With every sting, a lesson
So, yesterday Urte, the beekeeper from my workplace, and I did the second honey harvest at the Voelker Orth Museum where she also works. Harvest one had been 3 weeks earlier and, prior to that, we put in an exit board. The purpose of this board is that bees can go down into it but not easily walk back up because it's a screened maze on the other side. You put this board below the super you want to harvest and wait a couple of days. When harvest day comes, there are very few bees on those frames because they climb down at night through the board and can't climb back up. The process of putting that board in was an arduous one because the hive is very large with two large brood supers, 3 medium honey supers and one large brood super being used as a honey super. We did manage to get it in, although Urte was stung a couple of times because she hadn't secured her pants legs and the bees flew into her clothing. For the second harvest, she decided not to put in the escape board again, feeling that it was too heavy and that we would just brush the bees off the frames, even though bees can become angry with the brushing. Well, the hive probably has about 60,000 bees in it, they have no room to move and they could not walk down when we smoked them for that reason. I was stung 11 times yesterday and Urte was stung 3 times. All of my stings were on my ankles and she got two in her thighs and one on her hands. I ended up having a moderate reaction to those stings and my right foot is still pretty swollen. I had gotten 6 stings right on the outside ankle bone on that foot so I expected swelling. Last night I could barely walk on it but today I have benedryl and ibuprofen on board and I iced it a lot.
I like to learn from my mistakes so here is what I've learned so far:
1) Honeybees do not like black socks. Urte says they think it is an attacking animal and they go for them. White socks from here on in.
2) Wear better shoes. I had mesh sneakers on but from now on, it will be boots that protect my ankles.
3)Pheromones make the bees attack you, again. I got stung on the other ankle again when I went back out to close up the hive with Urte and it was instantaneous. Urte thinks they smelled the attack pheromone and that's why it happened so fast. Next time I will wash up more carefully after being stung.
4) Use exit boards where possible. Your mileage may vary but this is less traumatic for the bees and would have been for me too.
5)Inspect your hive. If we had done a brood check and an egg count earlier in the season we could have anticipated a population explosion and prepared for it.
6)Manage your hive. I think this hive could have been split or harvested earlier to avoid the crowding situation.
7) Have the right tools on hand. Using a brood box for honey makes lifting that super a very heavy and difficult proposition. It would have been better if Urte had had an extra medium super. She agreed with this assessment and will bring another one from her stash at home for the future.
8) Be prepared. There will be Benedryl in my bee bag from now on.
9) Start treatment immediately if you have multiple stings. I resisted icing it at first and this was a big mistake. I also should have had the ibuprofen and Benedryl on board earlier.
10) Check local weather conditions. Besides being overcrowded, were the bees angry because it was too sunny and nectar was in short supply? We didn't check so we don't know.
11) Quit while you're ahead. We didn't get stung until we had gotten to the second honey super but they were getting agitated. If we had taken a breather and let them calm down, this might have ended better.
And finally, get back on the horse, which I did immediately. Getting stung is part of being a beekeeper. It was quite the day but I learned a lot and I'm ready to go out again.
I like to learn from my mistakes so here is what I've learned so far:
1) Honeybees do not like black socks. Urte says they think it is an attacking animal and they go for them. White socks from here on in.
2) Wear better shoes. I had mesh sneakers on but from now on, it will be boots that protect my ankles.
3)Pheromones make the bees attack you, again. I got stung on the other ankle again when I went back out to close up the hive with Urte and it was instantaneous. Urte thinks they smelled the attack pheromone and that's why it happened so fast. Next time I will wash up more carefully after being stung.
4) Use exit boards where possible. Your mileage may vary but this is less traumatic for the bees and would have been for me too.
5)Inspect your hive. If we had done a brood check and an egg count earlier in the season we could have anticipated a population explosion and prepared for it.
6)Manage your hive. I think this hive could have been split or harvested earlier to avoid the crowding situation.
7) Have the right tools on hand. Using a brood box for honey makes lifting that super a very heavy and difficult proposition. It would have been better if Urte had had an extra medium super. She agreed with this assessment and will bring another one from her stash at home for the future.
8) Be prepared. There will be Benedryl in my bee bag from now on.
9) Start treatment immediately if you have multiple stings. I resisted icing it at first and this was a big mistake. I also should have had the ibuprofen and Benedryl on board earlier.
10) Check local weather conditions. Besides being overcrowded, were the bees angry because it was too sunny and nectar was in short supply? We didn't check so we don't know.
11) Quit while you're ahead. We didn't get stung until we had gotten to the second honey super but they were getting agitated. If we had taken a breather and let them calm down, this might have ended better.
And finally, get back on the horse, which I did immediately. Getting stung is part of being a beekeeper. It was quite the day but I learned a lot and I'm ready to go out again.