Rocket got one too

My dear sweet helper dog got a sting too!  This was actually earlier this summer.  I  felt pretty bad for her when I noticed she had a swollen eyebrow.  She's been a champ about it though!

The Stinging Saga

Ahhhhhh!  I got stung again today!

I was just out looking through the supers.  I wanted to get out the empties that I'd put in for the girls to clean up after the harvest.  It was late, and dark, but I went out anyway.  I started reorganizing, and was able to clear out a whole super's worth of empties, or at least frames without comb drawn out.  But the girls were not in a very good mood.

I could hear the guard bee swarming me, and they were crawling on my veil.  Actually, I had two inside the helmet.  So I ran off and was able to pull it off before I got stung.  I shook them out and put everything back on since I still had to put the hive back together.

I went back over and the bees were definitely mad.  I put the supers back on and could hear another bee very close.  It had gotten quite dark, so I could barely see her crawling on the front of my veil.  I tried to brush her away and then froze, realizing I might have a third bee inside my hood.  Sure enough, when she got to the white veil seam she walked OVER it . . . meaning she was inside.  I bolted, but struggled with the knot so I couldn't get it off.  I felt her bump my face just below my eye and then the sharp burn.

I knew it was going to be bad because it was centered in the soft tissue just below my lower eyelid.  Ahhhh!  Having already seen some beekeeper face stings, I knew it was bad bad news.  I raced in and pulled the stinger out in a matter of seconds.  Pinched and rinsed, washed my face and took some benadryl.

I was pissed.

I went outside and put the helmet on AGAIN.  I put the inner cover and top cover and the brick back on as fast as I could and put away all my gear.  I got an ice cube and laid on the couch.

My latest sting at about 30 minutes . . . still smiling

Still smiling 4 hours after a bee sting to the face

 By the time I went to bed, my eye was nearly swollen shut, and I was realizing I was having another bad reaction.  My breathing was fine, and it was hot, but not especially painful.  So I took two more benadryl and ibuprofen, and was quickly asleep.

Swelling 12 hours after being stung in the face by a bee

When I did finally wake up, the mirror confirmed for me that benadryl isn't strong enough for any of my allergies.  My eye was completely swollen shut.  The skin hurt from being stretched so tight, and it was hot.  Awesome.  It's not like you can call into work and say "I got a bug bite and won't be in today."  So I took a shower and a double dose of Zyrtec and went.

I was actually pretty amazed that people that aren't in my department don't really look at you in the face when you pass them in the hall, so no one . . . no one . . . said anything in passing.  However, the people who do look me in the eyes were all shocked.  I looked bad enough that people didn't give me a hard time, they were actually very compassionate and concerned for me.

I was grateful that I really didn't feel that bad . . . aside from having a fat head.  I took another double dose of Zyrtec (4x for the day) but it didn't really seem to help either.

24 hours after being stung in the face by a bee

This warped smile was 24 hours after the sting.  It was beginning to really itch as the swelling went down and I started to get some feeling back.

Bee sting at 36 hours

 The next morning I looked worse again.  I think being laid down was the biggest factor.  I decided to double up on Allegra to see if it would help.  It's the most effective for my grass allergies.  And more ibuprophen.

I don't mind the stings so much, and the swelling isn't even that bad.  It's that it takes 3 or 4 days for me to get back to normal.

Still swollen at 60 hours

4 days and still a bit swollen

 So I guess the moral of the story is to be sure you don't have any open folds in the back of your veil.  I'm pretty sure that's where they were coming in from.  I need to figure out how to tie it tighter or perhaps wear my coat over it.

That and it's probably time for me to get an epipen.  This definitely isn't anaphylactic shock, but I do react much worse than most people.  I can see how multiple stings or a freak sting inside the mouth or throat could put me in really dire shape.  Better safe than sorry.

Super 2

It turns out that this has been a spectacular year to start beekeeping.  After having added the first super, i was disappointed that the bees didn't seem to be moving up into it.  There was very little wax being put down, and I was afraid that they had slowed down.  But recently there has been steady progress, and then suddenly they had 7 frames drawn out with nectar already in it.  So I put together two more supers and put the second one on today!

I'm so proud of the girls.  It's not even August yet, and they've nearly filled their first super.  We're gonna have honey this year for sure.  I can only imagine how many supers they'd have filled if they hadn't spent so much energy producing all that honeycomb.

They have gotten pretty aggressive because the hive has so much honey in it.  I got stung and swarmed a few days ago trying to clean up all the cross comb.  I didn't realize it, but my sweatshirt had probably 20 stingers in it, which was why i was getting swarmed.  And I had one get up under my veil.  I didn't feel her until she was crawling up my neck onto my  cheek.  I immediately got away from the hive but ended up getting stung right in front of my ear.  Lucky for me, there wasn't much skin there to swell.  So I've learned to keep my veil tighter . . . and smoke the little buggers.

