Bee Suits?

[Violacea]

I'm just really surprised at the number of beekeepers that wear bee suits and . . . and . . . GLOVES?!     Maybe it's only because I have a few hives?  Do bees get more aggressive when there are more colonies? *puzzlement*  When I first started I wore long sleeves, but when summer came, that went out the window.  Now I just wear a veil, and rubber band my short sleeves and the bottoms of my jeans.  

So what do you wear?

[Jerrymac]

I have suited up completely everytime I got bees out of a wall. One never knows their temperment. Yesterday I suited up to check the hives and a good thing too. I had placed a clump of paper between the last frame and wall to steady the frames during moving. As I pulled it out yesterday it really disturbed a frame and the bees came out after me. I always prepare for the worse case. Something slips while your in the hive and end up needing the full gear and don't have it, then what?

I have also read that many times people have very calm bees and for some reason one day they are aggresive.

[Lesli]

The hat is to keep them out of my hair. the glasses to keep them out of my eyes.

Now, the girls did get a little testy in fall, so then I started wearing a veil.

[Lesli]

Something slips while your in the hive and end up needing the full gear and don't have it, then what?

Like the day I was juggling drone frames and... dropped one?

Yeah. I dropped a frame full of bees. Here's what I did:

I closed my eyes and froze. Didn't move at all. Waited to be stung.

They didn't sting. After half a minute or so, I decided they weren't too upset, and slowly and smoothly, picked up the frame and put it back in the hive. And then I scooped up the bees (house bees, young, confused) with my hands (bare) and put them back in the hive.

I'd like to have the jacket with attache veil. They look nice.

[FordGuy]

I have two feral hives that are mean as snot.  walk to within 50 meters and 10  of them start head-butting you until you run, arms flailing, screaming like a woman, sustaining various forms of bodily injury as you fall and bounce off the ground, to the amusement of anyone watching from a safe distance.  

So yes, I wear suit, face mask, gloves, holy water, rabbit's foot, carry a bible, and wear leather underpants when messing with these hives.  

I'm just really surprised at the number of beekeepers that wear bee suits and . . . and . . . GLOVES?!     Maybe it's only because I have a few hives?  Do bees get more aggressive when there are more colonies? *puzzlement*  When I first started I wore long sleeves, but when summer came, that went out the window.  Now I just wear a veil, and rubber band my short sleeves and the bottoms of my jeans.  

So what do you wear?

[Robo]

I have two feral hives that are mean as snot.  walk to within 50 meters and 10  of them start head-butting you until you run, arms flailing, screaming like a woman, sustaining various forms of bodily injury as you fall and bounce off the ground, to the amusement of anyone watching from a safe distance.  

So yes, I wear suit, face mask, gloves, holy water, rabbit's foot, carry a bible, and wear leather underpants when messing with these hives.  

Why would you want to keep such hives??

Requeen........

[BigRog]

I wear the protective gear
shorts, tshirt and sandals.

[Jay]

Who you kiddin' Rog, that great beard of yours is enough to keep africanized bees at bay!

[Horns Pure Honey]

I like to use my veil and gloves but dont really need the gloves. bye

[Beth Kirkley]

Ok, I fully suit up - I'm chicken...... what can I say?

Beth

[Jay]

I wear one of these.

[lively Bee's]

Veil only.

[FordGuy]

Burglars?  naw, really it's sort of embarassing how I got them, so much that I'd much prefer you think of me high-stepping all dressed in white, hive tools flying out of my hands as I do the double-windmill with my arms.  

I plan to replace them with gentle queens - I have another post about how to acquire Carneoleans in this same forum.  

I have two feral hives that are mean as snot.  walk to within 50 meters and 10  of them start head-butting you until you run, arms flailing, screaming like a woman, sustaining various forms of bodily injury as you fall and bounce off the ground, to the amusement of anyone watching from a safe distance.  

So yes, I wear suit, face mask, gloves, holy water, rabbit's foot, carry a bible, and wear leather underpants when messing with these hives.  

Why would you want to keep such hives??

Requeen........

[Geoff]

Having the last look for honey yesterday to extract this season ( there was not enough) just a little bit of an awkward bump of the 2nd. super & I had a lot of angry bees. A couple still managed to sting through my gear around both wrists so what would it have been like without the protection ?
     A freind beleives I have a savage lot to contend with but they have been great producers in my first year with them so requeening with something of a more gentle nature is the aim for the coming spring.
      On the subject of seatbelts in road veichles I would have been beheaded in a truck rollover if I had been wearing a belt. These days it is compulsory in Australia to wear them if the veichle you are driving is fitted with them as all new veichles are.
        Great forum, I can learn a lot from experiences of people in the northern hemisphere & I can really appreciate FordGuys situation.

