ok..what WORKS on bee stings.

[XLIV]

it's me..the new OLD tree marker. Love the job. Wish I'd have started 30 years ago. The weather, heat, brush, butt marks on steep terrain, paint in the face, snot nosed school kid co-workers..all that I can tolerate.

What makes me cringe? The BEES.  Getting stung 5 or 6 times a week, (when on the face makes for a very comical look by the way). Is there a product that quickly balances the Ph of the venom after you unkowingly step on their home?

I carry Adolphs meat tenderizer now, but it needs to be used immediately..usually I'm still running. Last week I emptied a whole can of paint in the air and they turned around.

Excuse me, I gotta go itch a couple stings now..thanks for all your suggestions.

44

[DanG]

There is a product called "Sting-kill" available in most pharmacies.  I've found it to work pretty well if applied within a few minutes.  It comes in pen form, sorta like a magic marker, so you can carry it in your pocket.  Nothing completely takes the sting away, but that's the best I've been able to do.

[Tom]

If it is really a bee. You can eliminate much of the poison by scraping the stinger out of your hide.   If you try to pick it out, all you will do is squeeze the poison sacks and inject the poison.

More than likely, you aren't being stung by Bees but rather by wasps, Yellow Jackets or  hornets.  Bees can sting only once.  Their stinger locks into the wound and is ripped from their abdomens as they try to get away.  The other insects don't have that problem and can sting as many times as they can find the opportunity.  The only way I've heard of getting away from them is to run.  

Once stung, there are several old wives tales of things that you can use to "draw" the poison.  A wad of chewed up tobacco is the first thing that comes to mind.

If you are allergic to the poison, you should definitely see a doctor and get him to prescribe epinephrine, or something of his recommendation.  The allergy can put you into anaphylactic shock and cause your airways to swell shut.

[Furby]

Last weekend up at the lake I was prunning a few dead branches with a pole pruner.
My kid sister went up on the back deck to watch.
A minute later I heard her scream and when I looked over she was flailing her arms and crying.
Then I saw the swarm heading for her and yelled for her to run.
She got away with one sting on her toe and it caused her foot to swell up pretty good.

I went over to the deck and leaned down to try and find the nest on the other side.
Next thing I know, a very angry flying insect was aimed right at my face.
I got away with one sting to the arm.
I had stuck my face about 2" from the nest I though was on the other side of the deck.
Next day the swelling on my sister's foot had gone down and I couldn't even tell where I had been stung.

Yup, running is the best way!
As far as the sting, cold water works.

[SwampDonkey]

Mud 

[fishman]

poltice of baking soda and whisky

[Ron Wenrich]

I always found that the best remedy is not to get stung in the first place.     When I was marking timber, I always looked for a small hole at the base of a tree.  If there was going to be a yellow jackets' nest, it would be at one of those holes.  It saved me several episodes.

Sting-kill is a pretty easy thing to pack in.  They make it in swabs or wipes.  Here's their website:  http://www.sting-kill.com/  Getting stung as often as you do, you might qualify as an industrial user.   

[jokers]

Back when my dad was a younger and able to get around better we had a hundred and twenty or so beehives that we used for honey production and orchard pollination so you can believe that I`ve been stung more than a few times. What I can tell you is that you will eventually build a tolerance for the venom that apparently is lifelong. I just grabbed a chunk of wood that had a wasp nest on the other side, stuck my hand right into the nest and all those squishy, juicy larvae  and of course I got stung a few times, luckily the pain subsided within about ten minutes and the swelling was gone in less than an hour. Something good to look forward to! 

I used to apply the baking soda to the sting when I was younger and more tender  and it seemed to work. I like the idea of adding whiskey though.

[Zundapp]

To go along with what Ron said, avoid getting stung. It comes with experience.Know your enemy. Heres some tips I've figured out the hard way I'll pass on. As Ron mentioned, Yellow Jackets make their in holes in the ground, many times at the base of trees. Hornets & wasps build a paper nest in lower limbs & brush about head high, so don't get to focused on the ground watching out for yj's that you walk into a hornets nest, believe me, it happens. If you do disturb a nest you have about 5 seconds to move before they get your scent, just keep moving, 10 or 15 feet & your fine. The longer your in their zone (an 8' radious around their nest), the more will take up your scent & they'll give chase up to 200 yds. I've found the best way to loose them is to run through the thickest brush you can find. Your best defence is to be aware of any movement. If you see something flying around, move off a few feet identify it, locate the nest, then avoid it. As I mentioned above, it comes with experience, in time you'll get where you hardly ever get stung. If you do, make a little mud from the duff & apply that to the sting. That works as well as anything I've ever tried.

[XLIV]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I will try carrying the stingkill pen.

Youre correct Tom ..it's not bees..its yellow jackets. Down by the reservior is the bald face hornets. Currently the bears are tearing up the yellow jacket nests like crazy. One swipe with their paw and the holes are open and exposed. Looks like some rebuild in the old hole. I've managed to spot a few before stepping on them. But once they mark ya you need fast legs. Darn little buggers.

