My cousin thought he should take up beekeeping.
He said the bees would be good for the local vegetation & he could sell the honey… I knew it was a good proposal to keep honey bees, but I wasn’t sure my cousin was the right person to take on this venture.
He hadn’t bought the beekeeper’s suit, or the smoker, however someone had given him the beehives. He thought that if he cleaned the beehives, the bees would automatically come to the hives. I distraught he would end up with the wrong bees, however he told myself and others I distraught too much; Two weeks later, I was working in the emergency department at the local hospital, & my cousin came in. He had welts all over his body from bee stings. I cleaned all the stings he allowed myself and others to see & told him to strip & put on a gown, and when I walked in fifteen minutes later, I had a shot of epinephrine for him, ordered by the doctor. He was lethargic & kept telling myself and others that bees weren’t supposed to get angry when you doused them with smoke, however these bees did. The doctor had already asked what bees he had in the beehives, & he wasn’t sure. He thought he had bought honey bees online, however they had no directions with them when they arrived, and all I could do was shake my head, knowing beekeeping was not a job for all the people, & it was absolutely was not a job for my cousin. He didn’t have an allergic reaction to the bee stings, however he was in a lot of pain for the next couple of days..