[Horns Pure Honey]

Geoff, why dont you re queen this next fall? Queens cost less in the end of the season and your hive would get a good jump start next year too. bye

[firetool]

I think it is better to have it and not need it then need it and not have it. I am just starting out so later on when I am more experiansed I might try it with out some protective gear. I don't plan on ever doing any thing magior with out it though. I felt bad for John the time he got those 200 stings. I woould have had gear on. Becouse even if you are careful accidents still happen. If he had one on he would not have gotten it that bad.


Just my thoughts,

Brian

[Michael Bush]

Anywhere from street clothes (I was tempted to say nothing, but thought that might be misinterpreted) to a full bee suite (love my golden products suit).  But most often wear a jacket with a zip on veil and usually wear gloves.  I used to not wear them so much, but one time opened a hive that seemed ok, picked up a frame and my hand got gang stung.  Now I take off the gloves when I need the dexterity and leave them on the rest of the time.

[Wombat]

I wear a full suit, but I'm new to this.

However, I'm starting to get more and more comfortable, and am thinking of "downgrading"...I feel a little clumsy in my gloves and want to be as natural as possible...

might keep the veil though...at least for A WHILE

peace and oranges
wombat

[Lesli]

Last year, I stopped wearing the veil when I realized I had two very gentle colonies. But I think whatever you do, you need to have eye covering and (unless your hair is really short) a hat. Getting the girls tangled in your hair is unpleasant for everyone!

[Michael Bush]

Once you've seen how quickly a hive can mobilize, I think you will want to wear at least a veil.  A awful lot of bees can sting you in a very short amount of time and it can be a hive that has been gentle up until then.

[RayJay24]

I think its also an experience thing - for newbees like me, I feel more confident and relaxed in a beesuit. Handling bees without I hope to achieve once I know better.  Also - cloudy days and cold days the girls are testy but when the flow is on they are real pussycats

[Horns Pure Honey]

I wanted a suite to start with but my grandpa said I didnt need one so it kinda forced me into it. I wouldnt put on a suite if I was given one for free now, You just have to be relaxed around them. bye

[latebee]

I always wear a viel and use gloves most of the time. I wear the full beesuit only when I am removing a colony from a building-it seems the bees are easier going when removed from a hollow tree,not half as excitable as they get when they are in between walls or floors. I have read somewhere that light colored clothing is better to wear around bees so I also wear light colored street clothes around the hives when doing inspections.

[Barny]

Lesli I gotta say that either you have wimpy bees    or some sort of bee karma!

[Lesli]

It's true that I do talk to them, and treat them with respect. I think they were just really happy bees last summer. I bought them as nucs in late June, so I fed them pretty much all the time until the September goldenrod flow, so as far as they were concered, life was pretty darned good.

It's interesting that in spite of everything I've read about packages being gentle, blah blah blah, and in spite of spraying iwth sugar syrup, I got stung no fewer than five times when I hived my five packages this spring. And that was with a veil. I don't get much more than a little redness when I get stung, so it was no big deal, but I worried that the girls were hot.

Nope. They were probably just tired and cranky from the trip... or something. In any case, they've settled down and are now just fine.

[latebee]

Lesli, Did they get inside your viel or get you someplace else? I have not been hit installing packages yet but the friend whose bees I was hiving,got stung twice on the ear, his viel didn't have elastic or a drawstring. It was the type that just drapes over your head-a fine mesh-not screened.

[Lesli]

I did the first package without a veil, and got tagged on the jaw. In spite of my hat, a bee also got tangled in my hair and I got a sting on my scalp. So on with the veil. One more sting on the arm, one on my back (bent over and got tagged where my shirt rode up) and a bee climbed up my jeans and the last one was on my leg.

I think once I got stung, in spite of smoke, etc., I was probably "marked" for the whole session. Since I don't swell from stings (even 5 in a short period of time), it doesn't bother me.

By the way, I'm happy to say that the girls are not hot or anything.

[crw13755]

Lesli my word I saw your pic and had to look twice you look so much like my sister wow

[mellifera]

Hello All,

I started my bees last April. All Summer, my outfit was a tyvek suit, veil and one glove. This gave me my clumsy, protected hand and my agile, sensitive hand. It worked really well. By Fall, they had built up quite a bit of honey and started to get a little testy, so I got stung on the hand (the agile one).

