While preparing to move the hive I was adopting I received a smattering of bee stings; some on the hands (I was wearing a not-thick-enough pair of rubber gloves, since replaced with better) and a couple on the face where the veil touched my chin a time or two. Honey bees see heat, and so detected that my skin was touching the veil.
At first my skin reacted as it does when I get a fire ant bite: swelling, itchy spots, redness, which later turn into small pus-filled blisters. The sensation wasn't so bad, and within a few days the stings had more or less disappeared.
About a week later I woke in the middle of the night to the sensation of inconsolable itchiness where every one of those stings had been. Ice was the only thing that calmed the skin down. The back of my right hand swelled to almost twice its normal size. The finger joints were stiff. I was miserable for the better part of another week.
I did some online research and learned that this reaction was apparently quite normal for first-time honey bee stings. I've been stung by other critters throughout my life, but this was the first time by honey bees. I haven't again been stung during the months that have followed moving the hive, so I have yet to see if this response will be true for me. We'll see ....
As a closing thought, it's best to do all you can to avoid being stung by your bee-babies — not because it's uncomfortable, but because when the honey bee stings you the stinger and a portion of the bee's abdomen remains attached to your skin as the bee pulls away, ultimately resulting in the death of one of the critters you have chosen to take charge of. Of the two of you, the only survivor will be you — unless, of course, you learn that you have a mortal allergy to honey bee venom.
