It's winter. Someone was stung by a bee during bee season and has been stewing until now? Besides, whose reaction to a bee sting is to anger half a million more bees?
You have to make sure they get the message the first time.
Ender versus the hive queen, eh?
"When you strike at a queen, you must kill her."
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The article is published by the Los Angeles Times, but the incident occurred in Iowa.
Commercial hives are normally sealed during winter in places that are in even the slightest way cold.