# hundreds of bee stings



## woodchux (May 13, 2006)

Just saw on cnn where a climber in Austin TX. set off a bee attack.

They said he was stung dozens, or possibly hundreds of times.


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## frashdog (May 13, 2006)

That's probably my worst nightmare. I'm a tad alergic on the outside. I can keep my cool in most any tense situation, but I swear specificaly a pissed off yellow jacket buzzing around my face could probably get me to crash a vehicle. 

I got stug on the bottom:censored: lip last summer twice!! I can't explain the pain any better than a red hot needle injecting salt into my lip, a solid 10 on the scale. By the time I got to the er (30 min.) I was convinced my lip was going to split. It was 4-5 times the normal size, and I could feel my neck and face bouncing with swollen fluid as I walked in. The nurse took one look at me and said omg. That kinda freaked me out to see an er nurse act like that. No lobby room for me, that was the fastest er visit ever. An hour, couple of shots and some ice packs later things were a bit more relaxed.


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## ranchjn (May 13, 2006)

on my first timber cruise with a forester i got attacked by yellow jackets. I was calculating the hieght of a tree, so naturally my logger's tape was attached to the tree. The first yellow jacket stung me, and i didnt say anything. When the second one stung me i cursed and my fellow forester heard and asked me what was the problem. I said i just got stung not thinking anything of it. He yelled back and asked me if there were other yellow jackets around. i responded "i hope not"! However, when i looked down, i noticed that my blue jeans were covered with yellow jackets and they were all over my body! I started running as fast as i could, but we were on a steep slope so i wasnt making much progress. I kept smacking myself lol and trying to protect my face. I ditched all of my gear (i musta yanked my tape out of the tree) because it was slowing me down. I kept on running in circles for 15 minutes because i didnt want to get lost. Finally, i was completely exhausted and ran over to my buddy. i didnt want to bring the yellow jackets to him, so i tried to make sure i got them all beforehand. we took turns at smacking them off of each other. Oh ya and when i was running away from the tree i was measuring, i ran right through their nest underground  its funny how i remember it so well. now whenever i hear a bee or a yellow jacket i freak out. I had the same experience with my dad a month ago when we were out chainsawing in the forest. He started to get stung, and i told him to start running. I picked up his saw and got the hell out of there as fast as i could. Later that night we went back to the spot properly equiped and bombed the nest  a logger on our property also had the same problem with yellow jackets. When i walked into the cabin he was living in, he had stings all over him. i guess i have my fair share of stories  you gotta be careful though out there. mountain bees arent like the flatlander bees


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## BlueRidgeMark (May 14, 2006)

woodchux said:


> Just saw on cnn where a climber in Austin TX. set off a bee attack.
> 
> They said he was stung dozens, or possibly hundreds of times.





Likely African killer bees. Nasty stuff.


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## Gypo Logger (May 14, 2006)

Tragedy + Time = Comedy
And post # 2 & 3 sure shows that! I was laughing so hard I was crying! lol

I too have a bad allergy to yellow jackets and I react severely to wasps.
I get stung at least every other year and the reaction gets worse every time. These insects represent a much bigger danger and fear to me than any grizzly or poisonous snake although we only have the Massaussauga rattler here in Ontario and no grizz within 2000 miles lol.
I think if I get stung again with enough bees I will be trolling for topsoil trout.
Like ranchjn I was stung on the lip with one YJ whilst taking a sip of coffee.
That was excruciating pain and several days to subside.
Another time while tree spacing on Van Isle, I came across an area where bears had dug out some ground bees and some flew up the cuff of my baggy fallers pants which is probably enough information.
I think arborists may be the most vulnerable to bee sting as they may not be able to retreat as quickly as when logging although loggers probably encounter bees much more often. The danger lies when you die from asphiziation due to swelling of the windpipe
John


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## SmithEC (May 14, 2006)

BlueRidgeMark said:


> Likely African killer bees. Nasty stuff.



AKA Africanized honey bees. AKA The Worst Thing That Could Ever Happen To You And You Can't Run Fast Enough And They Don't Give Up.

Holy Hell, it sends shivers up my spine just thinking about them. Had some build a hive in the eaves of my house. The stinging sensation doesn't last as long as that from a yellow jacket, but it is like fire when it does hit. It's horrible!

As a rule, 15 stings or more you go to the ER.

I haven't seen the article noted, but if the tree was a palm of some kind I would think yellow jackets. Anything else, killer bees. The vibration from a chainsaw or lawn mower will bring them from more than a mile away.

Not cheap to get rid of. About $285 plus tax at my house. Best money we've ever spent, though!


