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Leg straps are available to tie around your ankles to keep the <br /> bees from crawling up your pant legs. <br /> /1 <br /> A bee brush is a handy tool for brushing bees from frames ,, <br /> (Figure 19). <br /> Figure 19.A bee brush. <br /> A notebook for recording colony health and configuration information is helpful. There are also a number of <br /> phone or tablet apps that are designed for taking notes on honey bee colonies. <br /> Stings <br /> Stingers are modified ovipositors, or the structure allowing a female insect to lay an <br /> egg. Since only females have the potential to lay eggs, only females can sting in <br /> all bees, wasps, and ants. In honey bees, the workers sting to defend their colony. <br /> • When a honey bee worker stings a person or animal, the barb in her sting sticks <br /> into the skin. When she flies off, the barb sticks and the tension rips a specialized <br /> venom sac out of the bee's abdomen that stays in the skin.A muscle attached to <br /> Biology the venom sac continues to pulse, squeezing more venom from the sac into the <br /> person or animal until the stinger is removed or the venom runs out. It is actually • <br /> Box fascinating to watch! <br /> But if this type of fascination is not for you, scratch the stinger out with your fingernail immediately. If <br /> you try to pull the stinger out with two fingers, you might squeeze more venom into you, so just quickly <br /> scratch it out. Puff some smoke over the site of the sting to diffuse the alarm pheromone odor the <br /> stinging bee marks you with. Then take a deep breath and know the pain will be over shortly. Expect <br /> some local swelling and itching for a few days, which is entirely normal, and will go away as you get <br /> more stings over the season. If you have a systemic response, see a doctor or allergist. For information <br /> about allergies, see the Mayo Clinic site: z.umn.edu/mayobeesting <br /> The stinging bee will die shortly after she loses her sting. Honey bees are the only insect that have a <br /> barbed sting. Other stinging insects can sting repeatedly. It is a mystery why honey bees evolved to <br /> sacrifice themselves in this way. Moving slowly, avoiding squishing bees, and using smoke to decrease <br /> the chance of stings makes beekeeping a more enjoyable experience for you and the bees. <br /> i <br /> Beekeeping in Northern Climates 18 <br />