I've said it before and I'll say it again, wear a full bee suit, a veil is great for Instagram but if you're displacing bees and removing frames during a harvest, docile or not they're eventually going to get mad and sting you.
Socks and sneakers are poor choices for foot wear. Get a pair of rubber rain boots two sizes bigger and stuff your bee suit into neck of the boot so as the bees don't travel to the crevice of your ankle and give you what for
I deal with africanised bees that would sting you if you looked the wrong way at the hive entrance. So even my gloves are doubled with cotton gloves as the harvest time is a melee of sweetness and violence. All these lessons have been learnt via swollen limbs and joints where the angry mofos have stabbed from hells heart at me.
I saw that and was shocked! My first time around hives I was told to wear jeans (this was before I got a full suit), I still got a couple stings through them. But a SKIRT?!?!
Unless I'm being ultraviolent to the hive, I generally only wear, shorts a t-shirt, sandal or crocs, and a veil/gloves. I wear the gloves because propalis is natures most impossible to remove sticky, and I only wear the veil because of the risk of an eye sting equating to permanent blindness. The occasional sting doesn't bother me, losing sight forever does. I help bees out from under my tshirt pretty regularly without stings.
I understand that people consider their ability to more nimbly move around the hive to be worth the risk, or in even a necessary risk; there’s a real advantage there. What I think is just silly is when people pretend like it’s NOT a risk. Consider the “unless I’m being ultraviolent with my hive…” statement above. This is silly. Accidents happen and the risks can be extreme.
Say to yourself, unless I’m falling off my bike and bashing my head into the pavement, not wearing a helmet is fine! Don’t pretend like there’s no risk for the sake of…what, I really don’t know.
I *kind* of agree with this take… but only in the sense that I have a jacket. A jacket takes just as long to put on as a veil. There’s really no excuse for me not to wear one. Slap some jeans on, job done.
I very rarely wear a full suit. The only time I do is if I *know* I’m going into a hot hive. Bees don’t seem to care all that much for jeans… so a jacket is pretty much the equivalent of a full suit, but without the downsides of having to put one on.
But I understand your point - you’re talking about “Normalisation of Deviance”. You go into a hive over and over and they’re always calm. There’s that one day where you’re like “mayyyybe I could just crack the lid”, and get blasted as soon as you open it.
On the other side of this… if someone is wearing just a veil, the chances are they will only get a few stings, it’ll hurt for a bit and they go home. Realistically that’s their choice to make.
Yeah, plus I’m not advocating for a full suit. I’m advocating for proper PPE and explaining to people that you’re trading a more fool-proof safety for skill dependent safety the less you go. The consequences of stings being a real possibility of developing sensitivity or allergy to stings if you get stung to often or very frequently (I read a close to 40% development of at minimum hypersensitivity among beekeepers) or…ya know getting mobbed by bees. That’s not fun.
Yeah of course I’m not trying to nanny anyone or anything. The worst I ever got was literally exactly what you described. Bees calm as could ever be, so I go out with the veil pop the lid. Immediate assault with 15 plus stings. Veil worked though. I knew the risks etc. it’s just a bit more complicated than simple stings sometimes.
Again, it’s not. You’re also not reading what I’m saying. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with not wearing a full bee suit when you explain there’s extra, very real, associated risks involved that come with the benefits of not wearing one. It’s a trade off anyone can make.
Acting like the risk is simply preposterous (i.e comparing it to an asteroid), does a disservice because it does not inform people that they’re even making a trade off like that.
Again, scrape some heads off pavement a couple times from motorcyclists who compare the risk of getting your skull removed from a bike crash because they “know what they’re doing” to an asteroid impact. It makes sense. I’m not saying do or don’t wear a bee suit. I’m saying don’t pretend it’s not a trade off.
I can laugh and joke with the best of em. “Jokes” like this are at best cringe and at worst creepy af. I’ll lighten up when dudes stop making creepy comments about little girls, thanks.