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## smokechase II (May 14, 2006)

*What is the worst*

I only know of one climber, Rob, that got nailed while in a tree. He was a jumper retrieving cargo on a fire on the Mt Hood. Not a good deal.

How about an informal poll?
What causes the most initial discomfort?
Here is mine in ascending order of dislike:
Mosquito, gnat, chigger, yellow jacket, bald faced hornet, honey bee.
I know most others would swap the last two. But even being from non Africanized bee country I still have had two painful bee experiences and believe they should get top billing.

Sorry for my lack of humor. Yea, the nurse’s omg reaction is funny now.
We did have a situation where an epi kit did save a FS employees life a couple years ago. Smokechaser could fill us in. {It's not a pure as the driven snow story.}


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## antigrassguy (May 14, 2006)

Bees are just plain nasty. I read somewhere that its best to roll away. Drop to ground and start rolling. But then Ive also read that the Americanized-African killers bees will pursue their pray for quite some distance. I have had more than 1 run in with bees and its never fun. 1 instance in Charleston SC we were dropping a fairly large tree, 50"dbh, and I was on tag line. Person putting notch in claimed to not be bothered with bees. There were a few buzzing around during cut but not to bad. Just before the back cut an old boy walked over to let us know that there were bees in the tree. Ya, thanks we know this. Then he mentioned that they had been there for all of 15 years or so that he knew of. Oh, this may be bigger than we thought. Had talk with partner on back cut and he said that they hadnt bothered him to much when placing notch so he felt that all was a go to get it on ground. He only had a couple of stings and wasnt going to let a couple bees bother him, damnit. Real heman approach. I didnt care as Im at end of tagline so cut away. When the tree hit the ground and shattered, huge cavity, the sky went dark and I was 100' away. I had some fly under my glasses and hit my eyebrow and as I was dealing with that the cutter (heman) ran passed me at a unheman pace. Nobody got it real bad but we had to leave the shattered trunk for 2 days till bees decided to move on. 
That was 15 years ago and I think that the word is out in the bee community as they seem to be getting meaner. Cant blame 'em though, Id be pissed to.


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## smokechase II (May 14, 2006)

*bees in the cold*

This is a simple obvious thing, but when we come across a nest, get clear and flag it and stay away until......it gets cold.
Then you can get the work done, unless it’s those underground hornets. Then it has to get real cold.
I especially like building handpiles of slash directly on the ground nests. 

Anybody top this one? A brother-in-law scored a bee’s nest full of honey from a maple burl. Took it into the basement. Left it to warm up. Guess what happened?


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## woodchux (May 14, 2006)

SmithEC said:


> I haven't seen the article noted, but if the tree was a palm of some kind I would think yellow jackets. Anything else, killer bees.




Looked like an Oak in the footage. The bees were in a hollow limb.


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## Old Mac Guy (May 14, 2006)

As a professional beekeeper for 36 years, and full-time operator of my own honey producing company here in the Southwest, I have to say this:

If you're in Texas, Louisiana, New Mexico, Arizona or California and you come across a bunch of bees.....get far away from them quick and don't mess with them at all unless you REALLY know how to deal with a swarm of African Hybrid Bees;

In the warmer months, it's possible for an AHB swarm out of one of the states mentioned above to hitchhike on a semi-truck, a railroad car or any other conveyance where they might settle and ride un-noticed to anywhere in North America, including most all of Canada.... so be just as wary of bees wherever you are during May-October.....

If you know you are prone to severe reactions to bee stings or bites from hornets, wasps.... or whatever.... go have a sincere talk with your friendly local medical practitioner and get a couple of small vials (10cc) of epinephrine and sealed hypodermics and carry them handy in your truck when out away from quick medical care. Take a few minutes to make sure all your co-workers know where they are and proper use of them. If you or anyone else gets stung or bitten and start having difficulty breathing, inject 5cc of the epinephrine just under the skin on your arm, wait a few minutes (the old doc who gave me this advice and some vials and needles said 5 minutes) and, if the symptoms of the anaphylactic shock haven't abated, inject the other 5cc. Be on your way to medical attention while waiting to observe the reaction to the first injection.

Yes, the laws and big-brother regulators may want to limit medical practice to only the qualified medicine priests.... but if it's a situation of life-threatening anaphylactic shock, I'll inject the stung individual first and worry about legalities later....

