And the girls will defend their castle to the death, literally. I found that out the hard way.
It just one of those really stupid things to do. Trying to write about it now, with hands swollen enough to look like the Pillsbury Dough Boy, makes matters worse. The itching and burning make it down right miserable. Hang on, gotta soak my hands in ice water some more……
AAHHH, back again… Who would have guessed the sensation of impending frost-bite would feel ab-so-lute-ly luxurious compared to the reaction from multiple bee stings?
It was my own damn fault. One of the dogs had eaten a beekeeper glove and I decided to try a pair of gardening gloves, the ones with rubber fingers and palm and cloth backing, thinking it would offer better manual dexterity. Yeah! Found out soon enough that the cloth backing is NOT thick enough to prevent stings. Spent last night trying to convince myself that scratching would do more harm than good, only to wake myself up at 2AM raking my nails over every inch of my hands.
I eventually woke up enough to stumble to the freezer and get some ice packs, propped them on top of my hands and got back to sleep. Today was spent trying antihistamines, cortisone cream and just a little while ago I remembered the arnica sitting on the pantry shelf. Hang on…..
AAAAHHHHH…… frost-bite, take me away…..
I didn’t think much of it at first, as I had gotten stung a month or so ago and it didn’t amount to much, but that was one sting vs about 10-15 on my hands yesterday.
I’ve heard that beekeepers eventually don’t react to the stings and even that the venom somehow helps symptoms of arthritis and some neurological disorders. I guess as soon as the swelling goes down enough to be able to make a fist, I’ll have the joints of a 20 yr old again.
The reason for all this, was my need to check to see if the two boxes were full of comb and ready for a third to be added to the bottom of the hive. The bees were busy, and as careful as I could be, I realized the two boxes were glued together with propolis, so inspection would take some careful prying apart.
I recall reading how the bees draw comb down to the bars of the box beneath them and then STOP and begin a whole new comb on the bottom set of bars. HA! Not my bees. No, no, no. The comb was drawn and attached to the bars in the bottom box, so as I gently lifted the top box, it tore open the comb, leaving oozing honey and agitated bees. That was the beginning of our misunderstanding.
The quiet before the storm
Considering the reaction of the bees, I thought it better to add the box now rather than come back a few weeks from now and bother them yet again. I put the boxes back together and slowly eased it off the stand down to the ground. That made a situation where the bees could no longer go in and out of the hive. They became a little more perturbed at me.
Busy Honeybees Entering the Hive
Now, I can lift 50 lbs, but any more than that is a no-go for me. Not to mention the awkward squatting position needed to lift these hives made it all the more difficult. I found it impossible to lift 2 boxes (hopefully) heavy with comb, honey and brood high enough to put them on top of the new, empty box underneath. The bees were getting really ticked off by now. And as much as I love my bees, the thought of my hugging the boxes in order to get the balance to lift straight up was just too… too…. up close and personal even with the beekeeper suit and veil. So, I pried the boxes apart again. Oh, my! Before I knew it — zap-zap-zapzapzapzap-zap-zap!
I’m certainly happy the bees are productive enough to have hives heavy with honey but unless I can figure a way to use the lift I had built for me, (without any slips/oops!), there is no way I’m gonna be able to add to those hives later this summer.
Oh, now… here’s a new sensation…tiny needles of glass sticking me all over the backs of my hands… hmmm, interesting.
Ice water, soak in ice water………….. back in a jiffy……..
Needless to say, after the SNAFU with the first hive, there was no “inspection” of the others to see their progress and determine if another box was needed. They just got one, necessary or not. Had to go thru the same process of separating the boxes but it went much quicker having done it before and not bothering to see much of what was going on . It wasn’t pleasant for bees nor me, but there were no more stings at least.
Reminds me of a YouTube video I watched where the guy didn’t wear any suit and didn’t smoke the bees. I wondered at the time if he was really brave or really stupid…. I think he was just REALLY LUCKY.
So, right now I think I will ponder the fascinating activity of scratching my hands non-stop without any sensation of relief one normally gets. Talk about wasted effort.
I wonder how many days to normalcy.
About Linda Medero