The story of honeybees and their importance in sustaining life

Honeybees in peril.  They're kind of fragile little things . . . if you hadn't already noticed.

http://www.naturalnews.com/041194_honeybees_neonicotinoids_pesticides.html

Reduce No More

Thanks to Carolina for taking a look at the blog.  She noticed that I still had my reducer on and told me that it was more than time to take it off.  I had kind of been thinking that since all the hives I'd visited were missing their reducers.  But the girls have been so busy and I haven't had a day that I was up early enough, or remembered late enough, or dry . . . blah blah blah.  I took the reducer out today.

Reducer removed for summer!

I also took a peek at the frames in the super.  There didn't appear to be any new comb, which is a bit distressing.  So I took them out one by one and there was a bit of new wax.  There was a lot more activity, and i could also even see some nectar already in the half built comb.  This made me feel a lot better.  The hive body seems to be stuffed, so I'm glad the girls have FINALLY moved up and are drawing out the super frames.  Honey for ME!!!  I'm feeling pretty blessed that it's such a great summer for the bees.  I hope mine turns out half as well.

Queen Marking

I was pleased to be able to attend a "Queen Marking" class today with Carolina and Crystal.  I really just wanted to be able to do something with the NCBA and ask some questions of some experienced beekeepers.

The "not-supposed-to-be-irrigated-tick-hive"

As it turned out the "non-irrigated hive" was being irrigated, so we had to walk quite a ways around the field to get to it.  It wasn't long before we found the "Tick Hive", as the "non-irrigated hive" has been dubbed, was aptly named.  Shortly after having opened the hive, Carolina squished a tick that was crawling along one of the frames.  (I found one crawling on my arm later when I was sitting in church)

Inspecting frames

This hive had been recently re-queened, because the package queen wasn't performing very well.  Carolina showed us the shotgun brood pattern that still existed.  She also pointed out eggs and larvae for those who hadn't seen them.  It was also good to see that she noticed a potentially alarming sick larvae.  It was kind of crystallized in the comb, which could be a problem, and something a beekeeper should keep an eye out for.  We didn't see any others, so it's likely just an anomaly.

Crystal, happy to answer "new-bees" questions

Carolina and Crystal are great to work with.  They are both really knowledgeable and so willing to answer questions.  I shot a bunch of video which I hope to have a chance to cut down soon.

Carolina at work

And then we started the queen marking since that's why we'd assembled to begin with.  Part of the reason to mark your queen is to be able to understand who is in your hive.  Marking the queen identifies her by year, and let's the beekeeper know if a new queen is present.

The international color code is:

White:  for years 1 or 6

Yellow:  for years 2 or 7

Red:  for years 3 or 8

Green:  for years 4 or 9

Blue:  for years 5 or 0

Carolina had actually brought green model paint since we would be practicing on worker bees.  With a plastic marking tube she managed to corral the queen.  It simply a matter of gently pushing the foam plunger to the mesh end of the marking tube and carefully trapping her with her back exposed.  Carolina explained the best tool to use to apply the paint is the stick end of a match.  They hold just the right amount of paint which applied directly to her thorax.  I think we waited a minute for the paint to dry before releasing the plunger so she could at least move around the marking tube.

Capturing is the hardest part

Most everyone tried capturing worker bees and marking them.  It was interesting to see how the distressed freshly painted bee, called for help and was attended to by other unpainted workers.  They don't seem to like it, but as long as you don't use too much paint, it's not particularly harmful.

Don't squish her!!

We put the hive back together, and Carolina added a SEVENTH super on top of the rockstar hive next door.  It's a fantastic year for bees and they are flourishing!

A super frame FULL of nectar

Super Seven!

Thanks so much to Carolina and Crystal from the NCBA!  It's been a joy to get to know you and learn from you both!

Super Day

I took the time to get back into the hive today.  I just pulled the top frames to check the brood pattern.  They looked great.  There were lots of larvae on a few frames and a few others had babies emerging.  They seem really healthy!  I was also pleased to see how much comb had been drawn out in the last two weeks.

As I continued pulling frames, I was ecstatic to see two or three frames that were nearly full of capped honey!  I could tell before I even got them out that they were pretty full because they are so heavy!  They are beautiful to hold up in the light and see the bright color. 

I am so pleased with the bees.  They are working so hard and doing so well.  Their spot under the lilacs seems just about perfect as it keeps them shaded, and keeps their flight path in our front yard.  They go right up into the sky in the space between our trees and the lilacs.  Even with 30,000 of them coming and going you really don't notice them.

New super frames being added

I also realized that they only have about three frames to go, so I already need to put on my first super!  And it's not even July yet!  I'm pretty sure we'll have honey to harvest this year!  I went and got the queen excluder and the super frame.  I installed them with 5 small frames.  I'll check the super again before we leave for the Beartooths, and see if they've started on them.  If they have I'll add the rest of the super frames.

A shallow super on top of our growing hive