One of the first things I noticed was that getting stung really wasn't all that bad. I still don't like it, but I'm not terrified of stings any longer. I realized bees will sting because it is what they do in response to my actions.
Pretty much how it is Hops, and to expand on that observation I recount
an experiment which can be done safely by all who do not own any known allergy.
Having just started my newest trainee b'keep - an old employee/mate of Basque origins, and so excitable yet high in resolve - the exercise is fresh
fill to the frontal lobe so too easy to dump into text.
Differing from many others I mix with the very first elements of the "I wanna know about bees" agenda is to cover stings and then smoke.
They can read the book _after_ they get past Lesson 1(one).
I choose those two topics as what is universally accepted as "bee facts" by Joe Public is bees always sting you and smoke drives them away, both
inherently erroneous. Such mantra leads to poor practice by the persistant... in a beesuit.
Before beginning the lesson I give out a veil in order to install enough confidence to watch closely without the flee and wave response kicking in.
Lesson;
Allowing smoke to drift across an entrance I select a bee which stays put in not overly reacting and pick the fella up by the wings to then move back within close eyesight of the trainee. You can often see the stinger being deployed to demonstrate the bees reaction to being picked up. You have a guard bee, fully potent. I then apply the bees butt to the back of the left hand behind the prime knuckle, squishing the fella as stinger lodges. Counting "one one thousand two one thousand...." I reach for my trusty bowie style not sharp pocketknife (previously deployed nearby) to then scrape along the skin on reaching "... five one thousand".
Stinger sac removed I then show how the very end of the barb usually remains lodged in skin. After the second part of lesson (@pplying smoke) I revisit that sting site to show the splinter still remaining and no swelling. I then encourage the trainee to repeat the lesson, a number of times depending on their level of acceptance.
Sure, the sting "hurts" but no more than any intramuscular injection. It is
the second stage, the pumping of venom, that really sets ones pain levels singing. So get past the initial hit, get the stinger sac removed within 10 seconds and there should only be a mild reaction, even on a direct deliberate hit to an eyebrow or, my most sensitive spot often hit, the fingerprint of the middle finger right hand which has nerve damage from an industrial accident. I miss one of those - 'cos the frame cannot be dropped - and the whole print is sensitive for days. Rarely do I get away from a brood chamber strip without at least a half dozen hits on that finger.
Yes, some stings hurt more than others. It's just the way it is.
Indeed so, and I have always found it is the fellas which launch themselves at you that prove most enduring. When such a reaction occurs it is a message, so walk away. They usually settle within a few minutes and the delay created in waiting, and further in smoking bees back down off topbars, is small bananas in terms of keeping the whole colony happy with your work.
Bill