Bee in your hair...is their instinct to sting?

Hethen57 · July 20, 2009, 03:17:31 PM

If you are out taking a look at your hives and a bee buzzes into your hair (probably accidentally, not agressively)...do you try to flick it out or do nothing? It seems like they kind of buzz around and I was wondering if their natural instinct was to burrow down in the hair and try to sting..in which case you would want to flick them out. You could also do nothing like when they are on your arm, but I haven't waited long enough to find out....does anyone have any first hand experience with this.. :?

luvin honey · July 20, 2009, 03:29:47 PM

My experience this year has been that if they are in your hair, they are going to sting your head. I've watched in horror as they have dug onto my son's short hair, trying to arch their butts onto his scalp. In fact, that's the one time I've given my kids the go ahead to swat--when they are in their hair.

Anywhere else, we let them explore and just watch carefully.

There's a thread somewhere around here about bees pulling hair. I used to think they were just tangled (and now I always wear scarves over my long hair while watching the hives), but they are actually holding on trying to find a good spot!

Tucker1 · July 20, 2009, 03:30:30 PM

Last year, one of my bee keeping friends had a bee stuck in his hair for about a minute. The bee spent it's time trying to get out of his hair and made no apparent effort to sting him. Everyone involved "remained calm". I suspect bee's get stuck in the grass and other stuff, so they don't see it as threatening.

Regards,
Rich

luvin honey · July 20, 2009, 04:01:42 PM

Glad I'm wrong :) I don't want to think of them trying to sting heads all the time, but that has just been my experience so far this year.

annette · July 20, 2009, 04:18:30 PM

From what I have read in books, when they are in your hair you better swat them.

But I don't feel that way either, and would give them a chance to work their way out.

dragonfly · July 20, 2009, 04:55:15 PM

The instinct of most creatures, great and small, is to get defensive and/or agressive when they feel trapped. When bees land in your hair, especially if it is long, they have problems getting out, thus they feel trapped, and they react by fighting (stinging). I learned this from experience. :)

Hethen57 · July 20, 2009, 05:44:30 PM

They sure feel like they are trying to dig down to the scalp....I had one do it this morning, and I managed to flick it out, but the bee basically chased me back to the house trying to buzz my head. It was embarasing, but I didn't get stung...

Natalie · July 20, 2009, 05:49:27 PM

It has been my very painful experience that if they are in your hair they are going to sting.
It happened to me just the other day, I am out watering my plants and a bee flew straight at me and into my hair, stung me right off the bat on the side of the head right above the ear.
It was the absolute most painful sting I ever had (and I have been stung on the head before), my ear was burning, the right side of my mouth, actually inside my mouth along my top teeth was throbbing.
I think I was stung on a nerve.
Other times I have had them land in my hair and they always just keep going deeper, I find it hard to believe that bees don't have a good sense of direction and can't find their way out.

Tucker1 · July 20, 2009, 08:27:41 PM

Another advantage of being bald............................ :-D

JP · July 20, 2009, 08:45:26 PM

When they get in your hair, as stated they usually freak out, you can hear them freaking out, they buzz incessantly, its a different kind of buzz, they are angry. I try and grab them and throw them out as fast as I can. Sometimes, they come right back and try and get you, some times they leave, they usually come back for seconds though, so be ready! :-P

...JP

luvin honey · July 20, 2009, 09:08:01 PM

Quote from: Hethen57 on July 20, 2009, 05:44:30 PM
They sure feel like they are trying to dig down to the scalp....

That's what I mean. My hair is long, but it is always pulled tight and completely wound up in a knot, so it's not like there is loose hair to get tangled in. And, my son has a buzz cut, yet those bees were hanging on tight and digging their bums right into his scalp. :roll:

iddee · July 20, 2009, 10:48:37 PM

My experience is, they will work to the scalp and sting. When one gets into my hair, I simply reach for my pocket comb. Quick, easy, and doesn't seem to bother them very much. They usually just fly away.

tillie · July 20, 2009, 11:53:09 PM

Keith Fielder, a Master Beekeeper, in a talk at the Metro club in Atlanta, said that it's an electromagnetic thing - that if the bee gets too close to your hair, they are drawn in and can't help themselves - electrically speaking. So they are confused, don't want to be there, feel in danger, and sting you.

Linda T in Atlanta