Return to the Bees and Beekeeping Forum
| Post a Follow-Up
Wanna laugh at the new guy?
| | |
Posted by cpp6318 (My Page) on Mon, Sep 3, 07 at 19:22
I'm in my first summer of beekeeping. I started out with one hive which was doing great. I split it and started a new hive. After a month or so, I lost the queen from the second hive and decided that rather than replace her, I should re-unite the colonies and over-winter with one strong one.
I put a single sheet of newspaper in between the two hives and waited a few days. One of the hives was headed by an Italian queen and they were very gentle. The other hive was all-stars and were kind of nasty. One day I decided to pull the semi-chewed paper out. Should be quick and easy right?
I lifted the side of the top brood chamber and pulled out the shredded newspaper and set the brood chamber back down.
I walked back to the truck feeling like top dog for playing with bees with no protective gear.
I felt the slight breeze whip the newspaper I was still clutching.
I felt the sting after sting after sting as the all-star side of the newspaper wrapped around my leg in that breeze.
I'm not allergic to stings, but I think I was stung at least fifteen times. I walk about twenty miles a day at work and everyone had a good laugh watching the bee man limp along with his swollen leg.
|
Follow-Up Postings:
RE: Wanna laugh at the new guy?
| | |
| Thanks for sharing... and ouch! |
RE: Wanna laugh at the new guy?
| | |
I guess you could say there are two sides to everything. Those seem to be the times you get nailed: "This will only take a minute" or "I'll just take a quick peek" Chalk it up to learning a lesson and providing entertainment for your fellow workers. Hope the outcome on your hive is good.
Out of curiosity, did you start with Italians, and do you know how you lost the 2nd queen? |
RE: Wanna laugh at the new guy?
| | |
| Yes, I started with the Italians but wanted to try the All-Stars to so I split the first hive early on. I have no idea what happened to the All-Star queen. She went to town right off the bat and everything was going great. Then all of a sudden I saw queen cells and no new brood. I never could find her but the rest of the colony looked great so I joined it with the Italians. |
|
|
|
|
