Stacykins
Overrun with beasties
- Joined
- Oct 7, 2011
- Messages
- 476
- Reaction score
- 8
- Points
- 76
My goats and I got a rather nasty surprise today. We accidentally found an underground bumblebee nest in the goat pasture.
It happened pretty quickly. One moment I was working on clicker training the crew and it was going GREAT, and the next we have bumblebees attached to all of us! My poor doeling Suzie had them all over her face! She was screaming bloody murder and I grabbed her and brushed them off with my hands. To get us out of the area, FAST, I just threw the gate wide open and told them it was grain time. So they took off for the barn at full tilt. Yay for Pavlovian reactions?
Once they were in, I observed them for at least thirty minutes to make sure nobody was reacting badly (anaplalaxis would happen pretty quickly, but like if Suzie had some slower swelling around her face developing, that could also cause breathing problems). And unlike a honeybee, the stinger of bumblebees lacks barbs, so they can sting you until they get bored (or you GTFO of the area).
The plus side of keeping honeybees meant that I could then suit up and dig up the offending nest (built under a tussock of grass). I really did feel bad about that, since bumblebees are such important pollinators (they can pollinate through buzz pollination, a mechanism honeybees cannot do). But it was literally in the middle of my 70 x 70 foot goat pasture. I had no idea how it hadn't been found or been a problem before. I do have some cool pictures to download of the nest and bumblebee queen, though! I did dispatch the queen, so she didn't try and rebuild her destroyed nest...
Everyone is sore, including me, but no permanent damage. I am just glad none of the goats took any stings to the eyes. Artie got hit on his ears. I am certain Dulce de Leche on her rump, because she went "MEH!" in pain when I was checking her over and touched her there. And poor Suzie and her face. She got some banamine, btw, to help ease the pain and swelling.
It happened pretty quickly. One moment I was working on clicker training the crew and it was going GREAT, and the next we have bumblebees attached to all of us! My poor doeling Suzie had them all over her face! She was screaming bloody murder and I grabbed her and brushed them off with my hands. To get us out of the area, FAST, I just threw the gate wide open and told them it was grain time. So they took off for the barn at full tilt. Yay for Pavlovian reactions?
Once they were in, I observed them for at least thirty minutes to make sure nobody was reacting badly (anaplalaxis would happen pretty quickly, but like if Suzie had some slower swelling around her face developing, that could also cause breathing problems). And unlike a honeybee, the stinger of bumblebees lacks barbs, so they can sting you until they get bored (or you GTFO of the area).
The plus side of keeping honeybees meant that I could then suit up and dig up the offending nest (built under a tussock of grass). I really did feel bad about that, since bumblebees are such important pollinators (they can pollinate through buzz pollination, a mechanism honeybees cannot do). But it was literally in the middle of my 70 x 70 foot goat pasture. I had no idea how it hadn't been found or been a problem before. I do have some cool pictures to download of the nest and bumblebee queen, though! I did dispatch the queen, so she didn't try and rebuild her destroyed nest...
Everyone is sore, including me, but no permanent damage. I am just glad none of the goats took any stings to the eyes. Artie got hit on his ears. I am certain Dulce de Leche on her rump, because she went "MEH!" in pain when I was checking her over and touched her there. And poor Suzie and her face. She got some banamine, btw, to help ease the pain and swelling.