How To Find The Right Beekeeping Clothing And Equipment For You
Anyone who has ever talked to a beekeeper is told that one the most important parts of their job is the beekeeping clothing that they wear. Beekeeping is the maintenance of bee colonies or bees as they are normally called. While not all beekeepers wear some type of protective clothing, the novice beekeeper wears the suit with a hood, gloves, veil and hat.
The more experienced beekeeper understands the importance of beekeeping clothing and wear the hooded suit, but occasionally not the gloves because of the delicate handling of the bees and honey. The number one line of defense for beekeepers is to protect the body.
The bee suits protect the beekeeper from getting stung. One or two stings by the bees are painful, but if the individual is stung repeatedly by a hive of bees it can be fatal.
The beekeepers raise bees for the honey they make, beeswax, to pollinate crops and to offer for sale. The Beekeeping Hive has been in existence since the fifth dynasty. Then, as is now, beekeeping is considered a highly valued industry. Early documentation depicts pictures of the honeycombs made by bees. It also gives evidence of how the honeycombs were broken to remove the honey from them.
Maybe the crudeness of gathering the honey had more to do with the lack of beekeeping clothing protection than the art of gathering the honey. According to most experienced beekeepers, the face and the neck are the most important parts of the body to protect. The veils are worn because the defensive bee is attracted to the breath and that is what causes them to attack the face. Individual should bear in mind that the beekeeping clothing retains some of the stingers from the bees.
The stingers give off an alarm pheromones that causes the continued attacks. The bee suits and gloves should be rinsed off in a vinegar solution to minimize the the attraction and attacks. The veils and hoods also protect the face because a sting to the face can cause extreme swelling. The venom that the stingers puts out can be very deadly. Beekeeping clothing has and will continue to save lives of beekeepers.

