Not too long ago, we had a lady contact us and she needed some bees. About ten of them. Ten. I thought that was so intriguing when Mark first told me about. I just couldn’t fathom why only ten. He explained that she needed the bees so that she could treat herself for pain she experiences in her legs. The use of honey bee products, including honey, pollen, and VENOM! Yes. It’s true. I had only heard a bit about that before but never knew anyone who uses the stinging bees’ venom medically. Sometimes just the thought of getting stung again makes me worry but I’m happy that some people find the stinging beneficial. It’s just amazing what the bees can do for us. Anyway, the first time Mark collected some bees for our customer it was fall I think. I remember cool weather. Poor bees didn’t survive long in the jar for some reason and we called the customer with the bad news. This second batch was collected around May 11 and I like how Mark included some comb for them. It was really neat to see that jar o’ bee – they were moving around frantically. Not sure why, but it was so neat! The movements inside the jar intrigued me but in all honesty, so much of what the bees do intrigues me. This batch made it to our customer in San Antonio and she seems pleased with them. Her friend wrote us recently to let us know that the bees are doing the job just fine but the customer actually had a difficult time getting the bees to sting her! Seems our bees were TOO gentle. LOL, that really made our day to get that email and to know we helped someone. If you’d like to read more about apitherapy, be sure to visit the American Apitherapy Society.
Maybe they were moving frantically because they were acting like queenless bees? No calming queen or brood pheromones around. And a perplexingly small nest to look after, they were probably wondering where the rest of their home had disappeared to.
It’s a funny image imagining the customer desperately trying to get the bees to sting her! A good advert for how gentle bees are. They’re not actually intent on stinging us and dying as some members of the public seem to think.
Thanks for your comment, Emily. That’s a good point about them being frantic w/out a queen and purpose. 🙂