Re: You know what really grinds my gears?
This made me laugh, and I'm not laughing at you personally. I get it. For those allergic to bees or those that have had bad experiences with bees previously, it's hard to explain to them how peaceful and almost docile honey bees are.
Most people that hate bees for their aggression either are mistaking yellowjackets or other wasps for bees or they've done something at some time to irritate an individual bee or, worse, a hive, and have gotten a sour memory out of it.
I work honey with my uncle and have for several years. We have approximately two hundred hives in a radius covering a portion of two states. We care for them, and believe it or not, they almost always know us when we're there. If they don't, then something is usually wrong.
I haven't worn any keeper protection in nearly two years, aside from sometimes wearing gloves when I have to remove the bottom boards from the hives to inspect for mites, which can significantly diminish a colony. Sometimes when working around that area, the drone bees (males) that have mites will act out of character due to the stress their bodies are under from the mites. These drones will react to my touch if I'm not quick enough. I may have a few spots on my arm or both arms, but typically the gloves catch everything should I irritate any already-irritated drones.
When I'm working at our main facility where we harvest the honey, it isn't uncommon for me to have bees crawling anywhere they please why I'm working... my arms and hands, my head, they'll even crawl into my ear or at least try to and I learned early on to keep my mouth closed at all times. They are inquisitive creatures and, though intelligent beyond our understanding, they don't make the best decisions as far as where they want to fly/climb/walk around and explore.
Side note, if you all don't know this already... if you're going to buy honey for its nutritional value as far as fending off allergies, don't waste your money at the supermarket or chain grocery stores. Find a local beekeeper/honey farmer and buy your honey there instead. That honey will likely be less filtered or at the very least, more recently filtered, therefore giving you the benefits of the local pollen being in your honey and helping you fend off allergies to that mix of pollen for your area. Also, if the honey you're looking at buying is gold and more syrupy than you would imagine it should be and/or there is considerable amount of "clear" to the see-through of the honey itself, buy elsewhere. Those are characteristics of honey that has been filtered so much that it has lost nearly all of its health benefits.
Annnnnd sorry for this novel.
This made me laugh, and I'm not laughing at you personally. I get it. For those allergic to bees or those that have had bad experiences with bees previously, it's hard to explain to them how peaceful and almost docile honey bees are.
Most people that hate bees for their aggression either are mistaking yellowjackets or other wasps for bees or they've done something at some time to irritate an individual bee or, worse, a hive, and have gotten a sour memory out of it.
I work honey with my uncle and have for several years. We have approximately two hundred hives in a radius covering a portion of two states. We care for them, and believe it or not, they almost always know us when we're there. If they don't, then something is usually wrong.
I haven't worn any keeper protection in nearly two years, aside from sometimes wearing gloves when I have to remove the bottom boards from the hives to inspect for mites, which can significantly diminish a colony. Sometimes when working around that area, the drone bees (males) that have mites will act out of character due to the stress their bodies are under from the mites. These drones will react to my touch if I'm not quick enough. I may have a few spots on my arm or both arms, but typically the gloves catch everything should I irritate any already-irritated drones.
When I'm working at our main facility where we harvest the honey, it isn't uncommon for me to have bees crawling anywhere they please why I'm working... my arms and hands, my head, they'll even crawl into my ear or at least try to and I learned early on to keep my mouth closed at all times. They are inquisitive creatures and, though intelligent beyond our understanding, they don't make the best decisions as far as where they want to fly/climb/walk around and explore.
Side note, if you all don't know this already... if you're going to buy honey for its nutritional value as far as fending off allergies, don't waste your money at the supermarket or chain grocery stores. Find a local beekeeper/honey farmer and buy your honey there instead. That honey will likely be less filtered or at the very least, more recently filtered, therefore giving you the benefits of the local pollen being in your honey and helping you fend off allergies to that mix of pollen for your area. Also, if the honey you're looking at buying is gold and more syrupy than you would imagine it should be and/or there is considerable amount of "clear" to the see-through of the honey itself, buy elsewhere. Those are characteristics of honey that has been filtered so much that it has lost nearly all of its health benefits.
Annnnnd sorry for this novel.
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