Bee Suits?

[flyboy]

I wear the protective gear
shorts, tshirt and sandals.

That's my protective regimen also. I don't wear a tinfoil hat anymore also.

[qa33010]

I have an ultra breeze jacket, does that count as a suit?  Used to hardly ever wear even a veil, but the doctors added a potassium suppliment that interacts with me and other med's I am taking, so they do NOT like my smell anymore.  Anyone with me I encourage strongly they wear something because they have turned on others when I am around...

[BeeMaster2]

I have a good cool breeze type jacket, a Vail and 2 standard hooded jackets. I only use them when conditions require it. Rainy weather, pressure change or full cloud cover. I normally check the attitude of unknown hives by getting close to them to see their reaction and touching them at the entrance. They will let you know their temperament.
One thing though, I depend on the stings to stay healthy, particularly my left shoulder. If I do not get stung on a regular basis, I lose range of movement.  I also do not usually react to stings except they hurt for a few minutes.
I always tell my students to wear what ever it takes to make them comfortable around their bees. I do not like thick leather gloves because you end up crushing bees. The gloves coated with sting pheromone and every time you put them back in the hive the bees get more aggressive.
Jim

[RHBee]

You guys do realize that this is a 9 yr old thread.
Ultra Breeze Jacket. Love it.

[BeeMaster2]

As a matter of fact no.
I quess it is a classic  thread.  :-D
Jim

[AliciaH]

The full getup!  I'm not allergic, only small local reactions early in the year.  But ever since that one sting, two summers ago, where the bee got lucky and hit a vein in my neck, I suit up all the time.  Venom got into the blood supply and went system faster than anything.  Ended up in ER.  Never effected my breathing, but beet read from head to toe, hives, swelling with blue fingers.  Not whining about it, it was actually a pretty amazing process to follow! Yea, I know I'm crazy....

So that, combined with the fact that we have skunks, there's always one hive with queen issues, times with little/no forage, etc., you just never know what going to happen out there. 

Those times where I lift the lid on a normally docile hive and they fly at me like a train coming out of a tunnel, I'm glad I have it all on.

[flyboy]

Our bee club had a guy with MS come in and give  talk about Apiatherapy or bee sting therapy. His wife stings him on the back regularly and it keeps the MS away. Apparently the active ingredients in the sting have an antibiotic effect, so the sting may actually have brought on a Herxheimer reaction.

In other words the antibiotic effect may have killed off a lot of bugs in you, that you don't know you had and their dead bodies overloaded your blood system in taking them out. We all have low level infections in us. These can cause minor inconveniences right up to full blown diseases. Dr Weston Price determined this back in the 1920's when he did a root canal on a patient who very soon got a very bad case of arthritis which was cured by removing the offending tooth.

This is a guess but the H effect is not uncommon with various therapies both standard and alternative and includes the antibiotics you get from an Allopathic Doctor.. The H. effect has been argued endlessly as to whether it is just too much therapeutic measures or the therapy is done improperly, however...

I suspect that bee stings may even have a therapeutic or prophylactic effect if done properly occasionally.

However 'doing it properly' may be the key.

[Thomassen]

I have a Top Bar with an observation window. I just wear street clothes. I've taken out a couple of bars to inspect comb development and have worn the same. I did buy a jacket with attaching veil and clothes for when we harvest.

[capt44]

I wear a veil and a white long sleeved shirt.
It gets too hot here to wear a bee suit.
Oh yes I put elastic strips around my ankles, bees love to crawl. :shock:

[Brother Dave]

Yes I admit it. I wear a suit with a zip on veil and gloves. I really don't enjoy getting stung and bees fly at my face when I open the hive or smoke them. I may re-queen a few of my hives this fall. will have to wait and see. Any way I love keeping bees and protective equipment  make it possible for me to enjoy bees.

[jayj200]

two for me please. one for each hand

[GDRankin]

For me, since I'm still fairly new and would rather play it on the side of caution - especially down here in south Texas where there are some nasty feral bees, any time I'm going into a hive or a removal/cut-out situation, I wear my full vented bee suit, gloves, boots with rubber bands at all possible entry points.

With that said, it really all depends on the circumstances . . . i.e. what hive is it? Mine or a cut out . . . what's the weather like? Sunny day, or other . . .
If I'm just checking on the girls, or maybe changing a feeder on a new hive, or making sure fire ants haven't invaded anywhere, I'll avoid getting all dressed up in hot gear.

I did a small removal this week that I started out in full gear, but once I vacuumed about 1/2 of the bees off the hive, I took a water break. Up to that point, none of the bees seemed the least bit interested in me, and the temps were in the mid 90s and I was dripping with sweat . . . so I stripped down to a pair of shorts and no shirt or gloves and finished the job without incident.

