Karma Honey Project - Pedro Orellano School Bee Rescue
Last week we received a call about a local school that has dealing with a serious bee issue.
The Pedro Orellano school in Rio Grande has had a problem hive in their gym area for almost two years now. Unfortunately they originally opted to try to exterminate the colony. This not only did not work but it caused the bees to retreat deeper into the walls of the gymnasium.
Nice action shot of Martyna catching a smoker to be filled up with coconut husk leaves. As you can see we have already cut open the wall on the outside to access the colony.
We started on the outside of the building but quickly realized that the colony was much bigger than we had anticipated. After drilling and cutting through the outside concrete we moved our efforts to the inside of the gymnasium.
Here we are scooping the bees into a new beehive box. They are loud and not happy! Jose had already been stung multiple times at this point and it was a day that none of the team would escape unscathed.
Nothing a little Benadryl can't fix. There has been limited research done into the health benefits of bee stings but it definitely is something worth considering.
|
For centuries, honey, bee pollen, and bee venom have been used to treat a number of ailments that vary between chronic pain to skin conditions. Apitherapy, or the medical use of honeybee products that range from royal jelly to bee venom, was used by the ancient Egyptians as a homeopathic remedy for arthritis. Today, bee venom therapy, or bee sting therapy, has captured the attention of medical science as a potential homeopathic remedy for multiple sclerosis (MS) symptoms. Bee venom therapy (BVT), or apitherapy, uses the stings of live bees to relieve symptoms of MS such as pain, loss of coordination, and muscle weakness. Stinging is not limited to any specific area of the body, as stings in different places seem to produce different results. Apitherapy researchers suggest that certain compounds in bee venom, namely melittin and adolapin, help reduce inflammation and pain, and that the combination of all the "ingredients" in bee venom somehow helps the body to release natural healing compounds in its own defense. |
Team work! Many hands make light work.
\Where is she? Looking for the queen as we transfer the colony to its new beehive home.
8 combined bee stings and 6 hours later we have the colony transferred to its new home. Overall another successful day for the Karma Honey Project team!