When I was a young boy, working on the farm, it was haying time and was
pitching the hay away from the hay loader on the wagon. All of a sudden
the hay loader picked up a swarm of honey bees and they attacked me, cause
we suspect the queen bee came after me. My dad was on the front of the
wagon and never got a bite. I jumped from the wagon and ran for dear life
to a near-by pond across the field ,hopped over a fence and dove into the
water. As I ran, I was scooping hand full of bees from my head and face
and got bit all over my head. When I got back to the house my mother
immediately grabbed a jug of vinegar and doused my head, hair, face and all
exposed areas where I was bit. It was painful from the start in the tight
skin on the top of the head but the vinegar makes it burn momentarily and
in a few minutes the pain is gone and the swelling never occurs.
We raised four children and often would get stung by wasps or bees
and the effects were always the same. It feels just like a mosquito bite
in a few minutes. I have a small bottle of white vinegar in the shed and
garage for that reason. Also have a small vial of it in my golf bag and
last year had the occasion to use some, got a nice phone call thanking me
for a painless bite he had received on the course. About as week ago was
picking some blackberries and got stung by a wasp and with the same
results. It really is a simple stopper for those nasty bites.