Well I went to check my recent “Shed Trapout”. It was a full nuc of happy bee’s. I had smoked, gloved and suited. They completed 8 Queen cells How it got into my hood and found my eyelid is anyone’s guess. The bee of course paid with his life, the runner up however won’t be entering a beauty contest anytime soon. Once I can see, I’m going back in.
Awww @Dusty!!! 
Eyes do swell a lot. Benadryl will help if you aren’t driving - don’t take it if you need to drive or operate dangerous machinery though. An ice pack wrapped in a towel will help with the swelling too. If it hurts, Tylenol would be good. I tend to stay away from Motrin and Alleve, as although they help the pain, they can make the swelling worse for some people.
Hope you feel better soon! 
Good to see you’re still smiling 
It hurts less when I smile. Thanks.
bees are expert at going for the eyes- at least in my experience. Twice I have been stung right on the eyelid- the first time the result was identical to yours… FOR THAT reason: the second time it happened I immediately took action: I rushed to get the stinger out, I washed with soapy water, I used the BiteAway heat treatment gizmo, I rushed off an got antihistamines, and then I iced it!
With this ‘MulitiSpectrum’ approach- I totally avoided having an eye swollen shut the next day! I had minimal swelling and within two days the eye was back to normal.
As for suits and veils: if there is a will there is a way- any tiny gap will be exploited by a vicious bee. It’s quite important to check carefully and eschew the casual ‘she’ll be right’ approach… that is- if you want to avoid stings.
But then again- what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, right?
Hi Dusty, well done on the 8 queen cells. At the right time of the season, you could split that colony, gently cutting 4 queen cells out & wedging them between frames of one colony & leaving the frame with the 4 remaining queen cells in the second colony.
This year Jeff? This one might be on a solid plastic frame though, weird but I don’t remember. If it’s not on a plastic frame, how would I go about it?
Hi Dusty, probably not worth trying it now, seeing as you are coming into autumn. You know, if you had a few months ahead of you that they can build up in, that would be a great opportunity. Sometimes they’ll make 3 queen cells in a cluster. Normally if you can remove them without fracturing the cells, I think you’d be ok. I don’t like or use plastic frames. You just have to assess each situation on their merits.
Whenever a bee finds her way inside my veil, I generally take a close look for any gaps & fix them straight away. I think I might have mentioned once before about not being a fan of bending over to work on bees, they tend to find gaps that they don’t normally find when we’re standing upright.
Aww Dusty… That sucks so bad!
This is my best advice ; -)
