ok..what WORKS on bee stings.

[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.