[jayj200]

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?!   :shock:   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?

why don't you requeen?

[jredburn]

I work bees in SW Florida and a jacket, veil and gloves are put on every time I do a removal or enter the bee yard.  I have a tyvek coverall with booties and hood that I use on the really nasty ones.
Why?
One of the State bee inspectors went into a yard to do the annual inspection.  The owner was there and swore the bees were Europeans and very mild. 
The inspector lifted the lid, blew two or three puffs of smoke into the top and watched the bees move down into the hive.  No suit, no gloves, no veil.
In the next minute he got stung over 500 times and spent 3 days in intensive care.

[GDRankin]

I work bees in SW Florida and a jacket, veil and gloves are put on every time I do a removal or enter the bee yard.  I have a tyvek coverall with booties and hood that I use on the really nasty ones.
Why?
One of the State bee inspectors went into a yard to do the annual inspection.  The owner was there and swore the bees were Europeans and very mild. 
The inspector lifted the lid, blew two or three puffs of smoke into the top and watched the bees move down into the hive.  No suit, no gloves, no veil.
In the next minute he got stung over 500 times and spent 3 days in intensive care.

Dang that's nuts!
This may seem obvious, but since I am 1. Not in FL and 2. never had an inspector come to my place . . . just wondering . . . is it standard practice for an inspector to go into a strange yard unprotected? Or was that particular inspector just being negligent?

I would think that anyone in potential AHB areas would be extra cautious when working with strange bees, especially an inspector.

I've learned from experience doing removals that a colony can appear to be somewhat mild tempered one minute and practically explode the next. Of course doing removals is a different than inspecting hives in a yard, but the fact remains that we are invading their space anytime we go into a hive, so respect and caution are at the top of my priority list.

[ugcheleuce]

To make the poll more accurate, distinguish between leather gloves and latex gloves.  The former is to prevent stings.  The latter is to prevent propolis from getting to your car's steering wheel.

[Culley]

I usually wear boots and long pants and a button up long sleeved shirt - just work clothes made of tough cotton material. I haven't been stung through them. And a good hat. If bees walk up under my shirt, I undo the top buttons and let them out.

I always take a veil every time I open a hive but rarely have to put it on.

In very hot weather I'll sometimes wear shorts and a singlet. I get stung a lot less this way than when I used to work with overalls, veil, gloves. I'm interested in trying clear impact goggles or something like that though.

[Michael Bush]

>I've learned from experience doing removals that a colony can appear to be somewhat mild tempered one minute and practically explode the next.

Exactly.  That's why I would always wear a veil... and usually wear gloves.  Things can happen very quickly.  I stepped in a hole once (gophers probably) and went down with a brood box that hit the ground and broke apart.  Bees everywhere.  If I had not been wearing a veil, I probably would have been hurt very badly.

[GDRankin]

>I've learned from experience doing removals that a colony can appear to be somewhat mild tempered one minute and practically explode the next.

Exactly.  That's why I would always wear a veil... and usually wear gloves.  Things can happen very quickly.  I stepped in a hole once (gophers probably) and went down with a brood box that hit the ground and broke apart.  Bees everywhere.  If I had not been wearing a veil, I probably would have been hurt very badly.

Indeed. I was inspecting a hive which had been in my yard for about a month after removing it from a customer's compost tumbler. Checking for the usual and found that the bees had complete attached all of the cut comb to the frames, except for one or two. It was the middle of July, which in San Antonio, means temps around 100, so the comb was a little on the soft side to say the least. One of the sections that had not been fully wax welded to the frame came loose as I was looking over the comb. It started falling and I was able to redirect the fall to the top of the neighboring box. Which was not good, but better than falling several more feet all the way to the ground.  (The comb was only attached on one side and at the bottom and the bees had eaten through all but one rubber band.)
Needless to say, the bees on that frame were not exactly pleased with this "save" and proceeded to let me know.
Thankfully I had on my full suit, despite the extra hot conditions.

That taught me a couple of things for sure. One, obviously to wear my suit when getting into the boxes, but also that the comb was way too warm to handle at that time of day under those conditions. Again, I realize most don't work with "cut-out" frames of comb from removals, but many have top-bar and others have foundation-less frames that may be subject to pulling away in extra warm weather. So I though this was worth sharing.

[labradorfarms]

I voted other..... I don't wear a full suit..... I simply wear a Bee Jacket , veil and gloves... I have never found the need for a full suit as a hobbiest...