Mistakes from the beekeeper

Have you ever heard of an Alarm Pheromone? Well, it exists and it closely resembles the smell of Banana. For breakfast I had a smoothie which contained banana. This may sound foolish but I actually had a goal to never be stung as a bee keeper. That is probably just like a truck driver having a goal that his truck will never experience a flat tire or a milk man never spilling milk. Well, today it happened! My record was smashed! OUCH! So I thought it would be nice to list my mistakes so that I can learn better what I did wrong.


In A Hurry = Bad Idea #1
I made the family hive quite upset today. Have you ever heard of an Angry BEE?

Well, they were very upset. I probably had 200 out of the hive covering me and my gloves and my arms and just MAD MAD MAD. I don't really blame them though because they were doing what they were supposed to be doing. PROTECTING THE HIVE. And my banana breath did not help. I was going a little faster than I should and BAM!! I got it right in my thumb. One of them stung me right through my glove. It hurt and itched but not as bad as I thought.





SLACKS = Bad Idea #2
I went to the hives right from work and I was in my work clothes. Slacks are not good for bees if they wanted they could easily sting right through them. I will remember to bring a change of clothes next time.



Exposing your legs = Bad Idea #3
I have really never had to tuck in my pants into my socks. I did the very first time I hived a package of bees but I have never worried about it. I actually had one get up my pant leg and sting me in my calf. That was not fun. So I had to walk back to the car and tuck in my pants. The sting continued to bother me the entire time I was out there and I was ready to be done.



This is a picture of a Stinger.
You can see the barb connected to the venom sac. The venom sac has a muscle attached to it that continues to pulsate and pump venom into you after the bee has stung you. Nice isn't it? That is why when you get stung by a bee that you need to scrape the stinger off instead of pulling it out or hitting it.

I will mention a few things I am grateful for even with the stinging.

-Not allergic to bee stings. I have never really known but I know now that I am not.
-All three hives still doing very well.
-Honey Harvest is almost to an end and we can get the hives ready for winter.
-learning. Beekeeping is a continual learning experience. And I have more to learn.