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Old 11-07-2008, 07:42 PM posted to uk.rec.gardening
Mary Fisher Mary Fisher is offline
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First recorded activity by GardenBanter: Jul 2006
Posts: 2,441
Default Bee sting allergy


"Tim W" wrote in message
om...

This is true. Lots of people claim an allergy when they don't have one but
bee stings can be very unpleasant and quite dangerous for anybody. Also in
the vicinity of a hive you are far far more likely to receive multiple
stings because they have something of a mob mentality.


No they don't. When they sting or are damaged an alarm pheromone is released
which can - CAN - cause others to go to the spot and sting.

Bees these days are very much more liable to be bad tempered too, so old
gardeners who have memories of docile bees should not be relied upon.
Beekeepers have more or less totally mongrelised or destroyed native wild
bees so that bees now show all kinds of odd behaviours, the most obvious
of which is aggression,


That's not true.

often made worse by the stress caused by the large numbers of parasites
that have been introduced.


It's true that stress can affect the behaviour of bees - or any animal. That
stres can be caused by human behaviour.

IOW say a clear no to hives on the allotments. Beware of anything a
beekeeper tells you.


It's not sensible to have hives on allotments for various reasons -
including that of vandalism and theft.

Mary