I quit having reactions to bee stings about 30 years ago. Mosquito bites affect me much more as far as leaving a bump on my skin. During a typical year of bee work, I'll take around 1000-1500 stings over a six-seven month working season, at the rate of maybe 15-20 a day, and, in each case, just scrape out the stinger and go on with my work. Still, the time I took about 55 bee stings in less than one minute left me a little bit dizzy for awhile and might have induced a coma or perhaps even killed someone less immune to bee venom than I. And I've read about attacks by the AHB's (bally-hoo'ed by the sensationalist media as "Killer Bees".... and, yes, their stings have killed many people) in which the bees have stung someone several hundred times in just a few minutes.

One thing to always remember about honeybee stings is that the bee leaves its stinger and almost always the two venom sacs attached to it in the sting site. DO NOT pinch out the stinger!! That actually injects more venom into the sting. Instead, scrape away the stinger with a fingernail or the blade of a pocketknife (the same way you remove a tick -- don't squeeze its body by pinching it off.... scrape it away from right at the skin level....).

Don't mess with bee swarms. Period. Treat a swarm of bees with the same wary respect you have for a coiled up rattler. And remember that bees are much more mobile than rattlesnakes and can chase you for a couple of hundred yards in numbers sufficient to lay a serious number of stings into your skin. You don't need the pain nor maybe even the medical bills. If you have to work where a swarm is, make sure someone who is experienced in dealing with them does it. In the worst case, it will be little consolation to your survivors to hear: "Oh, he wasn't afraid of them at all. He just swatted at a few of them and went on cuttin'...."

Finally, I have to say that honeybees are among our most beneficial insects and, when treated properly by humans, give us the best form of sugar we can eat, pollen and propolis which have great medicinal benefits to us, pollinate most of our food crops, and can be a real enjoyment to watch and study. But they can blow up in your face the same way a chainsaw can kick back all of a sudden.

Take care and work safely.


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## BlueRidgeMark (May 14, 2006)

Excellent post, Old Mac.


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## Climb020 (May 14, 2006)

smokechase II said:


> Anybody top this one? A brother-in-law scored a bee’s nest full of honey from a maple burl. Took it into the basement. Left it to warm up. Guess what happened?



Took a paper wasp nest home once after ai though I killed all the bees including the queen. But what I did do was check the nest for eggs. WEll ther were some but luckily the nest was in an empty room when they hatched and they jsut died.


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## Sprig (May 14, 2006)

Great post Old Mac Guy! We have a couple of full-time bee people here and because of the variety of flowers here get some awesome variety. The nearest one to me moves his hives around a fair bit to take advantage of the seasonal flowerings in the logged out areas of Van Isle. Best sweet there is imho! 
My sting story isn't a thing of beauty. When I was a teen my mother lived in Lake Cowichan (south center Van Isle) and we had scored some grub and booze and hit the Kawinis (sp?) Club beach which was a nice sunny spot with built in BBQs and tables. I had to go to the bathroom so headed out to the near-by woods for some privacy. Found a down log and dropped my shorts for a squat, tp close at hand. Next thing I knew I was getting stung, everywhere. DOH!! Surrounded by an angry swarm of ground nesting wasps I ran to the beach with my pants around my ankles, screaming blue murder and swatting, crap running down my legs, while everyone roared with laughter. Into the water I dove and swam a good 40ft underwater to avoid them. By the time I surfaced the beach was cleared and everyone was in the water, not laughing anymore. We watched in dismay as our lunches burned on the BBQs and it was about a half hour before we ventured back to the shore. My azz swelled enough to make a hippo proud, about 10 good stings I figure, thankfully other parts were spared. End of story.
Over the years I have had many encounters with ground nests and do my best to avoid them, nasty little blighters (here they seem to be fond of fern clumps). I have been in the habit of keeping at least one sting-kit handy in the car, and a supply of antihistamines (Chloral Tripoline (sp) or what ever) on hand just in case someone needs it; a couple of years ago there was a young fellow in Victoria who swallowed a wasp in his can of pop, he was dead before the medics arrived, about 10mins later. Scary stuff esp for those unfortunates who have severe reactions. Needless to say we don't do canned anything during the summer months, and if so we always pour beverages into glasses so you can look-see. We haven't got the killer bees here yet but I think it is only a matter of time. From what I understand of them they are very aggressive as stated above, and not to be messed with. I could not imagine being up a tree and encountering stingers, the stuff of nightmares and Winnie The Pooh.
My Sunday Blurb. 
And PHONE YER MOMS!!!!

Cheers 

Serge


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## Dadatwins (May 14, 2006)

Dropped a paper wasp nest into the bucket with me years ago at 50' straight up. Many, many stings on the face, neck and hands, fortunately got the bucket down and jumped out, crew took me to E.R. for adrenaline shot,had trouble breathing and eyes swelled shut. Not a good day. Spent a few weeks taking cortisone for the swelling and pain. Anything that stings is not fun.


