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Bee Stings: Prevention and Treatment

Bees are extremely beneficial insects, but their stings can be very painful. Learn how to prevent and treat a bee or wasp sting here.

Written By: Jennifer Keating Digital Editor

Here are some first-aid tips for those annoying and often painful bee stings—plus, tips on how to prevent bee stings in the first place.

Prevent Bee Stings

An important consideration when it comes to bees is that they truly don’t want to sting you. This means that you have to somehow provoke a bee to make it sting you. Unfortunately, sometimes this happens accidentally: Many of us have made the mistake of stepping on a bee or gone too close to a bee hive without proper precaution.

You can generally prevent a sting by simply leaving the bees alone. Standing still while a bee flies around you can be a great way to prevent pain for you both. Even if one of the stinging insects lands on you, it will probably fly off on its own with time.

Bees sometimes react to certain odors that perfumes or colognes carry. If you know you are going into an area that generally has them, keep your scent neutral. Bright colors can also attract bees. Be sure to wear footwear outdoors so as not to accidentally step on a stinging insect.

How Often Do Bees or Wasps Sting?

Honey bees can only sting once because their stingers have barbed edges. However, the stinger will continually release venom once it is in you, so you should try to remove it immediately.

Bumble bees, on the other hand, have smooth stingers and can sting more than once. However, they tend to have calmer temperaments than honey bees, which is why many people think of them as harmless.

Wasps can also sting more than once. Yellow jackets are a particularly aggressive type of wasp, and they can also sting multiple times. Hornets are also simply another name for a type of wasp.

It is normal for you to experience swelling, reddening, a sharp pain that turns into a dull ache, and itching with these stings. If you have other complications like a headache, seek medical attention.

wasp-sting-treatment.jpg

How to Treat a Bee Sting

  1. If you have a history of severe bee sting reactions or reactions to other insect stings, call emergency medical services.
  2. If the bee stinger is still present, remove it immediately. Gently scrape the skin with a credit card, your thumbnail, or a blunt knife.
  3. Don’t pull out the stinger or pinch the stinger with your fingers or tweezers. This will only release more venom into the skin.
  4. After the stinger is eased out with the credit card, apply ice or cold packs to constrict the capillaries, reduce swelling, and mitigate the pain.
  5. Even though the area might become itchy, try not to scratch it. Dirt or other microbes from the surface of the skin could get into the sting and cause an infection.
  6. It’s better to  clean the area with soap and water and apply hydrocortisone cream or a mixture of baking soda and water (which will help the itching and discomfort).
  7. If no other treatment is available, apply a slice of onion to the spot and hold it for a minute or so.

Remember that bees (and wasps) can also be very beneficial to your garden. Bees are most responsible for pollination, and wasps eat many other pests like tomato hornworms. Preventing bee and wasp stings is all about understanding the insects. 

Natural Remedies

About The Author

Jennifer Keating

Jennifer Keating

Digital Editor

Jennifer is the Digital Editor at The Old Farmer’s Almanac. She is an active equestrian and spends much of her free time at the barn. When she’s not riding, she loves caring for her extensive collecti...

Read more from Jennifer Keating

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Comments

<span>C.r.</span> Mon, 08/20/2012 - 13:49
I experienced fire ant bites stepping on a curb near a Starbucks store. The manager gave me a banana skin and instructed me to rub the inside of the skin on the ant bites which I did. Relief was immediate! I still don't know why, but it was successful.
<span>Mima</span> Sat, 08/18/2012 - 15:54
What about fire ant bites? Does anybody have any really good ideas on how to deal with them?
<span>Sue R.</span> Sat, 07/26/2014 - 02:28
Mima, in Miami, Fl. at a fruil & tree park, they put tiger balm on me when fire ants covered both feet, it was very painful. It was very soothing, & drew the poison out. I bought some & brought it home with me. It works on hornets, wasps mosquitas, we use it on any sting. You can buy it at Wal-Mart.
<a title="View user profile." href="/author/editors">The Editors</a> Sun, 08/19/2012 - 15:46
Hi, Mima, Elevate the bitten area and apply ice or a cold compress. To relieve pain, it may help to use anti-itch medications, such as hydrocortisone cream, or a solution of half-bleach and half-water on the sting. Do not break any pustule that has formed to avoid infection. Wash gently.
<span>Keno122</span> Fri, 08/17/2012 - 09:54
didnt know that about vinegar - not surprised! vinegar has many amazing uses! for bee, mosquito, chiggers bites, I simply use Caladryl lotion. Works great!
<span>Lee D/Custer Sd</span> Thu, 08/16/2012 - 14:26
get the ofa "tick key"!! it is great and works so easily! best invention out there if you are one who is outside alot like my husband and i are!! thanks old farmers almanac!!
<span>Taxlady</span> Thu, 08/16/2012 - 12:41
if you must scratch mosquito or bee stings do not scratch directly on top of the bite, scratch around the bite, just as soothing but doesn't irritate the bite
<span>Taxlady</span> Thu, 08/16/2012 - 12:40
a paste of meat tenderizer works great on bee stings
<span>Jonnie</span> Mon, 07/21/2014 - 15:16
Meat tenderizer works for me everytime on stings!!
<span>Scooter784L3</span> Wed, 08/15/2012 - 21:24
For stings: The best remedy for dealing with major stings is nicotine. A scorpion sting's pain can be halted in its tracks by smearing the nicotine from a smoking pipe filter across the area of the sting. There will be some 'throbbing' but the pain should stop almost immediately. If you get stung by an ASP aka Texas Puss Caterpillar make half a dozen inverted loops of tape one and a half inch to two inches in diameter(sticky side out). Insert two fingers into tape roll, then roll the loop of tape across the area of the sting JUST ONCE! Only roll the loop of tape until you come to the area where you started rolling, stop there and drop it into the garbage can. You are removing the fine stinging hairs that cannot be seen with the naked eye. Continue rolling the succeeding loops of tape, until you're out of loops of tape. Six should do the trick, unless you touched numerous areas of skin against the Asp. Then smear the nicotine from a smoking pipe filter across the sting and cover with a patch and don't wash the area for 24 hrs. If you don't have a smoking pipe filter, use a small rolled up wad of Beechnut leaf chewing tobacco that has been moistened with tap water, just enough so that the nicotine begins to color your finger tips. Flatten the wetted chewing tobacco on the surface of the sting and keep it in place by 'X' two large bandaids over it to hold it in place. A large square athletic band-aid works as well. I've used a piece of Saran-Wrap over the tobacco and then used an ACE bandage wrapped over the top of the Saran-Wrap to hold it in place for 24 hrs. Count yourself lucky if you've never been stung by an Asp. The misleading part is that if you've never been stung by one, you don't realize that you've just been stung when you first come into contact with an Asp, because unlike bees, wasps, scorpions and such there is absolutely no bite or puncture that hurts with the 'contact' that will eventually spread the poison into your body. The spread of the Asp poison and pain lasts approx 18 - 22 hrs. If you take no steps to remove the fine stinging hairs, or applied nicotine to fight the stinging poison, you are in for bone-breaking feeling of pain of un-imaginable agony for nearly a day. Asp stings can cause DEATHS, due to blood poisoning in some cases. The factor to 'look' for in a victim of an Asp sting is a RED LINE under the skin leading from the area of the sting, up towards the shoulder, in the case of a stung hand or arm. Or a red line going up the leg towards the torso. ***IMMEDIATE*** transport to an Emergency Room at a local hospital is required at this point, if the 'red line' appears on the victim's skin.