I have no idea how many stings I get per year.  I work with bare arms and hands and often wearing a tee shirt and or shorts so am an easy target.  Many days I get zero stings.  Some days when the weather is bad and everyone is home I get a half dozen or ten or occasionally more.  I never pay any attention so could not even tell you how many right when I leave the bee yard.  Usually there is no swelling or itching or redness at all.  A few are a bit tender for an hour.  The first couple in the spring generally give a little reaction of insignificant swelling for a few hours.  It always hurts for 30 seconds.  A week ago I got several as I had to work them during a rain and they were bitchy.  One got me on the knuckle on my first finger.  That one was still a little swollen the next morning.  Yet the others were so gone I could not even tell where they had stung me a couple of hours later.  Why should one sting react and the others not react all within minutes of each other?  The one I remember the most was the time one got the septum of my nose.  That one caused tears and a drippy nose for a few minutes.  The tears were not due to pain althou it sure did hurt.  I can not say I get more or less reaction now than I got many years ago and am 78 now.  So, if old age takes a toll on a persons immune system I must not be old yet.

I have heard you should get the stinger out fast.  Yet many times I have been stung and was busy with a frame and getting the stinger out right away was not on the agenda.  I have found such stingers still in me hours later and never have seen any extra reaction from not getting the stinger out right away.  The whole sting reaction thing is a bit of a puzzle to me as it seems so variable how I react or do not react.  The one hunk of advice I do have is do not wear black socks.  Bees must not like black.  I can be wearing shorts and black socks and they will sting me thru the socks and leave my bare legs alone.

Dick

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