Question of the week: "Just how much does it hurt to get stung two times on the face?" (Hopefully none of you already know the answer to this question).
Answer: "An awful lot!!" Even more than I would have thought if I had thought about it. Enough that I have ditched my pseudo-plans to get a small tattoo to commemorate my turning 40. (people say getting a tattoo feels like getting stung by a bee.)
I have learned much in the past two days. I have learned that even though I love my bees, that does not mean that they love me back and if I am going to play around with the unconventional habit of working the hive without smoking the bees, I had better wear my veil.
What happened was this. I was poking around yesterday, marveling at the amount of honey that the girls have packed away in the super over the past week and I had to get the hive tool (metal pry bar kind of thing) deep into the box to scrape off some burr comb (extra honey comb built in in-between places) and as a result I ended up removing some comb with honey in it and disrupting things to the point where they just got pissed off. The first girl got me on the ear, (see photo and note how the swelling, reddness and ITCHYNESS has spread down my neck). I screamed, popped 5 of the homeopathic pills that I keep in my pocket (apis mellifica) and went back to quickly put the hive back together so that I could go and remove the stinger. I knew that the bee sting would be worse the longer the stinger was left in because the poison sac keeps pulsing and releasing venom, and I also knew that the other girls would smell the venom and it would attract more attacks. I should have just left and dealt with the hive later because sure enough a second girl got me on the nose within a minute. At this point I ran down to find Matt and handed him the handy tweezers I also keep in my pocket and he got the honor of pulling out two pulsing stingers. Then I put on the Osha Root tincture that I bought from an herbalist and hoped for the best. Throbbing pain, hurt feelings (I thought we were friends, I am a failure etc.)
The ear sting is remarkably worse than the nose one. Perhaps because the stinger was in longer, I'm really not sure, but it is a drag. On a slightly upbeat note, I recognize that this was bound to happen and am happy in a way to have gotten it over with. I have read that over time you can become immune to the venom and the reaction that your body has to it. I have also read that you can develop an extreme allergic reaction to it.
photos:
1. Two bees exchanging nectar; the returning bee passes the nectar from her nectar stomach to the waiting bee, who then passes it to another bee etc. until it is packed away in a cell. The exchanging of enzymes is what turnes the nectar into honey!
2. Some bees removing some sort of undeveloped bee, perhaps a drone based on its size.
3. My ear today.