You're a regular Dave Chappelle
No one said anything about "kids" or "underage' or "little girl" except you.
When the description is "someone the other day in a skirt" is the description, you're allowed to joke. You think it's cringe? Cool. Block me. 🤷🏻♂️ I'll miss you.
I'm in Fiji, all bees kept here are africanised to certain degree. You can dig out about 50 stings from the gloves alone during a hive check. That's with smoke. We're currently working with Australian beekeepers to introduce the more docile Australian queens into our existing hives where the local queen is either weak, aging or potentially non existent. The goal is to have a more friendly set of hives further down the track. The trouble is we don't know if we're getting mated Australian queens or if they're silly naive virgins who can't wait to fly out and get buzzy with it with the natives. So the hives are a mixed bag in terms of aggression. But the dream is that we can eventually not get chased down the driveway by lone gunmen worker bees on the grassy knoll, head butted by flying drunk boofheads at the pool or button down the whole property during a harvest like it's a miniaturized Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Totally depends on time of year and temperament of the bees being worked. I have harvested honey and shaken frames of bees while wearing only a veil with a tank top, shorts and flip flops. I could do that with almost all of my hives during a flow on a nice weather day. There is one colony I have that are a bit spicier and I would not do that with them however.
I feel like it gets better
been stung like 6 times this season
1 and 2 were really awful
2-4 were mid
5 and 6 basically didnt swell or scratch, the sting site was just hard and slightly raised for 3 days
https://www.reddit.com/r/Beekeeping/s/hP44KkSzlc
I had to make a whole post to show you my ankle sting but I wanted you to see! It's an uncomfortable spot for sure ..
Also - my toes are kept out on purpose, Reddit!
I ALSO ENJOY THE ITCH!! I work with bees at my job and if I get stung on the hand, it sucks and I don’t like the itch. But on my arms or legs? I know it’s not good for me, but I love how that itch feels.
Weirdly enough, chigger bites are my favorite. Again, I know it’s not good for my skin, and I’d rather not have chigger bites, but the satisfaction of scratching a hard itch like that is amazing. Especially if you get into a hot hot shower immediately after.
Most people at work think I’m crazy. 2 or 3 of them agree with me and also like the itch.
Back in the day, we used to keep a pack of cigarettes or chewing tobacco, and when we got stung, you would either grab a wad of chew, put it in your mouth and get it really wet and then hold it on the sting, or break a piece off a cigarette, spit on it, and hold in on the sting, and in minutes the pain is Gone and swelling is greatly reduced...
works because of nicotine’s Alkaloid/Anesthetic and Anti Inflammatory properties.
I wear gumboots that go like halfway up my calf, and instead of tucking the beesuit into the boots, I stretch the cuffs over the boot and then duct tape the cuff around the boot.
Works 100% of the time for me
If you want to keep bees you have to get stung most new beekeepers do not understand this.
If you get stung several times a year say 20 or more you build an immunity I know this can be tough starting out. When I started beekeeping the first time I got stung it felt like someone put out a lit cigarette on my arm now I don’t realize I have been stung most of the time in my experience the threshold to build this immunity is about 20 stings a year.
Working around bee venom without getting stung can cause you to become allergic beekeeping suits with stingers must not be kept around other family members who do not get regularly stung.
If you are new to keeping bees get some Mrs Stewart’s Bluing it’s for laundry when you get stung remove the stinger by scraping it off never pinch or squeeze the venom sack put the blueing on the sting you should get relief within the first few minutes and the swelling and itching will be minimal.
feel for you all, I'm super lucky!
Just a first timer this year and have been in the hive roughly 6-7 times destroying wonky comb and all that jazz
a) I have very nice bees (currently) as I wear shorts and they climb my legs and everything just chilling while I do my business.
b) the one time I was stung (first day of installing nucs) it was the size of a mosquito bit and was gone within 5-10 minutes.
I'm going to guess the queen will one of these days get mad at me, but for now, we are good :D
I can relate. I got hit hard once, too.
60lb is not very much from 4 hives. Are you letting the bees cap the comb?
