Bedraggled

I have developed an allergy to bee puns, so the title of this entry is emphatically not "bee-draggled"

When people say they are "allergic" to bee stings, it's sometimes hard to know what they mean. If they mean that a sting provokes anaphylactic shock, that is life-threatening, and a sting needs immediate emergency action - ideally, injection of adrenaline into a muscle and immediate transport to A&E

If they mean it hurts for a while, swells up and goes red, and takes two or three days to return to normal, that is pretty much the standard allergic reaction of anyone who does not get stung regularly

Some people have a more extreme allergic reaction, in that the redness and swelling spreads some distance from the site of the sting - for example a stung finger may cause the entire hand of even part off the arm to redden and swell

A bee sting usually stays embedded in the skin after the offender has flown off (to die - because she has mutilated herself in pulling out the sting). It has a small muscle attached to it that keeps pumping venom even after the bee has gone, so it's a good idea to scrape out the sting immediately - more venom means more reaction

After ten years, my system has adapted to stings, and I very rarely get much redness or swelling if stung on the fingers. Surprisingly, the tolerance seems to persist over the winter, despite the fact that I'm not getting stung for those 6 months

We went to check these other hives - hoping that there are no more lost swarms like yesterday's. We started with the first tall hive. They are indeed in preparation for swarming, but not yet departed - immediate action needed! We found the queen and put her and some of the workers in the small box ('nucleus hive' it is called) on the green stand. We blocked the entrance to the box with grass so that they get used to being in a new home and don't fly straight back. We made sure they have food, and enough bees to keep the small colony going and take care of the queen

In the original big hive, the majority of the colony will raise new queens in 'queen cells' that they have already constructed. We need to manage that process a little, but that can wait

Oh yes - the umbrella. It rained while we had the hive open and were moving bees around. Mrs M held the umbrella while the bees and I sheltered. In the end, it rained so much that we could not look at the other big hive - they are also very likely to be playing the same games. Hopefully, we will be back tomorrow before they have time to leave us. Nip and tuck

So, in the end, we have 'artificially' swarmed a colony. The old queen has moved to a new home, as they planned; new queens are being raised, as they hoped; we keep our bees in the apiary. Everyone is happy; no-one got stung