its normal. It means your immune system is good.

As far as I'm concerned.

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I agree, its just normal, so many posts on here about normal reactions to getting stung.

In order to reduce the risk of stings its easy to sort, just drop the bees off with me

Jez

I got stung by my bees for the first time this year yesterday.

I had a haircut the day before and as it was short they got me twice on the back of the head.

Who was to blame:
Me I think,as its not a good idea to go through every frame of a double brood box at this time of year at 8.40 in the evening when everyone has returned home to the hive for the night.

They have even managed to give me an egg sized bump on the back of my head

First time?

I had a shocker the other night when I was hiving up a nuc for a member. Turned out he got stung for the first time and how scary is that when said person is over 100 miles from home.

Killed a queen today when the colony on being opened literally blew up in my face, I was covered in stinging bees, and ouch they got me in my upper arm due to the position I was in. No way was I going to sell on a queen whose colony could behave like that.

PH

victor meldrew said:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D7F5u7Uqt1U

Check this out (pre-varroa of course )

No gloves no veil er! and no audio soz.

John Wilkinson

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That was really interesting, thanks John. Was that insulation he was putting in the top of the hive? Is that normal? I thought we just did that in the winter?

tkwinston4 said:

That was really interesting, thanks John. Was that insulation he was putting in the top of the hive? Is that normal? I thought we just did that in the winter?

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Somebody on another thread asked what a quilt was.
that is a quilt ( before the advent of the crown board)

John Wilkinson

victor meldrew said:

Somebody on another thread asked what a quilt was.
that is a quilt ( before the advent of the crown board)

John Wilkinson

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PH,
don't worry - I made it home

I'm not sure if the 'sting' was really a sting after all. Seemed just like a needle prick on the stomach where a bee had got caught between my ample belly and the hive I was carrying to the car. Maybe the beesuit and rugby shirt gave me enough protection to just feel the end of the sting but not be envenomated?

No redness or swelling at all.

Probably more dangerous (for me and the bees) was driving all that way and back after a day's work.

FG

"Envenomated"

I do believe a new word created...

Seriously glad you were ok, and how are the bees?

PH

ok, I was a very enthusiastic beginner until i read this post

I had a serious phobia of bees until i did the bee introduction a week or two ago. After I'd been to the hive at the end of the intro, I was transfixed. I am going to another assoc hive tomorrow and after seeing and hearing things on here my fear is creeping back in.

I am determined to do this though, as I am fascinated and I suppose a healthy dose of fear is good, but could anyone tell me.....have any of you experienced bee keepers never been stung?

I fully intend to be well protected and wear no jewellery or perfumes or eat anything strong smelling beforehand. I will be taking an anti histamine before I go and listen to the people who have experience. Is there anything else I should be doing? I am not on ibruprofen as I have post viral asthma ( it only affects me when I have a virus or cold ), could this pose a problem. I have never been stung so I don't know how I will respond. I mentioned I was going to do bee keeping to my doctor and he didn't say anything against it. I await your advice.

The advice i had was to get yourself stung before you spent any money

You`re going to get stung one way or another. I`ve had two bees inside my suit walking around in front of my face this week because i didn`t check the velcro on my suit and the occasional one through my marigolds because i`ve squashed a bee.

Darren.

kazmcc

As you may of seen the pictures I posted earlier in this thread which may of been partly the reason why you feel slightly uncomfortable I thought I would try and give you my thoughts.

Reading various posts that say you will crush more bees wearing leather gloves because you have no or little sense of feeling with them is laughable, there not boxing gloves, you can feel and hear if you are about to trap a bee if the gloves fit you properly. Its far more likely more bees will be injured or crushed when lifting or replacing frames in a hive or if they are rolled against another frame or the hive wall every time they are inspected.

I wear leather gloves when I'm inspecting my hives and rubber disposable when I visit other peoples hives for hygiene reasons because I don't want to be stung. The fact I was stung was my own fault and I deserved it truth be told, but what you read on here is completely irrelevant to how you feel when you are up close to a hive.

Bee keeping is a great hobbit but only if you feel safe and protected.

Thanks, I am sure I will not be doing much in a hive for some time yet. this will be my second visit. I think because of my fear of bees I will be extra careful when getting dressed for safety. I have an experienced mentor in Paul Peacock and I must admit, I feel very safe when he's there. He makes it fun and chilled out but also takes it seriously when needed. I think it might be a good idea to get stung quite quickly.....although I'm not going to do it on purpose obviously.

Darren, I am part of a group who have taken over a neglected plot on an allotment next to my childrens school. I run the gardening club for the school, and the bees will be part of that. The kids will be able to have access to the bees and Paul is going to build an observation window into the hive ( which will be covered when not being used ) that way the kids won't have to be near an open hive very much at all. Therefore the money I have spent so far has not been mine. We won a grant from the council. There are other people who can take the reins if my phobia proves too difficult to overcome, but after my first visit, I think I will get over it pretty quickly.

I made the others take a picture of me near a hive as my kids would not believe I'd done it otherwise

I`m sure you`ll be fine Kazmcc.
Everyone is going to be apprehensive when they get to play with bees for the first time.
A decent mentor is half the battle. Just remember, most beekeepers do it for fun, so there must be something that keeps us coming back for more

Darren.


Darren.

I use the nitrile gloves and always use two pairs, discard the top ones and then use the ones underneath on the top of another pair next time. Sometimes it is possible to reuse them, if washed while on the hands and blown into to check there are no tears.

kazmcc said:

I have an experienced mentor in Paul Peacock and I must admit, I feel very safe when he's there.

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Paul's a good bloke (though I've not met him face to face we frequented the same forums for years before he started the books etc).

Get him to give you a drone to handle on your glove. They have no sting but will give you a feel for them on your suit etc.

A sting on the finger is less hassle than a couple of nettle stings and the most likely place if you dress sensibly and are body aware. As BKA photographer I was the only one to get a sting (on the finger) at the apiary visit today....with a macro lens up against a full hive brood box and no glove. I obviously hadn't paid my union fees and I met a neophobe!

Like all news, bad news is loudest. It pays to be sensible around bees but there are a lot more scary places to be. Enjoy .