Our new Queen bee and her groupies arrived today and of course you can never have this many females together and not have a little drama. This may be a long story so get some snacks ready.My husband ordered three Queen bees for some newbie bee keeper friends. Fritz (newbie bee keeper in training) came over to watch Doug transfer them into their new hive. It's a slow process that the bees really don't like. They get misted with water, then again with sugar water, dumped out of their box and then brushed into their hive box. It make them a little upset.
Another bee keeper in training, Lynn came over to pick up her Queen. While we were out there she got stung on the top of her head. At first I thought she was having a panic attack but it turns out she is allergic to bee stings. So, in order of how things happened and how lucky Lynn was as it turns out.
1) Everyone but Lynn was wearing a hat, o.k. she wasn't lucky at this point. I had been cleaning out the storage Pod all day so I was wearing one, which I never do. The bees were really mad at Doug for knocking them around so one flew up into Lynn's face (their way of saying get out of our space) and got caught in her hair - why it's helpful to wear a hat.
2) Doug and Fritz (who is a doctor) removed the stinger but Lynn said she was not feeling well.
3) I keep a Epi-pen handy just in case because our Bee Guild told us we should
4) After watching Lynn get more and more upset (not sure if she was having a panic attack or a reaction to the bee sting) Fritz gave her the shot. It was good he was here, because I would have probably done it wrong.
5) Fritz then called his wife (who is an anesthesiologist) and asked if there was anything else we could do for her. She suggested that we given her some Tagamet which my son (who is home on leave) just happened to have in the house.
6) I took her to the emergency room and because she had all the symptoms they had listed on the board (you know, can't breath, dizziness etc...) they took her right away and she got the last bed left.
7) The nurse was very impressed that we had done all the things we did before we got there. The worse was already over and they just wanted us to wait to make sure.
8) Lynn now knows she is allergic to bee stings and it was good it happened with others around.
9) Her queen and hive will be going to Fritz's house now to join he's other hive.
10) I know many of you are wondering why we didn't "suit" up while we were handling the bees. We don't ever have a problem with them. When they fly up into my face, I get the hint and leave them alone. Doug and I have been stung before with no reaction, so we don't worry about it.
10) I know many of you are wondering why we didn't "suit" up while we were handling the bees. We don't ever have a problem with them. When they fly up into my face, I get the hint and leave them alone. Doug and I have been stung before with no reaction, so we don't worry about it.
4 comments:
well, I'm allergic to bee stings - not to the extreme of your friend, but I swell up really bad. So, it's good to know I'm in capable hands when I come out in June. I usually ignore them & they or I go away.
Good job all around. She was really lucky! I understand the epi pen, but what does the Tagamet do?
Tagamet a heartburn and acid indigestion over the counter drug.
If I understand it correctly, in the case of the bee sting at our house, it was used to prevent a allergic reaction to the epi-pen. Since we did not know if she would have issue with it. It will also stop hives (not the bee hives type) but I don't think that was the main reason.
Wow! I didn't know Tagamet could do that!
I'm terrified of bees...if one flies close by my ear, the sound goes right through me and I get the shivers...ewwww!
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