Do Reindeers Sting?

We went to see Santa’s reindeer at a local garden centre on Saturday. There was a small Christmas market with food and the reindeer could be fed by the kids. We had breakfast there and it was just starting to get to the busy stage – busy enough that Harry was on edge – which put me on edge. His mum went to get some cutlery, leaving Harry and me for a few minutes and as luck would have it Harry then announced we wanted to go to toilet. No big deal, but Harry’s starting to be a bit more independent. We walked past the queue for the breakfast café towards the toilet. Harry’s already standing out because he’s wearing his ear defenders and then just as we’re about to go into the toilet he starts shouting at me. He doesn’t want me to go into the toilet with him and start shouting it at the top of his voice – if front of the whole queue. Like I’m some kind of paedophile. I’m not embarrassed – I don’t get embarrassed any more. But I am on the verge of dropping the C Bomb on everyone who’s staring at us. I didn’t. This time. I have done before.

So H&S Britain means signs like this appear, even though you’re encouraged to buy food to give to the reindeer. Wild animals bite – go figure. Especially when you’ve got reindeer food in your hand. It made me think about the most common question I get asked when people find out I’m a beekeeper – do you get stung? Yes, is the answer. Some times more than others, but on a bad day this season one hive got through my gloves seven times. They needed re-queening – and I was actually doing a manipulation to do that on that day. But seven stings is a lot. People react in different ways, but generally I get a bit of swelling and the site is itchy for a few days. And then it leaves a small red dot where the stinger went in – usually lasting a couple of weeks. The worst stings I get are to the head. Bees know to go towards the CO2 when they’re planning to sting, so it’s not uncommon to get head stings. But it doesn’t put me off. I’ve never been bitten by a reindeer.