The bee suit with hat and vail is to protect you from bee stings and if the honey bees get a little aggressive you are at least protected. There is a proper way to put on the bee suit and hat with vail. Make sure that you have the whole suit in good repair as honey bees have a way to find the smallest opening. After you have put on the bee suit put on your gum-boots, they will protect you should you stand on a bee. Place the trouser part of the bee suit over the gum-boots and tie them or use elastic rubber bands so that the honey bees are restricted from getting in under the clothing. Then tuck the top part of the bee suit into the trouser part. Honey bees always move up from the bottom up so make sure as they move up they cannot find a way in under your clothing. This then should prevent the bees from crawling up into the top part of the bee suit. Put your gloves over your sleeves and to prevent the bees crawling up use rubber bands to seal off your cloves. Thick rubber gloves are the best and use thinner cotton gloves on the inside if possible.
Fill the bee smoker with dry pine needles, prime and get the smoker puffing. Smoke the front opening of the beehive, with a few puffs. How much smoke will actually depend on the bee’s behavior. The more aggressive the more smoke, the smoke makes them think their hive is on fire and they start eating honey which in turn makes them a lot more Bee suit docile. This will make them easier to handle while robbing the hive. Keep the smoker handy as you should puff intermittently to keep them sucking honey.
After smoking the front of the beehive a few times, you will need to gently pry open the top lid of the hive to get to the top super. Give a few puffs with your smoker. Then gently pry open the top super which will separate it from the rest of the hive. With super in hand shake the bees off the honeycombs, then brush the remaining bees off with the bee brush. You will have a few options on what to do next. You could cut the honeycombs off the frame, into a bucket, leaving about fifteen millimeters of honeycomb at the top of the frame for a starter strip, put the frame back and the bees will rebuild the honeycombs. Alternatively you could come to your hive with super frames already fitted with wax sheets. In this case you would simply exchange the frames full of honey with the ones you have prepared. Go through all supers and check the frames. While you are busy robbing your hive would also be a good time to inspect the brood box and frames for any matters that would need your attention. The supers are the only part of the hive that should ever be robbed.
At last you can take your bucket full of honeycombs home. There you will filter the honeycombs of its content, the golden pure raw honey at its best. You should avoid using excessive heat to speed up the process for extracting the honey from the honeycombs. Over heating will destroy the natural properties of raw honey. Use a bucket straining system and let gravity do its work over night. When harvesting a large amount of honey invest in a spinner drum to speed up the gravity process. Bottle and enjoy.
Bee Careful – Don’t Let Bees Spoil Your Gardening Time
Do not let bees spoil your day in your garden. A few simple safety tips, if followed, can help keep you safe.
- Bees collecting nectar from flowers will not bother you unless you disturb them. They are busy working. If the bees are not stinging you, walk away.
- If you do happen to get too close to the hive, hold your breath and walk away. The carbon dioxide you exhale enrages the bees and causes the bees to aggressively defend the hive. Once enraged, the bees will attempt to sting you in your mouth, eyes, nose, ears, as well as any other place they can find. This behavior is instinctive. It is the behavior bees use to protect their hive (and their honey) from mammal predators such as bears, skunks, etc.
If attacked:
Do not swat or kill the bees; this will provoke the rest of the hive to attack.
Bees will initially attack the face and head. Pull your shirt over your face and, watching where you are going, run inside a house or car.
Do not jump in a pool (they may wait for you to come up).
If you want to continue working in the garden around bees, use quality protective devices such as professional grade bee suits. Make sure the bee suit fits correctly, and is properly worn. (More on this in future articles).
If you will be working around bees, make sure family members, pets, neighbors, etc., are safely inside.
If you live in an area with aggressive, or Africanized, honey bees, the risks are compounded. More on this in future articles.
Andrew Greess is the President of beekeeper suit Cheap. The company is the leading provide of professional grade bee suits at discount prices. Greess is a pest control equipment expert, and author of numerous industry articles as well as the Spray Equipment Blog.
