November ‘21 Honey Pot – Stories From The Hive

The Not So Glamorous Side of Beekeeping!

You may recall me telling you about how my Beehive swarmed back in January 2021 taking with them my contented Queen Bee. I was very disappointed because since then, my hive has become quite unruly.

The Queen Bee pretty much dictates the harmony of the hive. Basically, if she is calm and content, the whole hive is calm and content. However, when my hive swarmed, this meant a new Queen Bee was born, the old original left, taking half the hive with her and the new Queen would now be the dictator of the hive!

At first, everything seemed pretty much normal to me however as the months progressed, each time I was around my hive, I noticed the bees were a little less calm. This was evident just last month when I did a hive inspection with my Bee Man, Peter.

The inspection required us both to suit up in our not so sexy beekeeping gear, fire up the smoker and begin taking the hive apart. We were checking the overall look at the health of the hive and also making sure there weren’t any signs of beetles and bugs or new Queen cells that were developing.This kind of inspection is something that is done about two or three times a year.

Generally, once we put the hive back together, the bees make their way back into the hive and go about their business as usual. However, this time, the bees had Peter and I in their line of fire and were on a mission to attack and destroy. I think I got stung three times that day and Peter five. Even though we were suited up and well protected, they certainly did not give up and wanted to show us just how annoyed they were that we had encroached on their territory. A unanimous decision was made that day that a new Queen Bee must be sourced and the current Queen Bee removed.

It just so happens there is a lovely lady in Brisbane who breeds Queen Bees who is celebrated for lovely calm Queens. Only problem for me is, I have to wait a month until she has one available for me to buy.

Whilst waiting, this is where Beekeeping became not so glamorous. You see, I decided to harvest some honey recently from my FlowHive. As you are a TK Club Member and no doubt have been following the Honey Pot category for a while, you will know just how easy it is to harvest honey from my Flow Hive and best of all, I don’t have to wear my Beekeeping suit to do this.

So picture this, me, quietly going about my harvesting when bingo, bango, bongo, a couple of random bees had me in their sights and decided it was time to attack. One went into my ponytail and the other straight for my exposed calf muscle. Ouch, the sting on my leg was a beauty whilst the bee in my hair was tormenting me buzzing around while all along I was not sure exactly where in my ponytail it was, let me tell you that is an unnerving experience! All I knew is I could hear the little devil and she was not welcome there! I made my way straight to the bathroom, dunked my head under the shower until the buzzing stopped. Ah the relief, the bee was finally out of my hair.

This relief however was short lived as my leg was really starting to hurt. I managed to get the sting out of my calf muscle and was not too worried that it started to swell up. You see, when I have been stung previously, the sting swells up for a day or so and then slowly reduces back to normal so I wasn’t too concerned that my leg was throbbing a bit. Besides, I was due in the recording studio that afternoon to record my vocals on a new duet that I was recording with my long time friend, Gina Jeffries. So I powered on….

Throughout the recording sessions I was thinking how painful my leg was and just put it down to the fact I was standing up, singing. That evening, my leg seemed to be getting worse and more swollen so I packed ice around it, took an antihistamine and thought, it will be OK in the morning.

When the morning came around it was not much better, still swollen and painful, the skin was becoming tight and shiny and looked like a rash had developed. I thought I’d better get myself to the Doctor. She advised I had cellulitis in my leg from the bee sting, something that is quite common.. I did not know that! My lovely Doctor prescribed strong antibiotics and some heavy duty ice packs for 24 hours and to keep my leg alleviated. Next day, I could see a rapid improvement…sheer relief. Thank goodness for antibiotics!

As I write this, I am sitting at my office desk, leg elevated with an ice pack wrapped around my calf muscle. I reckon I am 85% right and by the end of the week I’ll be kicking up my heels again!

I only need to wait another two weeks and I will have a brand new Queen Bee. For now, I think my honey harvesting can wait until the new Queen has the hive back in harmony. One thing is for sure, I am not going to sit in front of the hive, serenading them with a tune! The Queen Bee obviously doesn’t appreciate it so I will wait until the new Queen comes along to do a ‘show’ for them…lol.

I have to finish this note by saying, I do truly love my bees and my Flow Hive and this little incident has definitely not put me off beekeeping,

See you next month for more stories from the Hive.

Have a beautiful day,
TK xx