Honeybee Stings
and
Stinger Removal
A bee
stinger is one of nature's little wonders. After a honeybee
stings you and deposits its stinger, the stinger continues to
pump venom into you for up to twenty miNutes. A self contained
unit, the stinger has a barb to pierce the skin, a venom sac
to hold the stuff that stings you, and a set of muscles to
push the barb and venom deeper into you skin. It even has a
pheromone that attracts other bees to you.
Swift removal of the stinger
is preferred to a more careful removal that takes even 5
seconds longer. Unfortunately, no matter how fast you act,
getting stung will always be painful.
Immediately after removal of
the stinger, apply an ice cube for several minutes afterwards
dab site with a meat tenderizer that contains Papua. Itching
usually occurs and can be controlled with an antihistamine.
Of course, its better to
avoid getting stung in the first place! When many potential
sting victims see a bee fly near them, they start swatting at
it. Oddly enough, the bee interprets this action as aggressive
behavior, if it gets a chance, it'll probably sting. Instead,
try letting the bee fly around you (yes, even land on you) and
you'll watch it fly away within ten seconds
Try it- - -you'll be amazed
how well it works. It takes some self control, but the pay-off
is immediate and satisfying.
THE BEAR
(As told to me by my son)
With camera
in hand
I sit down on
some old hive tops
Waiting for
the bear
Listing, I
hear him
Twigs
cracking
Blundering
over logs and rocks
There he is!
Oh! My heart!
Don't beat so
loud
Be at ease
Don't
frighten out state's beloved, protected, endangered
species
Before I get
his picture
(flash)
Got it! Wow!
Look at that!
Please, which
one of us is the endangered species?
Got me sort
of confused, you see
That 'ol bear
'bout scared the fool out of me!
Was scared as
the preacher a bear had up a tree
(This is a
story Daddy told to me)
Preacher said
"I prayed to
the Lord from way up there
Oh! Lord!
If you can't
help me
Please don't
help this bear-r!"
Inez Cutts
THE BEEKEEPER
There was a man
who loved the bees,
He always was
their friend,
He sat around
upon their hives,
But they stung
him in the end.
Author Unknown
Those Bees Get Mean
The story is
told, and it may be true,
I have no way to
know,
As was told to
me, I tell it to you,
Tis a tale of
anger and woe.
A beekeeper
drove into his beeyard,
His hives were
strewn asunder,
It looked as if
they had been hit,
By a bolt of
lightning and thunder.
It was plain to
see by the tire tracks,
That lightning
had not struck,
His hives had
been torn asunder,
By the bumper of
a pickup truck.
His anger rose
to a fervent pitch,
A pickup was
parked near by,
When he grabbed
the driver by the collar,
He immediately
began to cry.
"Wait!! Wait!"
said he, "It was not me,
I did not tear
up your bees,
Like you I just
arrived on the scene,
And parked neath
the shade of these trees."
The beekeeper
was suddenly filled with remorse,
He had totally
lost his cool,
For to take out
his anger on an innocent person,
Would certainly
make him a fool.
He apologized
over and over,
As he walked
away from the truck,
But when he
walked around the front,
The young boy
ran out of luck.
For wedged up in
the bumper,
Was a part of a
broken hive,
And the anger
and wrath of the beekeeper,
Suddenly came
back alive.
The beekeeper
received a visit,
From the sheriff
later that day,
He had a lot of
questions,
About a beating
that happened out that way.
The beekeeper
told the sheriff,
That bees very
often may,
Get mean and
very defensive,
When they're run
over that way.
The sheriff
said, "The boy's in the hospital,
And will be
there for quiet a long stay."
The beekeeper
said, "Those bees get mean,
When they're run
over that way.":
The sheriff
said, "Yes, but we found his truck,
Down the road,
hood deep in the bay."
"I told you
those bees get defensive and mean,
When they're run
over that way."
