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May 10th, 2008 - 1:0 To The Bees Saturday afternoon and it was time for Dan to go off to bee school.
Last time he went, Dan noticed that the experienced instructors were handling the hives bare-handed, while he and all the other students were covered head to toe in protective clothing.
Also, in Dan's bee book (Bee Keeping For Dummies), the author advises that you only wear gloves towards the end of the summer when the bees are more "forceful" in protecting their honey.
Plus, bee stings are reputed to be good for you in preventing arthritis later in life and, the more you get stung, the more immune you become to the pain of the sting.
With all of this information "buzzing" around inside Dan's head, he decided not to wear his gloves.
Unlike last time, when it was a case of "look and learn", today's bee school was a lot more "hands on" and Dan actually got to handle the hives and bees himself.
Things were going really well but after about an hour, it happened - one of the bees made the ultimate sacrifice and stung Dan.
After about 10 minutes, the sting had worn off although Dan was a little more wary about handling the bees!
As well as routine hive inspection, Dan also learnt how to capture a natural swarm.
Brimming with confidence upon his return, Dan made a "passing comment" that he can now see us having 4 hives by next year!!! View The Blog Read All Bee Stories |
