An Experience of Anaphylaxis

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Thanks everyone, I made my 2nd visit to a hive today, and .....ta da! No stings :)

Paul told me our bees will be coming this week, I am going to see if we can get the children to come and watch us install them. I can't wait now. There were a lot of people at the meet today so I still haven't touched anything, but when our bees come it will be me and Paul so I am sure he will get me holding something.

Sounds a bit rude that last bit, sorry ;)
 
My attitude to bees is that I have friendly bees. In the garden I want to go around enjoying my garden without having to suit up. I can walk in front of the hives in shorts and T shirt and take photos. That is the standard I expect of them. When i take the top off the hive then i suit up properly, with wellies and gloves cause they should be a bit annoyed when i rip open their home. If they didn't the wasps would have a field day in late summer. I use the heavier duty marigold gloves from Tesco, on advice from White Park Cattle. I can feel through them but the stings dont get through. But my garden bees dont try to sting, they buzz a lot when the hive is open and that is about it. My wife has been stung by a honey bee but that was before I became a bee keeper. She has not been stung while i have had bees and I have had up to 3 hives in the garden and she cuts the grass round the hives and puts out her washing behind the hives.
When bees swarm they are not inclined to sting. They are full of honey and they have nothing to defend. When i have gone to collect swarms I have been able to walk through the cloud of bees unprotected, locate the cluster and then put on the gear to handle the swarm.
Any bees that are too feisty for the garden go out to the out apiary at a farm and I get rid of them if they fight too much.
Stings on the head really hurt. I once went down to the farm to attend to some bees I had been given and they were ferocious. I had just been to an association meeting where our president had mentioned that the worst sting he had seen was in the eye. These bees were really vile. As soon as the crown board came open they jumped on me and then i felt the wings of a bee brush my cheek and I saw about 6 bees on the inside of my veil. The thousands of bees jumping on me was just a diversion, as i looked down I saw a dozen bees on each arm burrowing under my cuffs. I beat a hasty retreat but received 6 stings to the head that day. That colony did not last long.
I always wear a bee suit with wellies and gloves. If the bees are not my garden bees then I wear elastic bands on each sleeve to stop burrowing bees. i dont wear layers of clothing, that gets me hot and when I did wear a jacket it just meant I did not feel the bees until they were in my veil. At least if you are bare armed under the suit you feel them and can try squashing.
I think a lot of people accept bees that are just ferocious. With nasty bees it is almost inevitable that you are going to be badly stung and it isn't a lot of fun in what is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby. Does my hive being in my garden increase the chances of my neighbours being stung?I think not. The bees cannot see them from the hive and they fly over the top of a hedge at 7 foot. If the bees were to swarm then the bees fly around but not to sting. When they forage they are unlikely to sting.
But people don't know how gentle bees can be. While I was on holiday my neighbour let a very experienced beek into my garden because a swarm had arrived. He was amazed that they could both stand in amongst my hives talking while my bees flew around. But despite that never take chances when taking their roof off. Then they can be as dangerous as any bee in the world.
 
Hi Geoff, The bees I have been around have been really chilled out too. People at both hives didn't wear any protection ( I did, both times...I'm not taking that chance ) and even when the hive was inspected they didn't bother anyone. They weren't smoked either. The bloke who is guiding us told us bees are like people, some families are rougher than others. The bees he gets are generally gentle and are not bothered by people at all. I do think you should be suited though just in case. If you dropped a frame of even the nicest bees they would get a little upset and accidents happen. As we are getting the bees for the school, he has kept them at his home until he is sure they are calm bees, and he gave me the good news at the weekend. I was very suprised that you could get so close to a hive and not be attacked. But then again I had a very dim view of bees until I started this course.

