Beekeeping jacket and hat veil

[LizzieBee]

How many of you use a hat veil and and/or jacket when you inspect the inside of your hive(s)? In the kit I bought, it came with just a hat veil and gloves as protection. A couple of times I have taken the hat off while inspecting. The bees have been very calm. My dad (who is not a beek) insists I wear the hat but I find it not necessary as long as the bees are calm. My 4H beek leader also said I should keep the hat on. I?ve seen many pictures of people in their hive with no head protection. What is your experience?

LizzieBee

[eltalia]

Hat - always, hard wide brimmed and light colour. Straw throw-aways are ideal.
Veil - nada, see "Jacket".
Gloves - nada, see "Jacket".
Jacket - Anything of a total combine equal to 3mm of fabric all over.
This kit is there for those days working with unknowns (cutouts, relocation
of unknown)
Caveat;
No new player should be introduced unprotected, a minimum of a veil
should be issued. The rest is determined by the task and level of
confidence. Fear is the single most attractant for defensive bees.
And the b'keep who claims never to have experienced the sphincter
tightening a notch or two is just plain flatout lying to themselves and others.

Bill

[BeeMaster2]

I second what Bill said. As a new Beek, wear at least the veil. When you get to the point where you can read it he bees and know when they will bee defensive and you no longer swell up from the stings, then consider it. I normally do not wear any protection but when I work unfamiliar bees or my first inspection in the spring, I wear my  ventilated jacket with the hood. 5 minutes after I get stung, I usually cannot tell where I was stung.
Jim

[NasalSponge]

Well, I dont know about the sting part, after 30 years I still experience the full range of effects from a sting depending on location...but I too agree to wear your veil in the beginning and as you gain experience with your bees they will talk to you. One misstep many new beeks make is assuming that calm first year hive will always be that way but once a hive becomes strong and has the resources to protect itself....things can and often do change.

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[BeeMaster2]

Lizzie,
To help keep your bees calm when you work them, smoke the entrance with 3-4 good puffs, wait 10 Minutes and then smoke lightly again and wait 30 seconds. I have calmed down even my roughest hives doing this.
Jim

[little john]

How many of you use a hat veil and and/or jacket when you inspect the inside of your hive(s)?
[clip]
 I've seen many pictures of people in their hive with no head protection. What is your experience?

Veil:  always during the first inspection of the year, as some colonies can enter winter as pussi-cats and emerge as horrors.  Thereafter, whenever I suspect there might be a need.  I only ever dispense with the veil when inspecting hives I have 100% confidence in, and even then it's always located nearby - as is a working smoker, even though I don't use that very much.  The type of veil you have will determine whether a hat is necessary.  Mine is permanently attached to a hard hat - so there's zero choice ...

Suit: I don't bother with - but would if I needed to.  I have several Kimberley-Clarke disposable coveralls which are for use (over clothes, to gain the required thickness) whenever I encounter a 'hot' hive.  Very rarely needed these days.

Gloves: I still often wear 'washing-up' gloves even when inspecting in a tee-shirt, shorts and sandals - as my hands swell up badly if stung.  Nowhere else - just the hands.  Weird.

If in any doubt - at least wear a veil - as a sting in the eyeball doesn't bear thinking about ...
LJ

[Acebird]

Guard bees are unpredictable.  At the Beefest Jim opens a hive while we are both unprotected.  Ten, fifteen minutes go by and a bee out of nowhere goes in my ear.  I was two hives away from the open hive while Jim is standing right next to the open hive.  There is no way to know if the bee came from the open hive or the one I was standing behind.
Three weeks later I am going through my hives and I get to the third one and I run out of smoke.  I am trying to get out a frame that is really stuck and sure enough one comes right for the hand and nails me.  Instantly five others join in defensive behavior due to pheromones but I did not get stun again.
Oddly, the sting in the ear at Jim's was almost no reaction while the one in the hand at home puffed up my hand for a couple of days.
If I dig into a hive I always wear a veil and jacket.  Since I was not digging into Jim's hive I chose not to wear the veil until I got stung.  The most dangerous sting is to the eyes that is why you wear a veil.  Almost all other single stings are survivable.
IMO an adult can make their own choice on whether to be protect or not.  I think children who are not accompanied by their parent or guarding should wear protection to their face at all times.