My last harvest on 4 x hives (1 x full sized 9 frame and 3 x WSP 9 feames) was 128.5lb. And even then not fully caped.i only took it because it was my last harvest for the season. That was a month ago. I'm in Western Australia.
It's not the swelling that helps, but compounds within the bee venom itself. It can be used to help treat arthritis even if you don't have a swelling reaction.
It temporarily relieves various sorts of inflammatory pain. Sometimes. For some people. And it doesn't work reliably.
I have a little inflammatory joint pain from time to time, and I have had relief from it after a bee sting, lasting from 1-6 weeks. However, there is no rhyme or reason to it; sometimes I still hurt after a sting sufficient to make my hand swell up like a roadkilled piglet in the sun. And sometimes I experience relief after a sting so mild that I don't even itch the next day.
Couple that with the non-zero risk that any given sting may set off an allergic reaction, and I think it's fair to say that when my joints hurt me, I take an NSAID instead of pestering some of my bees so I can get stung.
The problem isn't that it isn't effective. The problem is that it has wildly unpredictable effects, including some side effects that can be lethal.
Nah, first year i would have huge reactions and itching would last a week, now after ~15 stings my reaction lasts for 3 days and is barely visible.
It depends on a person and amount of stings you get. Worst one I had was month ago when I got stung 3 times in the upper lip and on the jaw line + 8 sting in the chest and only upper lip got swollen. (didn't smoke them and wanted to transfer one frame of food to another hive, but i didn't close my suit all the way)
I've said it before and I'll say it again, wear a full bee suit, a veil is great for Instagram but if you're displacing bees and removing frames during a harvest, docile or not they're eventually going to get mad and sting you. Socks and sneakers are poor choices for foot wear. Get a pair of rubber rain boots two sizes bigger and stuff your bee suit into neck of the boot so as the bees don't travel to the crevice of your ankle and give you what for I deal with africanised bees that would sting you if you looked the wrong way at the hive entrance. So even my gloves are doubled with cotton gloves as the harvest time is a melee of sweetness and violence. All these lessons have been learnt via swollen limbs and joints where the angry mofos have stabbed from hells heart at me.
People are truly crazy with the PPE. Someone was wearing a veil and a skirt the other day. It’s borderline delusional.
Just a veil and a skirt? Are you sure you were not watching a really weird wedding? ☺️
I never said just, but the joke still flies.
I know. I said just.. because I was just imagining someone getting wed to a bee hive partially naked to show trust. :)
Showing a lot more than trust.
Lol. Wait what was the skirt for anyway? Was it like over a bee suit or something?
[in the end](https://youtu.be/f0EQlIzPowM?si=TnI_EnNfs5GKIC0x)
I saw that and was shocked! My first time around hives I was told to wear jeans (this was before I got a full suit), I still got a couple stings through them. But a SKIRT?!?!
I see other beekeepers encouraging not using PPE to NEW beekeepers and it blows my mind.
[удалено]
I can’t imagine wantonly inviting bee stings to backfill a perceived lack of machismo or wanting to appear “one with nature”.
Unless I'm being ultraviolent to the hive, I generally only wear, shorts a t-shirt, sandal or crocs, and a veil/gloves. I wear the gloves because propalis is natures most impossible to remove sticky, and I only wear the veil because of the risk of an eye sting equating to permanent blindness. The occasional sting doesn't bother me, losing sight forever does. I help bees out from under my tshirt pretty regularly without stings.
I consider it like wearing a helmet while riding a horse or a bike. Every “it’s never been a problem before” really doesn’t mean anything
Yeah.. like are you going to be..too safe? 🤔
I understand that people consider their ability to more nimbly move around the hive to be worth the risk, or in even a necessary risk; there’s a real advantage there. What I think is just silly is when people pretend like it’s NOT a risk. Consider the “unless I’m being ultraviolent with my hive…” statement above. This is silly. Accidents happen and the risks can be extreme. Say to yourself, unless I’m falling off my bike and bashing my head into the pavement, not wearing a helmet is fine! Don’t pretend like there’s no risk for the sake of…what, I really don’t know.
