What happens when a Bee Vs. Newbee come face to face. It's not pretty

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.


Like momma always said- " If you can’t stand the heat… go to a movie".

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Awww @Dusty!!! :astonished: 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! :blush:

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Good to see you’re still smiling :slight_smile:

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It hurts less when I smile. Thanks.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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Aww Dusty… That sucks so bad!
This is my best advice ; -)

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