Like I say, wish I'd have started 30 years ago (faster legs).

44

[Paschale]

poltice of baking soda and whisky

Followed by several swigs of said whiskey. 

[pappy]

Got an email a few weeks back which said to put a penny on it to pull out the poison,, ain't been bit yet to try it out ??    

OK pap

[SwampDonkey]

That's for charm'n worts Pap.

[Dale Hatfield]

High school job was to shear 4 farms of Christmas* trees. Their aint nothing to set ya moving like wacking a Christmas* tree with a long knife and have the whole tree start to buzz. Bald face hornets would track us  back to the truck.
Dale

[Ron Wenrich]

My understanding of hornets is that they can trace the air movements back to the source.  So, if you throw a rock at a hornets nest, they follow the movements back to where it came from.  My brother-in-law found that out one day.  So, when you take off running, they follow those currents.

We had a guy marking timber for us who stepped into a yellow jackets nest about up to his knee.  He never got stung.   We figured the sonic boom killed most of them.   

[crtreedude]

Tom, I will have you know my greatgrandfather taught me the tobacco trick. I know for 3 generations at least we used it until one day we got stung without hit nearby - and learned we aren't allergic to bee stings! 

[Tom]

Well!.......      it was probably why you were not allergic.    Oldtimers are hard to convince that their methods don't work. 

[Kcwoodbutcher]

I used to make sting kill back in the days when I had a real job. The active ingredient was diethylamine I think. Anyway the purpose of this was to denature the protein in the venom, and it does a good job. Another, just as good remedy, is a paste of meat tenderizer applied to the sting. It works in the same way, denaturing the venom protein. Be sure and use a tenderizer that contains the enzyme "papain" (like accent ) or it won't work. The relief is very quick.

[OneWithWood]

Vinegar  Amonia works.  But the sting kill pens are much easier to carry around.  A can of wasp and yellow jacket killer that sprays out ot 20 feet is a great offensive weapon.  Just don't grap a paint can by mistake 

[jpgreen]

DMSO solvent.  Works right now and nutralizes the poison.  Snakes, spiders too.. 

It knocks out the sting in 60 seconds for me.


-DMSO-

[thurlow]

Local CO-OP carries a product called Denver Sting-Stopper which works great...........

DMSO...........some GOOD multi-purpose stuff. About 25 years ago, I turned an amorous 2-year old Polled Hereford bull in with a few heifers.  In his excitement, he managed to fracture his male appendage body part.  Wasn't actually broken, but it's the term used among cattlemen.  If you've never seen a broken one, you wouldn't believe the swelling.  It's not unusual.........probably had it to happen to 3 or 4 through the years.  Usually just carried them to the sale barn.  This was a halter-broke bull, which I had paid a  lot of money for;  hated to take the loss.  The vet gave me some DMSO cream and told me to massage it twice a day for a couple of weeks.  Lo and behold, he got all better and I kept him for 5 or 6 years, which was the usual amount of time.  He and I were best friends..............only herd bull I ever had that would come to see me when I came into the pasture.   If I had been a smoker, I think he would have gladly shared a cigarette.     The day I sold him, I just drove the cattle trailer into the pasture, opened the rear door and he walked in.

[Tom]

I would be afraid of DMSO.  Isn't its claim to fame that it penetrates through skin and muscle tissue, carrying other medications with it?   It might also carry the poison deeper too.

I have some here at the house that warns about administering it without cleaning the skin first.

[thurlow]

The vet made an issue of wearing rubber gloves..................at least with the formulation I was using.

[XLIV]

"He and I were best friends.............."

I bet..(there's a joke there somewhere but I'm not gonna touch that)

An old cowboy I knew used DMSO for everything. Lived to 92..they say he didnt need much embalming either.

I use it on sore muscles and joints. I'll try it on the yellow jackets too..thanks for the idea.

[Ken]

For those of us in this part of the world we are just entering the only time of the year when hornets are an issue.  I'm sure other areas have to deal with these sorts of things much more.  One thing for certain is that when we are spacing a section of land if there is a hornet nest there we will find it!  Guaranteed    Cover ever square meter of a property and all nests get located.  Running to get away is not as easy as it sounds as you are strapped to a 6' saw with felled trees all around.  It's not a matter of whether you get stung but how many times before you get away.  Areas that were originally high in aspen content seem to be the worst. 

I was clearing a building lot with a co-worker a few years back.  I had been using a power saw while he used the brush cutter.  During a break we decided to switch saws for awhile.  When he picked up the power saw he found out that I had inadvertantly placed the saw over the hole of some ground hornets.  They were rather worked up when he retrieved the saw.  He received nearly 30 stings.  He had to go to the hospital later that night to get a shot of steroids to bring him out of the problems he was experiencing. 

I've never tried any of the fancier remedies mentioned in this thread.  Good old mud seems to work here in these parts. 

[SwampDonkey]

They don't believe us Maritimers Ken. 

[Ken]

More often than not unfortunately all we can afford to treat hornet attacks with in these here parts is mud.