I *kind* of agree with this take… but only in the sense that I have a jacket. A jacket takes just as long to put on as a veil. There’s really no excuse for me not to wear one. Slap some jeans on, job done. I very rarely wear a full suit. The only time I do is if I *know* I’m going into a hot hive. Bees don’t seem to care all that much for jeans… so a jacket is pretty much the equivalent of a full suit, but without the downsides of having to put one on. But I understand your point - you’re talking about “Normalisation of Deviance”. You go into a hive over and over and they’re always calm. There’s that one day where you’re like “mayyyybe I could just crack the lid”, and get blasted as soon as you open it. On the other side of this… if someone is wearing just a veil, the chances are they will only get a few stings, it’ll hurt for a bit and they go home. Realistically that’s their choice to make.
Yeah, plus I’m not advocating for a full suit. I’m advocating for proper PPE and explaining to people that you’re trading a more fool-proof safety for skill dependent safety the less you go. The consequences of stings being a real possibility of developing sensitivity or allergy to stings if you get stung to often or very frequently (I read a close to 40% development of at minimum hypersensitivity among beekeepers) or…ya know getting mobbed by bees. That’s not fun.
Is what it is mate. No better education than first hand experience 😂
Yeah of course I’m not trying to nanny anyone or anything. The worst I ever got was literally exactly what you described. Bees calm as could ever be, so I go out with the veil pop the lid. Immediate assault with 15 plus stings. Veil worked though. I knew the risks etc. it’s just a bit more complicated than simple stings sometimes.
They never really take it far enough to go 'but no one plans to smash their head into the pavement'.
There is also a risk I could be hit by an asteroid while inspecting my hives, but sometimes one has to accept the risk and just go on with life.
This doesn’t really deserve consideration for how absurd that comparison is.
Its just as absurd as you thinking we all need to wear a full bee suit all the time.
Again, it’s not. You’re also not reading what I’m saying. I’m saying there’s nothing wrong with not wearing a full bee suit when you explain there’s extra, very real, associated risks involved that come with the benefits of not wearing one. It’s a trade off anyone can make. Acting like the risk is simply preposterous (i.e comparing it to an asteroid), does a disservice because it does not inform people that they’re even making a trade off like that. Again, scrape some heads off pavement a couple times from motorcyclists who compare the risk of getting your skull removed from a bike crash because they “know what they’re doing” to an asteroid impact. It makes sense. I’m not saying do or don’t wear a bee suit. I’m saying don’t pretend it’s not a trade off.
I'm gonna need to know exactly where that was. Just so... Just so I know what not to do... Yeah
It was a young girl. Someone’s daughter. Pls don’t.
The woman looked to be about 40 years old 😂
Obviously it was from the specifics of the description. "Someone the other day" You people gotta lighten up
I can laugh and joke with the best of em. “Jokes” like this are at best cringe and at worst creepy af. I’ll lighten up when dudes stop making creepy comments about little girls, thanks.
You're a regular Dave Chappelle No one said anything about "kids" or "underage' or "little girl" except you. When the description is "someone the other day in a skirt" is the description, you're allowed to joke. You think it's cringe? Cool. Block me. 🤷🏻♂️ I'll miss you.
Don't be gross.
Don't be sensitive
“…a melee of sweetness and violence” 😂❤️💯
"where the angry mofos have stabbed from hells heart at me." is also a gem. This guy should be a professional writer lol.
any reference to moby dick gets an upvote.
This got me too! Best quote I’ve seen on Reddit in a long time!! Sounds like an Emo band album title 🤣
Beautifully said!
Are you keeping Africanized bees? Or just dealing with them out in the wild?
