The perils of beekeeping.

Hive and smoker

Making honey

 

We are now self-sufficient in honey as our two bee hives have completed their brood chambers and are now filling the supers, about one kilo of honey a week. The only drawback with bees is their sting can be lethal. Reportedly 243,522 people died in 2009 from bee stings. (No idea if this number is accurate. Just googled it)

I was fortunate to get some good advice from a beekeeper on how to avoid stings and this has to be true because beekeepers are related to fisherman and neither would ever lie.

So how does one protect oneself from bee stings?

• The smoker. The smoke calms the hive down, keeps the bees docile and is the first line of defense. The smoker is the most reliable, dependable tool a beekeeper can have. It can be relied upon to sit beside you while you rob the hive; a continuous little stream of smoke curling from the spout showing it is lit and ready for action. But should you need the smoker to calm a few frayed nerves in the beehive you can depend on it to have gone out. Little anemic puffs of smoke and then nothing.

• The bee suit. This is a fully enclosed suit perfectly designed to keep the bees out. Unfortunately it seems to be more successful at keeping bees inside the suit. Just a slight drawback.

• Smell. Bees are incredibly sensitive to smell. They hate perfumes, deodorants, aftershave and the like with a passion. So if you are a sensitive caring new-aged metrosexual, beware, the bees will sniff you out and remember their sting can be lethal. 

• The decoy. This is my favorite. Always have a helper when robbing the hive, preferably one who moves around a lot, talks a lot and can be relied upon to draw the angry bees away from you. Wives may seem like the obvious decoy but apparently they can only be used once as they usually turn out to be considerably more lethal than the bees.

The two hives have different personalities. One hive is extremely docile and calm, hardly reacting at all to the hive being opened. The other is notably more active, more aggressive and produces more honey. I am lucky; bees seem to take little notice of me, don’t sting me and I can handle the hives without upsetting them.