The sheriff
concluded his questions,
And bid the
beekeeper good day,
The beekeeper
replied, "Those bees get mean,
When they're ruN
over that way."
Some folks want
bees that are nice and gentle,
They only want
them for play,
But beekeepers
sometimes need bees that get mean,
When they're run
over that way.
Billy Shake
Spere |
MY TRIP TO
AUSTRALIA
By Laurence Cutts
On Monday, May 28th, Memorial Day 2001,
Eloise and I left for Port Maquarie, Australia to attend the
New South Wales Beekeepers Conference where I was the Keynote
Speaker. We flew from Orlando to Los Angeles and from there
to Sydney, then on up the coast to Port Maquarie. Port
Maquarie is an Australian resort town that does not have many
foreign visitors. It has a subtropical climate similar to
Fort Myers. It is about half way between Sydney and
Brisbane.
There were about 250 in attendance for the
four-day event. They had research reports and presentations
by various government
officials on issues affecting beekeepers there. The last day,
Saturday, was a field day at a different location and
consisted of a trade show. There were also a few craft booths
that did not have anything to do with beekeeping. The
beekeepers there are very friendly and made us feel at home.
Following the Conference we took a bus back
to Sydney and from there we were taken down to the South Shore
where we visited two of the larger Australian beekeeping
operations. Both operated 10 frame hives on four-way pallets
and loaded with a Bobcat. It was reported that about half the
bees in Australia are in eight frame hives and some of these
are on six-way pallets. Almost all of the honey produced
there is from Eucalyptus trees. There are many varieties,
most of which only bloom every 3 to 5 years. There is
usually some
Eucalyptus somewhere in bloom at any time. There is a
lot of movement. The moisture content of most Australian
honey is 13% to 15%, which makes it difficult to extract.
It must be heated before it can be extracted
The operations I visited ran all deeps.
They do not use chemicals to take off honey. Everyone uses an
escape board. All colonies are strapped to the pallet with
metal bands and tightened with a special clip. They
anticipated that this year’s crop would be a record of more
than 600 lbs per colony. That’s a drum of honey per hive.
Beekeepers there appear to be prospering. Each of these
outfits run between 1,500 and 2,500 colonies. In addition
each has around 1,000 sheep and one has 100 beef cows.
All of the equipment that I saw was very
moderN, both in the field and the honey house. Both used an
automatic load and unload vertical extractor, one made in the
US by Cowen
and the other made there. Both uncappers were made there and
were similar to the Cowen. Their honey houses are kept
immaculately clean at all times. They follow a sanitation
code that most hospitals here would probably have a problem
matching.
There are only 5 or 6 honey packers in the
country. The largest, Capilano, is a beekeeper cooperative
similar to Sue Bee. It handles 60% of the honey produced in
Australia. A large portion of the honey produced there is
exported. They have a National Honey Board that appears to be
uNiversally supported by the beekeepers.
They do not have Varroa mites, tracheal
mites or the Small Hive Beetle. They do have American
Foulbrood Brood and chalkbrood. A queen breeder was recently
caught smuggling queens into Australia from Italy. The Beagle
Brigade at the airport caught him. The beekeepers were upset
that he did not receive as great a punishment as they would
like but I suspect that his greatest punishment will come from
his peers who will no longer buy his queens.
Following the two-day trip to the south
shore, we returned to Sydney where we spent five days as
tourist.
 We
visited the Sydney Opera House, took a bus tour to the Blue
Mountains, took a dinner cruise on the sailing ship Bounty (a
replica built for the film “Mutiny On The Bounty”) and shopped
for souvenirs for 35 people. After the 42-hour trip back
home, “jet lag” does not seem an appropriate term. I think
the redneck term “flat wore out” fits better.
I was asked
to go down there to inform them about Varroa mites and the
Small Hive Beetle. I hope I did that to their satisfaction.
However, I think that I learned a lot more from them than I
was able to teach.
