Queen question

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Les

House Bee
Joined
May 3, 2010
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Location
Rochdale
Hive Type
14x12
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4
Following on from the queen handling question - has anyone on here ever been stung by a queen?
 
A bit of a dogmatic reply from PH, just don't know where he gets his info from.....

Yes I have been stung by twice by queens. I think it was because I had some pheromone from a previous queen I handled and they reacted to this.
 
Following on from the queen handling question - has anyone on here ever been stung by a queen?

Les, its normally considered that the queen's sting is so much less developed that it is of use only against rivals, particularly soft-skinned not-yet-emerged-from-the-cell rivals.

Its interesting to hear that Norton, who breeds queens and will likely have handled many thousands, has actually taken a couple of stings ...

I wonder if those were still at the virgin stage?
 
I wonder if those were still at the virgin stage?

Music, Planes, Trains even Health Services... now into bee breeding too?


:p:p:p
 
"A bit of a dogmatic reply from PH, just don't know where he gets his info from..."

Norton - Personal experience. the OP was asking specifically if anyone on here had been stung. PH clearly hasn't but you have. Both valid replies.
 
It is the standard (book) info that queens *can't* sting through human skin.
And its an event so rare that seemingly only a pro queen breeder has experienced it.

Hence my (now repeated) question - Norton, please can you tell us, were you stung by a virgin or a mated, laying queen?


Since the sting is a modification of the (female) reproductive apparatus, I was wondering if it might be that the ability to sting (through human skin) was lost once the queen had fully developed her umm 'apparatus' and begun to lay ...
 
I have been stung by virgins when transferring them from emerging cages in the incubator to introduction cages. I think it happened because I had some scent on my finger from a previous queen I had handled and this caused the queen to react and sting me. It was no where near as painful as a sting from a worker bee.
 
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