Bee Stings – Wasp Stings – the Simple Facts and the Cures
What is a Bee Sting: A Bee Sting is caused by the part ‘stinger’ of a creature such as a wasp or bee, that delivers a poison when used to pierce the skin of another animal or a human.
Bee Sting Symptoms: Bee Stings can cause a lot of symptoms, but the most common is first there will be a sharp pain and burning sensation in the area of the sting. To some people this is very painful, a lot worse than getting a shot in the doctors office. The severe pain and buring is caused by the poison in the bee or wasps venom.
Other symptoms of bee stings are a redness or swelling of the local area. I swell up like a pancake near any sting site. Some people develop a rash or hives, and yet others that are very allergic to the venom will have severe problems such as swelling of the lips or throat, swelling around the eyes, throat tightness, wheezing, difficulty breathing, hoarseness, nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, abdominal pain, lightheadedness, or passing out due to low blood pressure. If you start developing any of the severe symptoms, get to a Hospital ER right away or call an ambulance.
Bee Sting Treatment: There are a lot of treatments for Bee and Wasp Stings, and here are just a few. To ease the pain of a sting, take a pain reliever such as acetaminophen (Tylenol). Some people make a mixture of water and meat tenderizer and apply it onto the bite. Papain, an enzyme in meat tenderizer, breaks down the protein in bee venom responsible for the pain and itching. Don’t leave this on for more than 30 minutes, or it can irritate the skin and cause a rash in some people. Apply an ice pack or bag of very cold water for 10 to 30 minutes after the sting, the cold slows down the body’s allergic response.
Bee Sting Prevention: How does one prevent bee or wasp stings ? If you are outdoors in the spring or summer months, you will encounter bees and wasps. Try your best to stay away from these flying creatures if possible. If you are mowing the grass or walking, or picking berries, you will encounter a bee or wasp in time. Do not swing or react violently towards it, to do so, may excite it, causing it to attack and sting. Just try to move out of the way, or slowly react to it in a calm movement. If you see a bee or wasp inside, kill it with a fly swatter or rolled up newspaper. Do not pick up the dead wasp or bee right after it has been killed, the bee or wasps stinger will often move for over an hour by muscle or nerve reactions, making the creature able to sting a long time after it’s dead.
If you encounter a nest of bees outside and if you are sure you can safely kill them, dress for the occasion and wait until night time to spray it from a distance or very early in the morning, when it’s cool and the creatures are in their nest and are not yet active. But be warned, once you spray a nest, soak it completely and fast, it will only take a couple seconds before the creatures may start flying out and stinging, if they are not all killed right away. Once sprayed, do not walk or stand near the nest, because bees that are sprayed and slowly dying will often drop to the ground, and may crawl up your pant legs or get into your shoes.
There is a website that provides cures, facts and great information on Bee Stings and Wasp Stings and numerous other medical conditions, the website is called: All About Health, and can be found at this url:
http://www.rb59.com/medical-health-info
By Robert W. Benjamin
Copyright © 2007
You may publish this article in your ezine, newsletter, or on your web site as long as it is reprinted in its entirety and without modification except for formatting needs or grammar corrections.
- Robert Benjamin
Beekeeping Part 3
The series finale. My buddy Jim extracts honey from his beehive for the 1st time.
- bementb
1. The new beekeeper
The new beekeeper will be more than enthusiastic to have his new bees arrive by post.
Before the bees arrive he would have chosen a suitable place to put his new bees in along with the new hive. The place for the bee hive would have to be in a secluded area where the bees will not be disturbed by both humans and animals. The hive also has to be in a place where strong winds will not knock it down.
Before the bees arrive it would be a good thing to try out the safety equipment and specially the body suit so that you are well protected and do not get stung. The post office will keep you informed on the arrival of the bees, and once they come will ask you to come and take your dangerous parcel away as soon as possible.
2. The newly arrived bees
In the container you will probably find a few bees lying dead, but this is to be expected after the stressful journey that they have undertaken. The rest of the bees will be alright and will have to be transferred to the new hive that you have set up for them from the container that they were shipped in. Before trying to transfer the bees make sure that you have the safety gear on and also the smoker ready. Inside the shipping container there will be a smaller container; this has the queen bee in it. This box will be closed with a cork, and if you remove the cork there will be another stopper inside that is made of sugar.
3. Placing the queen in the hive
The queen’s container should be hung inside the hive that has been prepared for the new bees. Now pierce a hole in the sugar so that the worker bees will be able to free the queen bee easier and allow her to escape into the hive. Care should be taken that the queen bee is not damaged in anyway while you pierce the sugar cube as it is not easy to find a replacement for the queen bee during winter months.
After the queen bee has been put into the hive, blow a puff of smoke into the container with the other bees and allow them out into the hive. The bees will automatically spill out of the container into the hive and settle down there. Make sure you put a feeder filled with ordinary sugar n to the hive. If there are any bees still in the container just leave the container near the hive and they will go into it on their own. The bees prefer being changed from the container to the hive wither early in the morning or in the evening time.
4. A week for the bees to settle down
The bees will take at least a week to settle down to their new hive and then the queen bee will start laying her eggs and the bees will also start making honey.
- Abhishek Agarwal
Beekeeping,Sugar Water Mixing,Beekeeper Beehive Honey bees feeding
georgiabees.blogspot.com Beekeeper mixing sugar water for beehive feeding. Beekeeping bee hive feed ideas, 1 or 5 gallon versions. Beekeepers bee syrup. Honey bees raise more brood when fed. Answers to how much, when, why, by John Pluta, Milledgeville Georgia.Don’t let your honeybees starve in winter,also good for spring build up stimulation . I’ve got on away from corn syrup feeding,worried about genetic modified corn and colony collapse disorder possible link. It’s also good to not forget …
- johnpluta