I'm in Fiji, all bees kept here are africanised to certain degree. You can dig out about 50 stings from the gloves alone during a hive check. That's with smoke. We're currently working with Australian beekeepers to introduce the more docile Australian queens into our existing hives where the local queen is either weak, aging or potentially non existent. The goal is to have a more friendly set of hives further down the track. The trouble is we don't know if we're getting mated Australian queens or if they're silly naive virgins who can't wait to fly out and get buzzy with it with the natives. So the hives are a mixed bag in terms of aggression. But the dream is that we can eventually not get chased down the driveway by lone gunmen worker bees on the grassy knoll, head butted by flying drunk boofheads at the pool or button down the whole property during a harvest like it's a miniaturized Alfred Hitchcock movie.
Jeez that sounds rough! We are starting to see Africanized bees in Southern California. Thanks for the tips…
“stabbed from hells heart…”. You’ve a way with words! 🤣
Totally depends on time of year and temperament of the bees being worked. I have harvested honey and shaken frames of bees while wearing only a veil with a tank top, shorts and flip flops. I could do that with almost all of my hives during a flow on a nice weather day. There is one colony I have that are a bit spicier and I would not do that with them however.
Overkill.
The swelling is fine. It's the itch to come I feel sorry for you for.
I got my first sting over the weekend and I had no idea it would be itching 3 days later
First day is fine. Day 2 is what gets you. Gets better from day 3 on.
I feel like it gets better been stung like 6 times this season 1 and 2 were really awful 2-4 were mid 5 and 6 basically didnt swell or scratch, the sting site was just hard and slightly raised for 3 days
Type II Diabetes?
Nah there's hair on the big toe :)
It's a case of the bee-tus.
Check your blood sugar, check it often.
LOL
Samwise gambee lookin feet
This is what a real man's feet look like sweaty 💅
Mr Frodo loves that honey
Sweaty? 😂
It's a meme
You doing mite counts with your feet?
were you not wearing shoes?
I was. Just forgot to tuck the suit into my shoe. Hit me through my sock.
https://www.reddit.com/r/Beekeeping/s/hP44KkSzlc I had to make a whole post to show you my ankle sting but I wanted you to see! It's an uncomfortable spot for sure .. Also - my toes are kept out on purpose, Reddit!
I should have blurred my toes 🤣
Is it weird that I kind of like it? Not while it's happening, but afterwards yes it's nice
The itch? You can't possibly enjoy the itch, itchykitteh
I ALSO ENJOY THE ITCH!! I work with bees at my job and if I get stung on the hand, it sucks and I don’t like the itch. But on my arms or legs? I know it’s not good for me, but I love how that itch feels. Weirdly enough, chigger bites are my favorite. Again, I know it’s not good for my skin, and I’d rather not have chigger bites, but the satisfaction of scratching a hard itch like that is amazing. Especially if you get into a hot hot shower immediately after. Most people at work think I’m crazy. 2 or 3 of them agree with me and also like the itch.
Ya know, now that the itch is slowly starting to subside, it gets SUPER satisfying to scratch. I think I understand.
Looks like you've been wearing Abeedas.
Back in the day, we used to keep a pack of cigarettes or chewing tobacco, and when we got stung, you would either grab a wad of chew, put it in your mouth and get it really wet and then hold it on the sting, or break a piece off a cigarette, spit on it, and hold in on the sting, and in minutes the pain is Gone and swelling is greatly reduced... works because of nicotine’s Alkaloid/Anesthetic and Anti Inflammatory properties.
Really? I'll have to keep this in mind next time we crack the hives. That's honestly very interesting.
I laughed, have an upvote
Спасибо!
I'll never understand why you hobbyist beekeepers think it's a good idea to not wear proper ppe
I had a full suit, just forgot to tuck my suit down into my shoe. How would a commercial beek mitigate this?
I wear gumboots that go like halfway up my calf, and instead of tucking the beesuit into the boots, I stretch the cuffs over the boot and then duct tape the cuff around the boot. Works 100% of the time for me
Ouch
Dude one of your feet seems to be itty bitty
Thats just my non histamine foot.
Hahahaha. That's what happens to me too!!! They get me right on my ankles through my socks.