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## KMB (May 15, 2006)

Very good and informative post Old Mac Guy! I learned some of the same information from a seminar put on for the local volunteer firefighters on how to deal with an emergency dealing with African honey bees. As of a few months ago, southwest Arkansas has been "Africanized". Which means that anytime we come across a swarm or colony of bees here, we are to assume it is an African honey bee swarm or colony.

Kevin


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## ranchjn (May 15, 2006)

KMB said:


> Very good and informative post Old Mac Guy! I learned some of the same information from a seminar put on for the local volunteer firefighters on how to deal with an emergency dealing with African honey bees. As of a few months ago, southwest Arkansas has been "Africanized". Which means that anytime we come across a swarm or colony of bees here, we are to assume it is an African honey bee swarm or colony.
> 
> Kevin



yup CDF was trying to contain a small forest fire on our property 11 or so years back. I was very young back then, but all that i remember is that a bunch of the fire fighters were attacked by bees. They had set up a perimeter around the ground nest, and i remember going back later to the site and seeing caution tape all over. I think the people who actually have it the worst are the tree climbers. I cant imagine knocking my head against a nest 80 feet up in a tree and having to deal with a giant swarm of bees up there. When i got attacked on the timber cruise, i was amazed at how well the yellow jackets could latch onto you. not only do they sting but they also bite. they simply wont let go of you so running isnt a enough. I have never tried rolling, i personally dont think you could roll fast enough and you could get into other troubles such as rolling over a sharp rock or something. My blue jeans protected me from the yellow jackets, but they stung and bite me through my shirt... good luck to all of you out there!


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## Eagle1 (May 15, 2006)

When I was a youg boy, we were playing "army". I got shot and played dead on a yellow jacket ground nest. 87 stings......ouchhhh. No hospital either...my Father was a nut and just put vinager all over me and pulled out the stingers. No bad reaction. Just head screwed for life..


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## doggonetrees (May 15, 2006)

The crew I used to work on had some trees to be trimmed that had to be climbed and on of the trees that I had to climb was a 70' pine. Had what appeared to be a squirrel nest in it until I got up to it. Tree covered in vines, yellow jackets coming out of the nest, and me trying to do a quick descent out of the tree. We finally ahd to cut the tree from the ground. 37 stings.


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## BlueRidgeMark (May 16, 2006)

Eagle1 said:


> just put vinager all over me and pulled out the stingers. No bad reaction.




That DOES work!





Eagle1 said:


> Just head screwed for life..





DON'T BLAME THE YELLOW JACKETS!


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## Treeman67 (May 16, 2006)