[iddee]

It just depends on how well you like to be stung. I don't wear my hooded jacket until after about 10 stings. I do always have it near. Of course, if I get 30 or40 stings, you can't find 5 of them 10 minutes later. If I don't get stung a few times, I pick up a bee or 2 and sting myself.

The old saying, "If you play with fire, you will get burned." is true. If you don't want a swollen face, wear a veil. If you don't enjoy stings, wear full protection.

[cao]

My dad (who is not a beek) insists I wear the hat but I find it not necessary as long as the bees are calm.
LizzieBee

Listen to your dad.

This is one area of beekeeping where most beekeepers will agree.  At the very least protect your face.  As a new beekeeper with a new(small) hive, things are much calmer than when you have boxes stacked as tall as you are.  Alot of it is a numbers game.  When the hive is just starting out they have less resources and less guard bees.  As the hive grows the number of guard bees grows and the chance of them being upset grows.

Just FYI, I typically inspect my hives wearing hat/veil, t-shirt, shorts, and no gloves.  And the smoker is always lit whether it is used or not.

[little john]

Lizziebee - forgot to mention the underlying reason for protecting your face.

One of the principle enemies of honeybees is the bear and over millions of years they've learned that the only part of the bear worth attacking is it's face.  Everything else is well protected either by fur or thick pads.

From the bees' point-of-view we humans resemble bears, and so our faces are thus seen as the prime target to attack.  And that's one of the reasons why beekeepers (mainly) wear smooth white clothes, rather than fluffy dark ones - to try to look as little like a bear as possible.
LJ

[LizzieBee]

Thanks for all the info. I always have the smoker ready to go and always puff the entrance. I got stung twice on my shoulder when I was installing them in early April. That was the first time I?ve ever gotten stung by a bee and within 20 minutes it didn?t hurt or itch at all. I?ll wear the hat veil from now on though. Thanks!

LizzieBee

[bwallace23350]

If I pop the top I suite up.

[Hops Brewster]

I always wear a veil when opening a hive.  The hat/helmet holds the veil away from your face, neck and ears.
I wear my canvas jacket and nitrile gloves only when doing something very invasive.  Otherwise, I work barehanded in shirt sleeves.  Interestingly, most of the stings I receive happen when 'armored up', through the jacket or my jeans.  Bare hand and bare arm stings are rare.

[GSF]

There's a you tube video about having a bee stinger removed from an eyeball. Watch it, and you'll always wear a veil.

[LizzieBee]

Yikes! I don?t need to watch the video now. A bee almost managed to get into my hat veil while I was wearing it. It had climbed through my ponytail. It was hard to get out, kept flying back. It was strange seeing it ?burrow?.

LizzieBee

[Acebird]

It was hard to get out, kept flying back. It was strange seeing it ?burrow?.

You have to pinch it first.

[Beeboy01]

Don't know why anyone wouldn't wear a veil, getting stung around the eye make me look like I went a few rounds with Mike Tyson. Had to miss a day of work once because I couldn't see out of my right eye after a sting. My usual outfit is a veil that is stitched onto a straw hat, tee shirt and gloves along with a smoker. If the yard gets hot I have a white dress shirt I picked up at a thrift shop which works great as a light jacket. I've found that baggy shorts can be a problem  ;)

[NasalSponge]

I once caught a swarm whilst wearing a kilt so anything is possible...;)

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[Beeboy01]

Just don't go regimental with shorts or a kilt while working the hives.

[iddee]

And if you do, don't carry a bottle of swarm lure in your pocket.