Lavender or not to Lavender??

[bwallace23350]

I am sure I will get stung but am not to worried about it as I have never had worse than a bit of light headedness hours after the fact and some localized swelling but on the precaution of others I am having a doctor prescribe me some epi pens and show me how to use them.

[Dallasbeek]

They hurt for a few minutes. Sometimes later in the day, I will notice that the area is a little sore.
If I do not get stung for a long time, I start to have trouble with my arms being painful.
Jim

Arthritis?  So being stung is good for you?

[Hops Brewster]

I'm going to throw away my smoker and wave lavender sprigs and peace roses at my bees.

[yes2matt]

Program on Australian TV last night http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H010S00 "Lavender and the Honey Bee" very interesting research. Lavender and rose scent calms and banana scent aggravates. Very interesting in that bees retain memory and  DNA can be altered

Thanks for the link. The epigenetic stuff is fascinating.

Edit, I forgot to ask: I've never heard the bit about putting a banana peel in the hive to induce rapid cleanup. Can someone explain that to me?

[BeeMaster2]

They hurt for a few minutes. Sometimes later in the day, I will notice that the area is a little sore.
If I do not get stung for a long time, I start to have trouble with my arms being painful.
Jim

Arthritis?  So being stung is good for you? 

Arthritis? Yes.  So being stung is good for you?  Yes

[BeeMaster2]

Program on Australian TV last night http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H010S00 "Lavender and the Honey Bee" very interesting research. Lavender and rose scent calms and banana scent aggravates. Very interesting in that bees retain memory and  DNA can be altered

Thanks for the link. The epigenetic stuff is fascinating.

Edit, I forgot to ask: I've never heard the bit about putting a banana peel in the hive to induce rapid cleanup. Can someone explain that to me?

I never heard of it.
I do know that the ingredients in banana are not the same as the pheromones the bees use. I have tested eating a banana while working in a hive and they had no reaction.
Jim

[Eric Bosworth]

Michael Palmer explains why bee keepers and their family members need to get stung by a bee approximately once a month and how this helps reduce the chances of having an Anaphylaxis reaction to a bee sting.

Last I knew MP is not a medical doctor so I question why he would make that suggestion.  Venom is a poison.  You can build an immunity to a poison but I doubt anyone would give their kids a can of baby rattlers to play with to build up that immunity.  Most old time beekeepers have an immunity to bee stings because if they didn't they would be dead already and no longer a beekeeper.  The best way to build immunity to bee stings is to become a beekeeper and build up the immunity gradually.

Forgive me for not reading this entire thread and it has been quite a while since I watched the video but if I remember correctly his daughter got stung and had an anaphylactic shock episode. If I remember correctly he said the doctor told him that its about 1 in 100 people that are allergic to bees in the general population. In bee keeping families it is about 1 in 10. Getting stung occasionally helps the immunity. The other solution is for only the person working with the bees to handle the clothing being warn by the beekeeper.

[GSF]

I remember, either on that video or elsewhere, that a beekeeper's family was more likely to "develop" an allergic reaction to bee venom than other folks. Mainly because of handling the clothes and the "secondary" venom.

Bee venom is like Forest Gump - Dey's Differant. Think about it, when we first got stung we use to swell up like road kill. Now I have to look hard an hour later to find the mark.

[KeyLargoBees]

Just make sure its "real" Lavender LOL...my experience with "fake" lavender was anything but soothing.

http://www.beemaster.com/forum/index.php?topic=48239.0

[Wombat2]

Program on Australian TV last night http://iview.abc.net.au/programs/catalyst/SC1502H010S00

Edit, I forgot to ask: I've never heard the bit about putting a banana peel in the hive to induce rapid cleanup. Can someone explain that to me?

Know how it is when you walk through the house with dog crap on your shoe?.... well banana is like that - they do a major spring clean to get rid of it all.