Beekeeper’s Notes: Getting Stung Where It Hurts Most

Published on: 1 Oct, 2019
Updated on: 27 Sep, 2019

Hugh Coakley keeps bees in Worplesdon

I was stung by a bee the other day and it hurt. The pain was so intense, I could do nothing for a few seconds. Generally, bee stings aren’t too bad; an intake of breath, an expletive and a little itchy afterwards, but no more.

Close up of a bee sting (Glasgow and District Beekeepers’ Association)

This was different though. It was on the palm of my hand, on the webbing between the finger and thumb and it left me in a sweat. It must be a very sensitive area, like the finger tips. I have been stung on the end of a finger and that gave me a shooting sensation right up my arm and hopping around in pain.

It is funny if you see another beekeeper dancing after being stung, but it was me so I wasn’t laughing.

I wondered if any hardy soul had looked into other sensitive areas being inflicted by stings. And of course, mad fools in the name of science have done just that.

Michael Smith of Cornell University deliberately got himself stung five times a day all over his body to rate the pain. The nostril, the upper lip, and the penis shaft were ranked as the most painful but the armpit, cheek, scrotum and palm were very close behind. Somehow, I am not surprised.

He also tested his finger tips, as unintentionally have I, but their pain rating isn’t listed in the results. I however can give independent verification to his experiment and state that a sting on the palm of the hand is very painful and quite rightly has a high ranking. I have not extended any testing to my nether regions.

Also in the interests of science, Justin O. Schmidt, a biologist at the Southwest Biological Institute, came up with the Schmidt Sting Pain Index, rating different insect stings on a scale of nought to four. Unlike the heroic Mr Smith, he wasn’t the willing subject of the stings but experienced them as an unavoidable part of his work as a biologist studying insects.

With my wimpish reaction to a honeybee sting, which is ranked a lowly ‘2’ on the index, I would dread to think what my reaction would be to a bullet ant sting, rated as a top 4 and described as “pure, intense brilliant pain. Like walking over flaming charcoal with a 3-inch nail embedded in your heel.”

Beekeeping goes on despite the pain. This hive was made up from two late swarms, one collected in the centre of Guildford and the other in Puttenham. They were both small colonies so I have combined them into one relatively strong one. Hopefully, it will go through the winter. The queen is laying well and plenty of pollen going in, so fingers crossed.

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