Grumpy bees and 'holey' suits lead to.......

It's always nice to get some news from a fellow bee-keeper and Stewart has been great since I created the blog at giving me some great things to publish and this next story of his won't disappoint even though when he initially told me about it he said he would never send me a photo or let me publish it so thanks for being so brave Stewart!!

Back in July I had a bit of a disaster. One of my hives had turned rather grumpy, so I decided for the first time ever to wear a full suit as opposed to my smock top. I hadn't used it since I had started bee keeping more than  a year earlier during which time it had sat in a cupboard.

As it turned out it had a tear in the side of the veil that I hadn't noticed.

I inspected two hives with no problem but half way through my grumpy hive they suddenly just went mental and I was suddenly faces with dozens of bees inside my suit !...I had the hive apart so I couldn't just flee and had to put it all back together while under attack !

Stewart with is bee stung face!!

My apiary is only 300 yards from home so Sue was able to help me as soon as I got back, she removed approximately 40 bee stings from head, face and lips, one had even got inside my mouth ! The effect of that much venom was very disorientating, I wasn't quite 'with it' for a good half an hour, my chest even felt quite constricted like I was being beat hugged, but after a heavy dose of Iboprofen it improved. My lips swelled so badly from all the stings I couldn't speak properly.

Moral of the story is always check your protective equipment is in good order and if your bees become nasty seriously think about re Queening.

Thanks for sharing Stewart...being brave enough to include a photo and also giving us a moral...it certainly made me think about just putting my suit on.

Oh also...sorry for laughing when you first told me about it!! :-)