If you want proof…..
I blame myself. D’ya know the way when you KNOW the usual behaviour of someone/ something/ somebees but expect for once in their lives that this time they’d behave differently (probably because I was in a good mood) and well, they don’t. They are true to form and, in my case, attack.
I had given the winter treatment to fight against the Varroa mite to a few hives before I came to this one. The bees in the other hives hardly paid me any attention. So, perhaps I was a bit careless with my cranky hive. I know it’s a cranky hive (there always seems to be one). It was cold and I thought surely today they would be as quiet as the other hives. I had only light gloves on and my wrists were exposed. I should have known. I should have donned the gloves that go up to my elbow. Why, oh why did I think this time it would be different? 4 stings in 4 seconds along the back of my wrist. It only took 3 days for the swelling to go down.
One thing’s for sure, bees don’t hibernate.
A story from the perspective of a newly hatched winter bee A winter tale
Always learning from my bees.
Three day’s later my hand was back to normal and the stings didn’t hurt so bad. I don’t mind the odd sting… not really… see blog post Ouch!
This post refers to honey bees. See Honeybee suite post: Bumble bees hibernate, honey bees do not. Or Bumblebee conservation trust post: How do bumblebees hibernate?
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