Thanks again Geoff

Karen
 
Hi Roy, Thanks for this post as a reminder not to be too confident. I am very wary when opening up. My apiary is a short bike ride away and as I look a right tit on a bike anyway it's even worse with wellies. As a quick solution I stand in two plastic bags ( Harrods would be best, shiny thick plastic and a nice shade of green) wrap them around each leg and fasten with bike clip. The fashion might even catch on! Thanks again for the reminder hope you are fully recovered. John.
 
My apiary is a short bike ride away and as I look a right tit on a bike anyway it's even worse with wellies. As a quick solution I stand in two plastic bags ( Harrods would be best, shiny thick plastic and a nice shade of green) wrap them around each leg and fasten with bike clip. The fashion might even catch on!

You will have to post some pics :D I for one would love to see them.....and what's wrong with a good old Asda carrier bag? ;)
 
My attitude to bees is that I have friendly bees. In the garden I want to go around enjoying my garden without having to suit up. I can walk in front of the hives in shorts and T shirt and take photos. That is the standard I expect of them. When i take the top off the hive then i suit up properly, with wellies and gloves cause they should be a bit annoyed when i rip open their home. If they didn't the wasps would have a field day in late summer. I use the heavier duty marigold gloves from Tesco, on advice from White Park Cattle. I can feel through them but the stings dont get through. But my garden bees dont try to sting, they buzz a lot when the hive is open and that is about it. My wife has been stung by a honey bee but that was before I became a bee keeper. She has not been stung while i have had bees and I have had up to 3 hives in the garden and she cuts the grass round the hives and puts out her washing behind the hives.
When bees swarm they are not inclined to sting. They are full of honey and they have nothing to defend. When i have gone to collect swarms I have been able to walk through the cloud of bees unprotected, locate the cluster and then put on the gear to handle the swarm.
Any bees that are too feisty for the garden go out to the out apiary at a farm and I get rid of them if they fight too much.
Stings on the head really hurt. I once went down to the farm to attend to some bees I had been given and they were ferocious. I had just been to an association meeting where our president had mentioned that the worst sting he had seen was in the eye. These bees were really vile. As soon as the crown board came open they jumped on me and then i felt the wings of a bee brush my cheek and I saw about 6 bees on the inside of my veil. The thousands of bees jumping on me was just a diversion, as i looked down I saw a dozen bees on each arm burrowing under my cuffs. I beat a hasty retreat but received 6 stings to the head that day. That colony did not last long.
I always wear a bee suit with wellies and gloves. If the bees are not my garden bees then I wear elastic bands on each sleeve to stop burrowing bees. i dont wear layers of clothing, that gets me hot and when I did wear a jacket it just meant I did not feel the bees until they were in my veil. At least if you are bare armed under the suit you feel them and can try squashing.
I think a lot of people accept bees that are just ferocious. With nasty bees it is almost inevitable that you are going to be badly stung and it isn't a lot of fun in what is supposed to be an enjoyable hobby. Does my hive being in my garden increase the chances of my neighbours being stung?I think not. The bees cannot see them from the hive and they fly over the top of a hedge at 7 foot. If the bees were to swarm then the bees fly around but not to sting. When they forage they are unlikely to sting.
But people don't know how gentle bees can be. While I was on holiday my neighbour let a very experienced beek into my garden because a swarm had arrived. He was amazed that they could both stand in amongst my hives talking while my bees flew around. But despite that never take chances when taking their roof off. Then they can be as dangerous as any bee in the world.

Geoff I think you are missing the point here. The bees I went through were pretty gentle bees, and my own bees are VERY gentle, but it still isnt worth taking risks. NO ONE can truly predict what ANY colony will be like all the time. You might have the Worlds most docile bees, but there WILL come a time when they surprise you, it may take 30 years but it WILL happen. And worse still someone being used to docile bees could be wearing so little protection when the attack happens it could be disasterous.

Yes I totally agree, everyone should have aim to have docile bees, especially in an urban environment. But and its a big BUT, there is so many people entering this craft, the shortage of bees is making ANY colony an attractive proposition to newcomers.

