I had to move a hive yesterday a few feet so I got all suited up and put on
the gloves (here in Florida it can be the things under the hive that sting
the worst). I opened the hive to remove the top two supers so that the
weight of the hive would not kill me. I completed the move and put the hive
back together. In the middle of all this I removed a worker from my glove,
sans the stinger she had just attached to it.

Having finished the move I went back over to my house and removed the veil,
coveralls and gloves. I then (ten minutes later) went back outside for a
while and noticed a lone worker flying around the area I was standing in (a
good distance from any hives). I thought I saw a fleck of yellow but was
not sure if it was pollen or the result of her losing her stinger. A few
seconds later she was after me, since I was standing around some
non-beekeeping folks I started to move away so that I could either take the
sting or lead her away from them (It sounds braver here than I am sure it
looked). I turned around and walked over to my front door and on the way
she got tangled into my hair. Not wanting to take a sting in the head I
combed her out with my fingers and squashed her on the floor.

From the time the bee first encountered had I had changed clothes which
should have altered any visual clues the bee could have had. With the
gloves off any trace of attack pheromone was also gone. I am pretty sure
the bee had no stinger and was just acting to harass an intruder that had
bothered her hive. My guess is she either picked me at random, or picked up
on some scent on my person.

I had heard of this happening but this was the first time I experienced it.

Al Lipscomb
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