I got my first honeybee sting of the season yesterday while checking on our hives.  First of all, let me assure you that it barely hurt --- having spent all last summer getting mobbed by yellowjackets, I had forgotten that honeybee stings are nearly painless.  That said, after I came inside, I did a bit of research to prevent it from happening again.

My first and worst mistake was to open the hive on a cloudy day.  It had rained all morning, but by lunchtime the sun was peeking out.  The bees were just beginning to head out to forage, though, and the hive was extremely crowded.  No wonder one wandered up my sleeve (which should have been tucked in) and stung my arm.  I'm just glad the bee didn't sting while wandering over more sensitive areas looking for a way out.  Luckily, Mark didn't get a shot of me ripping off my shirt and running half naked toward the trailer.

I found a very useful pdf with two pages of pointers on how to act while inspecting a hive.  I'll be more careful next time.