Eddie Albert
I met Eddie
Albert one day. I was attending a meeting of the Agricultural
Advisory Council in Tallahassee. We had been instructed to
meet at Commissioner Conner's office for a brief social before
goiNg to the meeting room. When I walked into the
Commissioners outer office, Eloise McDougel, his secretary,
came up to me all excited and asked if I would like to meet
Eddie Albert. I asked, "Who is he"? She said, "You know, he
plays in "Green Acres' on TV." I said, "Oh, that Eddie Albert.
No, I don't particularly care to meet him. What in the world
would I say to him." She insisted that I come on into the
Commissioner's office and meet him. With her dragging on my
arm, I couldn't do much else but follow or make a big scene.
So in to meet Eddie Albert I went.
He was talking
to a representative of the citrus industry who was telling him
about a new seven million dollar canning machine that they had
just installed and I knew I was in the wrong company. There
were four or five others standing around listening. I was
certain that they would have no interest in the new pick-up
truck that I had just bought. I don't think I have ever felt
so out of place. But Eloise dragged me right up in the midst
of the group and without even waiting for a break in the
conversation she said, "Mr. Albert, this is Laurence Cutts. He
represents the beekeeping industry on the Council." Mr. Albert
turned to face me with a big grin and said, "I'm a beekeeper.
I've got twelve hives. I started off with one hive and it
swarmed and we caught it, and then we had two, then they
swarmed and we caught them and it kept up till I now have
twelve hives." I never felt more at ease and comfortable
talking with a stranger in my life. Of course he was no longer
a stranger, he was a beekeeper. And beekeepers are never
strangers to one another.
Everyone in the
room was now listening to Eddie and me talk about bees. I
asked him why he had never had bees on the show, they had
everything else. He said, "ZsaZsa Gabor would never have
allowed that. It was hard enough to get her to work with a pig
on the show. She kept pointing to Arnold and shouting, `I'll
have you for breakfast! I'll have you for breakfast!'" I soon
figured out that Eddie Albert is not an actor. That's just the
way he is. Eddie continued, "One day we had a swarm that lit
in a small tree in our neighbor's yard. Mr. Hillery, the
neighbor, and my dad wanted to help me hive them. Both of them
were in their eighties. I decided to wait uNtil dark so the
bees wouldn't fly. The bees were clustered just a little over
head high. Dad was to hit the tree with a big sledge hammer
and jar the bees into a big cardboard box that Mr. Hillery was
holding under them. I was holding the light. When dad hit the
tree about half the bees fell and hit the flap on the front of
the box and slid off onto the ground. Mr. Hillery stepped
forward a step and dad hit the tree harder. The rest of the
bees fell and went between Mr. Hillery and the box. They
crawled in his shirt and the ones on the ground crawled up his
britches leg. They stung poor old Mr. Hillery so bad we had to
put him in the hospital. He recovered all right, but Mrs.
Hillery won't let him come play with us any more."
I commented
that it was a thousand wonders that Eddie didn't get stung
bad. They usually go to the light at night. Eddie said, "No,
no. I was half way to Mexico by then!"
A Bee Yard
I was
driving along through the country side,
Fields and
forest stretching far and wide,
When all of
a sudden in the distance I spied,
A bee yard.
There must
have been a thousand things to see,
Cattle
grazing, a beautiful tree,
But the only
thing that stood out for me, was,
A bee yard.
I've spent
my lifetime working with bees,
Wanted
nothing else, why thank you, please,
Stooping and
bending and down on my knees, in,
A bee yard.
I always
loved being out in the wild,
It made me
feel I was Mother Nature's child,
For I know
that there is where she smiled, on,
A bee yard.
I'll work
with bees until I die,
And when I
do, why, don't you cry,
Just bury me
where I'll be close by,
A bee yard.
Billy Shake
Spere
THE HONEY LOVER
I eat my peas with honey,
I've done it all my life,
It makes my peas taste funNy,
But it keeps them on my knife.
Author Unknown |
