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#62
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12-25-2012, 02:09 PM
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 My Rank: STAFF SERGEANT Poster Rank:813 I Am Dic-N-Bawss Join Date: Aug 2012 Posts: 957 Mentioned: 0 Post(s) Quoted: 171 Post(s)
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Re: Killed by Bees
 Ahh! What a miserable death!,,,,, Over 5000 stings,,, being extremely allergic to bees it would only take 10 or 15 to send me on my way. ( I was once stung by a single bee right between the eyes when I was a kid. My face swelled up like crazy, almost killing me. If any of my fellow Americans here remember a shitty 1980's TV show called The Beauty And The Beast, that is what I looked like.  It Was Terrible.  ) - I HATE  BEES!!!  · |
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#64
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12-26-2012, 12:30 AM
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 So Fucking Banned Poster Rank:338 Male Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 3,766
Contributions: 26
Mentioned: 1 Post(s) Quoted: 32 Post(s)
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Re: Killed by Bees
Most I ever got stung was 150 times. And I did count as many of the stings as I could find. So it could of been a bit higher but not much. It made me a bit tired and disoriented the next day. The stings do pus a bit the next day. Obviously this guy found his upper limit. The bees in South America must still be fairly good mix of Africanized bees to sting so aggressively. I've worked with those bees for one guy but he gave me an extra thick suit and a special net to wear over my head. The standard equipment most beekeepers wear is only cotton coverals and a regular net with a safari hat. His suits were three layers thick. The middle layer was some sort of synthetic spongy material. Very uncomfortable. His head gear had a zipper that went all the way around the shoulders and snapped tight in the front. Regular nets just tie down with a string and elastic sewn in the edge. Even the hybridized mixes are extremely aggressive and just swarm you no matter what the activity is. So I am not a bit surprised this sort of thing can happen to an unsuspecting and unprotected person who stumbles into a nest.
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#69
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12-26-2012, 10:30 PM
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| So Fucking Banned Poster Rank:338 Male Join Date: May 2010 Posts: 3,766
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Re: Killed by Bees
Just so you know, "killer bees" and "honey bees" are the same. They interbreed with no problem. They are more closely related that a black man and a white man. The only difference is natural selection. Europeans selected strains that were more gentle and less inclined to swarm out. European honey bees really must be cared for to prosper. African honey bees were constantly raided by the Africans who never cultivated them. They raided and always wiped out the most gentle strains so the more aggressive strains survived. And over thousands of years only the most aggressive were the survivors until their strains are the most aggressive of honey bees in the world. In Japan there are no bears but there is a predatory wasp that those bees have developed instints to deal with. In North America there are bears so our bees have developed and inhanced their aggressive traits in such a way as to fend off bears more readily. Fortunately because of modern mail service we can order any strain we like with traits to suit the individual beekeepers needs. Some beekeepers like Italian strains, some get theirs from Islands where hybrids are raised. Some like grey carniolans for their mild disposition and gentle manners. They are decent producers and on a hot day can be worked with no net if one is careful to not bump the hive or make sudden moves. Notice the grey color of the bees.  Here is a marked queen. Notice the yellow dot with the number and the clipped wings. She can be used by a beekeeper to raise many more sisters like herself and so save him alot of money. I don't have a description to go with this photo but from the looks of her I think she might be a hybrid. The worker bees around her are grey carnoilans.  Here is an Italian Queen bee with some attendants and workers.   Notice these two bees are side by side on one comb and showing no aggression toward each other. Hives can be mixed if done carefully and the original queen is removed from one hive beforehand. A beautiful African Honey Bee Queen with a full retinue of attendants.  Yes these bees are dangerous and aggressive and swarm out easily if disturbed. They will happily fly off with the queen and find a new nest if disturbed overly much. Or if they run out of honey and are starving. But they are champion honey gatherers and have natural disease resistance. The queens are prolific egg layers. And they are beautiful. To a beekeepers eyes anyway. One more thing, notice the difference in attitude and positioning of African bees vs European bees. African bees really line up like soldiers to protect and serve thier queen while European bees are much more relaxed in positioning. African bees may seem vicious and aggressive to us but it's just their high rate of alertness and defensiveness and order that has allowed them to survive. European bees have been coddled and cared for over centuries and bred for a mild tame demeaner. Just the opposite for the African bee. No one cared for him so he learned to look out for himself and became a warrior bee for his own survival. He really is a wild bee. |