This last Saturday, I found that my hive had produced a swarm the day after I came home with my new queen for my intended split. After reading about how gentle swarms are, I began trimming branches away from the swarm so that I could easily fit a ladder and box under it. No suit, no veil and gardening gloves. Just as I prepared to climb the ladder and knock the swarm into the box, I put on my suit and veil - just in case. As I was ten feet up on the ladder, knocking the swarm into the box, I began to feel something on the back of my hand. Then my wrist. Then I realised what was happening with my "gentle" swarm. I climbed down the ladder quickly and scraped the stingers out of my hands, wrist (right up to wher the rubber band on my sleeve was) and the gap at the back of my neck. Thank goodness I thought to put on my veil! A sting in the eye, while ten feet in the air would have been bad news. After talking to a friend who used to keep 200 hives, she said that she always wore a veil and suit, because you just never know when something unplanned can happen.
So, for a while anyway, I plan to be safe not sorry. I'll probably shed my gloves again, once the weather and the bees go back to being calm and happy..

Melissa

[Rich V]

I wear a veil,and sometimes gloves.

[Lesli]

Lesli my word I saw your pic and had to look twice you look so much like my sister wow

In those glasses, I thought I looked more like a drone.

[Jon McFadden]

My son and I wear shorts and tee shirts for comfort and pest control.
Shorts are cooler and allow finding ticks as they crawl up our  legs. There is no cuff to worry about. Crawling bees up the trouser legs are not a problem.

[Michael Bush]

http://www.bugbaffler.com

I saw a lot of people wearing these at the Master Beekeeping workshop here in Mead, NE.

[TREBOR]

I suit up to the hilt
 and its a good thing with as many misstakes I
make!
       the other evening I was hit 10 times when they all went after me!
well it seemed like all of them!
  it was all at once, If I were without armer I would have been a goner
for sure
  they found my zipper hole in the front of my veil
two in the neck, woke up at 3am with a golfball in my throat
 at 5 am we were on our way to the hospital to get some stuff to make the swelling go down they looked at me like I was CRAZY  
 so ya I think I will always were a suit and tape is probly a good idea too!

[hicobee]

I am a novice but I always wear a veil , long sleeves , velcro bands on my pants legs, and gloves. I also wear a Tyvek suit if I intend to do more than just inspect. Having had a bear attack my hives and their change in attitude since, now I am a little more cautious.   I am not always calm when the girls start bumping me and especially not calm when they sting -it's a personal goal to be like my instructor at John C. Cambell Folk School and always be calm with bees.  One of the reasons I started keeping bees was to learn to slow down and move less frenetically!

[TwT]

http://www.bugbaffler.com

I saw a lot of people wearing these at the Master Beekeeping workshop here in Mead, NE.

now MB, That has got to be the coolest (temp wise) suit I have seen, but get a bad hive and skin to close to the screen and they might still get you, mean hive im talking about

[stinger27]

Hi Guys,
    I am a new member.  I just got my first hive of bee's yesterday.  My uncle had a bear problem, and decided to give them to me.  The bear had destroyed his honey super, so I got just the brood box.  I quickly constructed a new super and asked my uncle to come coach me through the installation.  He forgot his veil so I gave him mine since he was going to be taking screws out that we secured the lid with during the move.  I was standing about five feet from the hive while he worked.  As soon as the lid came off two of the bees stung me on the forehead.  My uncle couldn't believe it.  He said the bee's had always been gentle.  Do you think the bear attack could have changed their temperment??  Or was I just asking for it standing so close with no veil?

[thegolfpsycho]

Lots of things affect their temperment.  Many that we aren't even aware of.  I have just gotten some robbing under control (I hope) and my normally calm bees are very defensive.  Closing them up for a move, the jostling and bumping would surely get them ornery.

[Michael Bush]

>now MB, That has got to be the coolest (temp wise) suit I have seen, but get a bad hive and skin to close to the screen and they might still get you, mean hive im talking about

I've now been using one for about a month.  I bought the jacket and the pants and just wear shorts under it.  For routine work on calm hives I love it.  But I do get stung through it when it's stuck to my by sweat and the bees are a little wound up.  But in this heat, it has been well worth it.  

[peggjam]

I wear a full suit, vail, and gloves.  I like to keep bees, not get stung, so it's full protection for me.  I have gotten so I skip the suit and wear just a hooded sweatshirt and vail, with gloves.    
   
peggjam