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Bee
Stings
and how to avoid them!
Being stung by a bee is not a pleasant experience at the best of times, hence when I first started beekeeping, like all sensible beginners I wore gloves at all times. However, over the years I have found them to be more of a hindrance than anything and I now try not to wear any gloves when managing my bees. I hasten to add that I do however keep them ready and available at all times, just in case of problems. At the very beginning, I found that although the gloves did offer excellent protection, I noticed that wearing them made things worse as once a few stings had become 'speared' to the material, the potent smell attracted even more bees and things soon got out of hand. One remedy I found was to always have a bucket of water available in which to quickly wash off both the stings and smell. NB. (Washing your hands before examining another colony also helps prevent transmission of any diseases which might be present.) However, I still found the gloves very uncomfortable to wear and worse still they made me very clumsy as a build up of Propolis and Honey resulted in a frame or two of bees sometimes falling from my grasp. Believe you me, I am sure that no one wants to drop a brood frame, especially when the 'Queen' is present. I decided that things had to change and this is how I did it:  Ihad
already discovered that the application of Apple Cider Vinegar
both soothed stings and sometimes also dissuaded the bees from stinging
me in the first instance. My first attempt at not wearing gloves went
quite well, having soaked my bare 'hand' (you didn't think I was going
to expose two hands straight away - did you?) with apple cider vinegar
which had been diluted with some water. I then set about 'handling' my
bees.Well, it worked, after a fashion! The bees did sometimes sting me but not quite so often as before and in any case the vinegar took the 'bite' out of the sting. I put this down to the fact that the solution masks any body odour. Most of the time, they just landed on my hands, some of them actually licked the wet vinegar solution which was a truly amazing sight. Note! I recommend taking 1 teaspoonful of Apple Cider Vinegar in a glass of water on an empty stomach, both morning and night. It does wonders for your body, acting as a pick-me-up and a natural sedative, just what one wants after a hard day managing the bees... Sting remedy! I have also discovered that an application of Olbas Oil does wonders after you have been stung. Applying the oil to a bee sting has an immediate soothing and cooling effect, and in my case prevents irritation and swelling of the skin at the point of entry of the sting. Simply scrape away the barbed sting before applying the oil. So, if you, like me, suffer from summer colds, it may be a good idea to keep a spare bottle of Olbas Oil close at hand for treating both problems!
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