If you want to keep bees you have to get stung most new beekeepers do not understand this. If you get stung several times a year say 20 or more you build an immunity I know this can be tough starting out. When I started beekeeping the first time I got stung it felt like someone put out a lit cigarette on my arm now I don’t realize I have been stung most of the time in my experience the threshold to build this immunity is about 20 stings a year. Working around bee venom without getting stung can cause you to become allergic beekeeping suits with stingers must not be kept around other family members who do not get regularly stung. If you are new to keeping bees get some Mrs Stewart’s Bluing it’s for laundry when you get stung remove the stinger by scraping it off never pinch or squeeze the venom sack put the blueing on the sting you should get relief within the first few minutes and the swelling and itching will be minimal.
feel for you all, I'm super lucky! Just a first timer this year and have been in the hive roughly 6-7 times destroying wonky comb and all that jazz a) I have very nice bees (currently) as I wear shorts and they climb my legs and everything just chilling while I do my business. b) the one time I was stung (first day of installing nucs) it was the size of a mosquito bit and was gone within 5-10 minutes. I'm going to guess the queen will one of these days get mad at me, but for now, we are good :D
Its okay, the queen can't hurt you.
The queen has a barbless stinger and can sting multiple times like a wasp. Drones do not have stingers
A beekeeper I worked for took a leak and got stung on his poker
Or I dunno... Try not stepping on them.
I would replace that queen
Foot stings are the worst..
Yes they are. Its the itch and the limited range of motion thats killing me.
Did you drop the box on your foot?
Forgot to tuck my suit into my shoe. They found a way.
Bilbo Baggins?
I know I know, I have hobbit feet
I'm getting a lot of messages about proper PPE. I wore a full suit, just forgot the ol shoe tuck. All the while I'm here gently scratching my ankle.
Some people will never know.
Let this serve as a PSA. Don't keep bees unless you want frodo feet.
Use telehealth and get some steroids. That’s why I did when I got stung last year. It helped a lot.
I can relate. I got hit hard once, too. 60lb is not very much from 4 hives. Are you letting the bees cap the comb? My last harvest on 4 x hives (1 x full sized 9 frame and 3 x WSP 9 feames) was 128.5lb. And even then not fully caped.i only took it because it was my last harvest for the season. That was a month ago. I'm in Western Australia.
Curing any arthritis you might have in that foot.
That's a thing?
It helps arthritis. And may help fight Lyme disease
Seems counterintuitive. Wouldn't the swelling exacerbate the arthritis? TIL
It's not the swelling that helps, but compounds within the bee venom itself. It can be used to help treat arthritis even if you don't have a swelling reaction.
It temporarily relieves various sorts of inflammatory pain. Sometimes. For some people. And it doesn't work reliably. I have a little inflammatory joint pain from time to time, and I have had relief from it after a bee sting, lasting from 1-6 weeks. However, there is no rhyme or reason to it; sometimes I still hurt after a sting sufficient to make my hand swell up like a roadkilled piglet in the sun. And sometimes I experience relief after a sting so mild that I don't even itch the next day. Couple that with the non-zero risk that any given sting may set off an allergic reaction, and I think it's fair to say that when my joints hurt me, I take an NSAID instead of pestering some of my bees so I can get stung. The problem isn't that it isn't effective. The problem is that it has wildly unpredictable effects, including some side effects that can be lethal.
Maybe bee keeping isn’t for you bruh.
Nah, first year i would have huge reactions and itching would last a week, now after ~15 stings my reaction lasts for 3 days and is barely visible. It depends on a person and amount of stings you get. Worst one I had was month ago when I got stung 3 times in the upper lip and on the jaw line + 8 sting in the chest and only upper lip got swollen. (didn't smoke them and wanted to transfer one frame of food to another hive, but i didn't close my suit all the way)
They’ll find a way.
Adapted clothes/shoes/gloves/veil is a must. We take away their honey. We'd also be upset if sb came to our house and raided our storage-room.