Why Every Beekeeper Needs a Beekeeping Suit

If there's one thing you should include on your list of must have
supplies when you plan on keeping bees as a hobby or business it's a
beekeeping suit. If you are serious about keeping bees as a pastime or
a new venture, you must first know if you have an allergy to the bee
stings. Unknown to some, a bee sting contains venom that can be deadly
to those individuals having sensitivity to it. Ironically, the only
means of discovering if you have this allergy is by getting stung by
bees for the first time. There are those beekeepers that believe that
in order for them to develop immunity to bee stings; they must
experience getting stung on numerous occasions. By letting themselves
be stung recurrently, those beekeepers suppose they will eventually
develop antibodies that will make them resistant to the bee venom. But
wearing a protective suit is still necessary both for beginners and
expert beekeepers to eliminate the danger of being stung every time
they approach the hive.Despite having a submissive nature, bees are
also known to launch an attack against anyone who gets close to their
hives. Being a beekeeper, one of your responsibilities is to check the
bee sanctuary often and then gather honey from it; hence it's vital
that you are wearing a protective suit when you approach the bees and
their hives. Wearing a suit will make you more at ease while you work
since you won't have to avoid the chances of getting those painful bee
stings.A beekeeping suit is a full length piece of clothing which
looks like a jumpsuit and is made from smooth, thick material. This is
to ensure that any bee stingers will not simply get through the suit
and hit the skin. Although they are made from thick material, the
protective clothing is lightweight to allow the person using it to
move comfortably while doing his/her bee management tasks. The typical
color of the suit is white so that the beekeepers will not be mistaken
by the bees as their usual colony predators like those bears which are
dark in color and have quite a bit of fur.Beginning and expert
beekeepers must wear protective clothing composed of a suit, hat or
hood with a veil and gloves. The hat or hood with a veil on it is
considered to be very important since it safeguards your body's most
sensitive parts, namely your face and neck. Getting stung on the face
or neck will result to more excruciating pain and severe swelling, so
you will need serious protection from the stings. Although gloves can
shield the hands from bee stings, some beekeepers don't wear gloves as
they stop them from doing delicate tasks when tending the bees and
hives. Moreover, if ever you get stung on your hands, you can simply
get rid of it by scrapping it off with your fingernails so you can
remove some of the venom brought about by the bee stings.A suit will
serve as an external layer of protection that the beekeeper can easily
remove after use. This means that all stingers or venom sacs that made
their way to the suit will eventually be eliminated once the suit is
carefully taken off. Just bear in mind to always wash your suit after
every use since stingers left on it will not stop producing venom
after they've been released by the bees. Also, prevailing pheromones
emitted by those stingers will persuade other bees in the nearby hive
into attacking you. Thus, don't ever wear a beekeeping suit with
remaining stingers on them on your next trip to a bee colony for it
can possibly result in unpleasant scenarios.