Getting started This section is going to deal with practical beekeeping, and I shall begin with a subject which worries many beginners—bee stings. Everybody knows that the honeybee stings, but there are many old wives' tales about stings and how to treat | Getting started This section is going to deal with practical beekeeping and I shall begin with a subject which worries many beginners bee stings. Everybody knows that the honeybee stings but there are many old wives tales about stings and how to treat them and a short explanation might be helpful. When the bee stings it injects a protein and various other chemical substances. There may be pain lasting about half a minute but the main reaction occurs later when the sting area swells as an allergic reaction to the foreign protein. The swelling may last itching like a gnat bite for a couple of days before disappearing. In my experience this is the normal reaction of a good 90 per cent of people and beekeepers gradually acquire a resistance to stings so that no swelling occurs after they have kept bees for a couple of seasons. The only substance which relieves stings is an antihistamine cream but the majority of aspiring beekeepers do not need to use anything. Less than 10 per cent of people have a more serious reaction to stings with the swelling increasing to alarming proportions or the development of urticaria and in these cases medical advice should be sought. It is possible to have a course of treatment to desensitize oneself to stings. A tiny number of people suffer from hypersensitivity to the sting protein and become unconscious with ten minutes of being stung. They rapidly recover with treatment however but generally keep well away from bees thereafter. When the bee stings it usually leaves its sting behind in the beekeeper tearing off the end of its abdominal organs in the process and causing its own death within a couple of days. The sting will continue to pulsate however pumping venom from the venom sac into the wound. The quicker it is removed therefore the less venom will be injected. As the venom sac is attached to the part of the sting protruding from the wound if you grasp it to pull it out you will The -sting of the worker honeybee dissected out and .