There are also a lot of carniolans which are at times ruthless in their f1 or f2 generations, and this year we've had a lot of newcomers lose swarms from their colonies leaving queen cells behind that could result in the above.

Ticking time bomb.......
 
I read on here that someones bees were unusually angry, and when they inspected the hive it was clear there was something wrong as the laying pattern was out and the capping was either none existant or sunken. If there is something wrong with the hive, will the bees start misbehaving? I suppose it's like me, if all is going well I am a calm nice person, but if something goes wrong I turn into a moody cow ;) so i suppose the moral is, even if your bees are calm, if there is a problem at home, they will behave differently.
I will always wear a suit, but then again I am a wimp and will probably cry if I get stung :)

Karen
 
I admire your confidence Geoff.

One day you will have a very nasty surprise, as may your neighbours. I say will as as sure as sure it will happen, it might not be tomorrow, it might not be next week but sods law says happen it will. Believe me.

Good luck. You may need it............

In general I wonder at the insouciance some have that their pets are so lovely and gentle.

The harsh reality is that ANY colony can turn. The problem is it might not be you they turn on. ................Food for thought?

PH
 
:iagree:

It concerns me the amount of new bee keepers who rely on bee forums or a book to get by week after week and even worse a lot of these colonies are placed in an urban garden surrounded by neighbours on all sides.

A box of fireworks waiting to explode. :angelsad2:

Hope your well now Roy and not put off from beek'ing.

A very sobering thread indeed BUT the above huge generalisation you make about hives in urban gardens is grossly unfair and quite frankly irresponsible in itself.

The incident quoted at the beginning of this thread bears absolutely no comparison to the keeping of bees in gardens and you are wrong to jump to this outrageous conclusion.

Medium to large gardens are fine for the odd hive or two and are to be encouraged to broaden the appeal and understanding of bees to the wider population. As we all should know, with correct management, it is extremely rare for a neighbour to be stung.

Saying it is 'a box of fireworks waiting to go off' is grossly over dramatic and simply not true!
 
I'm sorry Ivor, I know nothing about you or your level of experience with aggressive colonies. I've said my piece and I stand by it.
 
Sorry Mike but I didn't realise you were talking about aggressive colonies only. If so then it is very unwise to keep such bees in an urban garden.

However, the way your post reads it appears as if you feel that the keeping of any 'garden' bees is madness. If so it is irrelevant what my level of experience is of anything. You are very much in disagreement with almost all expert advice on the matter!
 
I'm sorry Ivor, I know nothing about you or your level of experience with aggressive colonies. I've said my piece and I stand by it.

I dont recall that the topic starter was stung by aggressive bees,, other that they were a bit pissed because he dropped them.........

so, in my opinion, rather irrelevant to urban gardens.
 
granted bees arent pets, but people keep dogs that turn nasty and kill children....
 
I would only keep bees in an urban garden if i had somewhere to take them the moment they turned aggressive.
I requeened an aggressive hive earlier this year and it took a few weeks for them to calm down properly.
 
im in total agreement with with dishmop.
i dont have much in the way of formal training.
i have caught a swarm about 5 weeks ago and have hived them in my garden.
I am very comfortable with the bees here, as are my friends and neighbours.
If the bees turn nasty for any length of time i will transfer them to a site away from people.
I fully intend to keep bees in my garden for the foreseeable future.

shonto
 
I would only keep bees in an urban garden if i had somewhere to take them the moment they turned aggressive.
I requeened an aggressive hive earlier this year and it took a few weeks for them to calm down properly.
Were they aggressive only when you opened the hive or on a general day to day basis with anything that they saw?
 
I had 6 hives and you could stand 10 feet away watching them come and go with no problems. They changed overnight and would come and ping my face within 30 yard of the hive. I had to wear a veil to collect my chicken eggs.
I squashed HM and requeened but it took a few weeks for them to settle down properly.

Darren.
 
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