*Thank you for all Bee storys*

as i read all your bees story , i look back the time i faced up with swarm honey bees, i never had gotten stung, if i did.. i wouldn't know it except yellow jacket. 
my first present of swarm of honey bee had a hive in downed log and it was good size Douglas fir we tried to cut up firewoods, we didn't see hives until we started to cavity then swarm just came out, my step dad and i ran away wasn't sure what kind of stinger they are.. i was 13 yrs old when i was working in tree service along with my step dad. we found out it was honey bees, so he decided to get an water hose to sprayed down the bees and it works, so as he cutting up the wood i was sprayed swarm of bees down they become more aggression, but we were hurry to get the job done and all bee are wetted and they were down to ground walking around tried to dried themselves up. we started laughing and have not got stung this times
about 5 yrs ago i faced up first time bald face black hornet paper nest as i prune the tree by ground, i notice there is paper nest all black flyer goes in and out very aggressively, i told one of co worker, then phone the boss about situation.he came to job site with bee killer and walking no fear got up pole ladder and started spraying, for moment i though he crazy!!!, as he started to sprayed, black hornet zing out nest so fast alike bullet one after another , i started running, my boss felled of the ladder and stumble tried to run i say 50 to 100 of them fly around for 30 min still watching their nest,we took heavy duty plastic,we cut limbs end off so the bag can fit into it, we still have to waited until black hornet can not go back in, mostly flew away but few just hang around.So we decided go ahead to put the bag into the limb and ties it up shut then cut the limbs. walk away, the mission is completed
another incidents of honey bee few month after black hornet incidents. we cut down black cottonwood tree it also had hollow inside, one climber is allergic to bees, he told boss i ain't go in there with the swarm, my boss wouldn't go in there either so what is left... ME. Cottonwood very large size so i had to cut half to we can pull swarmed of bee hive away from resident home to the field away from busy traffic. the swarm is mass. first thing i did is pray to god to help me get through this with out get stung. i grab the saw started walking into swarm and cutted, it weird thing bees fly around me ,its harmless and few had laid me but no stung. i cutted 2 section 15 footer and run off from swarmed drop the saw to ground to shake off the bees, my boss couldn't believe i done this. i told him honey bee are harmless to me. i waited for a while for them to calm down before i go in with choker wire to hooked up one section then drag away.as i started to hooked them up bees started get upset, they started hitting me my face, after i hooked one up i ran for a one block and half to get swarm off me as i see my shallow from sun i see myself running and cloud swarm just above my head the bees. after bees gone i went back and other contractor put gasoline and ignited the fire inside of hive, which make them more aggressive, that didn't help my job. so for second time i grab choker run into swarm get choker hooked up and run for another block and two. i got stung few which i didn't noticed until end of the day i got few bumped skin other than that i'm okay.
another interesting about yellow jacket the hive just right under of dead tree base of trunk. by evening we drowned them with gasoline next morning hive is silent, we finished off take-down and base of stump had dry rot cavity. i was curious about the hive inside of cavity, i got shovel and breaked up dry rot and inside of stump is big hive my guess was 2 feet wide and 3 feet dept full thousands of yellow hornet different size all curd up dead.i saw queen, she have no wing but big body with a little head about 3 " long. i never seen how big and ugly the queen is compared worker hornet.
when season of hornets get aggression, don't bring any lunch meats. even if you did eat inside, they can smell the meat from your mouth and your clothes if you eat juicy burger dripping on urself. one time i had yellowjacket landed on my ham sandwich just before i made a first bite and i saw it i tossed my sandwich up in the air..my co worker had nice set-up for yellowjacket while he eat his deli chicken, he put alittle strip of meat for them , then when 3 or 4 come in eat the chicken meat he took his cap hat slap them dead and flicked dead hornet off the table, few more come in slap them dead. i like his tricks, i done it few times, it seem working but not for swarm hornet...lol
whatever i done with my stunts with bees, do not attempt at your home or job-site. it ain't worth to put yourself in danger. i know few ppl are allergic to bee sting had nearly died from it. i not allergic to bee sting that why i don't had no fear of swarm of bee except hornet i run as haul a$$...lol 

Treeman67


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## cordless saw (May 16, 2006)

Like Eagle1 my worst encounter, knock on wood, was as a kid playing army and rappelling down a rock face covered in ferns. I made my way back up that rock in record time My one buddy who didn't take off when i clambered back up the rock started whipping me with his belt while I rolled in the long grass. We got on our bikes and rode away never to return. Luckily, there were no adverse reactions to the stings. Just a funny story we remember when we have a few scotch.


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## farmboy9 (May 17, 2006)

*wasps*

Here in New Zealand we have an exotic (that's what they call 'non-local') intruder, the german wasp. In the South Island beech forests the biomass of the wasps can exceed that of all other animals, birds and insects put together. ( A "Department of Conservation" researcher told me that). Fortunately that is only in the bad bad years and bad spots -they can't survive a cold wet spring and they are less trouble high up- but I have personally seen them cover the lower half of a 60' tree to a density of one every inch (they feed on honeydew on so-called black beech, actually usually a hard beech which is infested with the mite that makes honeydew, which sits on a black residue) and, on a windy day, seen them blow downwind like a snow storm. But I personally adore the back-country (one can walk in a straight line down there for two weeks and see nobody) so I go mountain-walking there, with anti-histamines, antiseptic and stingeese near the top of my pack. Once, coming down a 50degree slope and following a waterfall, I let myself down onto a table sized boulder. When I landed I noticed a dead mouse with fresh blood leaking out of his mouth just by my foot. I only had time to to be surprised before I found out exactly what had happened to him. He had been stung to death by german wasps and they were still angry. I don't know what is the local record for the hundred yard dash over steep terrain with a fifty-pound rucsac (I was on a ten day solo trip) but I am a contender. I got thirteen stings on that run and a fourteenth some minutes later from a wasp that had been trapped in a fold of my clothing. The worst of the stings swelled up to the size of a saucer and the reaction made my joints stiff enough that I had to work my knees in the morning to get them moving again. 
Funnily enough, in the next four summers, I don't think I saw fourteen wasps in total but a bug (nisseria bacteria) nearly killed me when I got meningococcal meningitis. I thought I had the flu until I woke up three days later in intensive care. 
I don't like the sound of those africanised hybrid bees. I won't be complaining in future if they make me fill in forms before i come back from trips abroad and want to spray my shoes. If those nasties come here, we may have to abandon God's Own Country ('Godzone', they call it here).
Nature is always ready to rumble. I suppose the competition is good for us.


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