Hi Dawn, is that 10 sting each, or between you and your husband? And are these stings on your skin or just on the suit?
That would be a lot of stings for someone not yet desensitised for bee stings like us beginners.
I would stop on 3 as that’s my comfort level.
My suit is theoretically sting proof if worn correctly but I still can get stung through the veil if it is touching the skin when moving around. My question is : if properly suited up and care is taken, is it possible to handle the most aggressive bees without being stung?
If either one of us gets 10 stings, we both stop. It is just a comfort and safety level for us. If we were uncomfortable after 1 sting, we might stop. But once you get to 10 stings, that is a significant amount of venom, and the bees are probably pretty unhappy at that point too. In order not to tempt fate with a severe reaction, we just set a limit for ourselves at 10 maximum per person. If 3 is your limit, that is very sensible too.
Any sting which causes pain. It may be on the suit and scratch the skin but not lodge in the skin. As long as it was a dose of venom, it counts.
No. You can decrease the chances of being stung, and you can decrease the amount of venom that you get from a sting, but you will never be able to avoid stings if you are truly a beekeeper.
Ok Dawn, so are these sting proof suits a gimmick? This is a cut and paste from one of them:
With its non-cotton material, the Oz Armour Beekeeping Full Suit guarantees no bee stings!
I understand that a bee can follow you after you leave the apiary and sting you after you take off the suit, or gets entangled somewhere, or getting distracted etc… but I’m trying to work out the risks involved during an inspection if a hive turns nasty and properly suited up.
I don’t believe any suit can guarantee no stings. I have to say that I have never had a sting through my Brushy Mountain ventilated bee suit, and I think Ed @Anon has the same experience. Some suits will be better than others, and a multilayer suit is probably your best bet, but nothing is bee proof. The tiniest tear or a partly closed zipper is all it takes to allow bees to find a way in, even if the fabric is a very effective sting barrier.
We have also found that “fencing” style veils tend not to be sting-proof, especially when you are bald (my hubby) or if the veil touches your nose, forehead etc. We both use brimmed hat veils with zipper attachment to the suit.
However, bees can sting through my gloves, and do so several times a year. If I get stung during an inspection, it is almost always on my hands. My husband gets stung around his ankles when we have a “hot” hive because he doesn’t wear boots, but I never get stung there, thanks to my wellington (gum) boots.
I think you have some good advice there Peter. Thanks for sharing your stories. I think it is easy to get complacent with more experience you accumulate.
Probably best to be informed, not alarmed, and get medical advice from a professional, not YouTube or the internet.
Glad you took my post for the reason it was given. We do become complacent in treating every day being the same as yesterday, Luckily I have some emergency medical training which became an automatic reaction.
Cheers
I haven’t been stung since getting my Brushy Mountain suit a few years ago. I wear goat skinned work gloves inside of my goat skin bee gloves so they can’t sting me on the hands. I usually will not work the bees if they are too ticked off or feisty. Those hives can die!
I often read about people getting stung through gloves.
I don’t know what’s special about mine because last weekend I removed 6 stingers from my gloves, and 4 the weekend before. Not one went through as far as I know. The goat’s skin seems to be quite tough.
Maybe these become more penetrable as they age? Mine are new. Or maybe they have a weak spot somewhere I’m yet to discover? Or maybe I’m just lucky?
Probably better not to know, otherwise I start to worry.
I use bite away, works well. Tent world Midland sells it. I wear a ‘sting proof’ jacket and work pants with goat skin TIG welding gloves. I’ve been stung through both mainly when unable to use smoke. I wear a cap with fencing hood as it seems to migrate towards my nose.
My reaction to stings doesn’t seem to have mellowed. Itch and swelling but after Bite away treatment and a couple of frothies no probs. I have pharmacy antihistamine on hand is required but no epipen.
I have a Bite Away but very seldom need to use it, probably because it needs to be used quickly after being stung and I tend to get the sting out with my hive tool and back to the job at hand. Don’t try to use a finger and thumb to ‘pinch’ the sting to remove it as you will inject more of the venom in squeezing the venom sack. @Numbatino It does work with almost instant results, when I have had a reaction I would hit the sting site a minute after the first time again. The application takes about 5 seconds. Antihistamine tablets from a chemist work well too.
Cheers
I think that is the reason.
I have plenty of hives and smoke them well before working them (as well as my gloves); but a few times a year a stinger will partially sneak through and tag me on the hands. Usually on a tight fitting spot where the glove is pressed up hard against the skin.
My guess is it will just be a matter of time.
Well, don’t knock it if it works for you. Just useful to know that you can pacify the bees with it if you ever need to.
I have occasionally had hives at a certain time of year (during a really good nectar flow), that I would feel mean using smoke on them. They are so busy doing their own thing, that I am irrelevant to them. Smoking would just be an unnecessary cruelty. It is hard to pick up that “vibe” in advance though, so I default to lighting the smoker, then using it only when needed. It is usually during the late spring or early summer that I can take such a risk, and often I have inspected the hive just a week or 10 days before, and know that they are happy and passive.
I feel like I’ve been a chain smoker all my life after an inspection with smoke. Having had asthma in my early childhood, I get more of a reaction to the smoke than to the bee stings I’ve sustained.
My routine now with inspections involves taking an antihistamine before hand. I suffer from hayfever, so the standard off the shelf item seems to work. Seems to keep localised swelling down. Often I only discover I’ve been stung the day after.
There is a train of thought that the more stains you sustain, the less tolerant you become over time as the body gets to a certain threshold.
My take is to avoid getting stung, but except it’s part and parcel of the hobby.
I’m learning to go smokeless - and have managed one to date with a nuc. I’m also aiming to transition from thick leather gloves, to kitchen gloves, then to latex and eventually no gloves as I gain experience.
All the times I’ve been stung is due to putting my fingers where they shouldn’t have been. Live and learn.
Dealing with nucs opposed to a strong colony is much easier I’ve found, one of the reason I like my nucs.
Using smoke calms the bees not only for you but also your neighbours.
My kids and I can sit on the stand with the bees and there’s no problem but their temperament changes once I open the hive. I have tried smokeless using water and sugar sprays but nothing beats a good smoke. Except maybe a good whisky.
I totally agree Greg, a puff of smoke works wonders which I do before lifting the roof and then only again if the girls are getting a bit agro. Smoke works best early before they can get to being really annoyed with me.
Working a nuc is so much easier for me, maybe because there is less time needed in the hive so they are more tolerant of being disturbed. It seems to me the longer I have a hive open the more they let me know to hurry up.
Cheers
My observation regarding smoke:
Many don’t “need” smoke: However, when the bees let you know that you needed smoke, it’s too late for smoke to calm them.
Smoke prevents unnecessary bee deaths by keeping them calm (not stinging) and allowing the beekeeper to work calmly.
You can decrease the chances of being stung, and you can decrease the amount of venom that you get from a sting, but you will never be able to avoid stings if you are truly a beekeeper.
Just useful to know that you can pacify the bees with it if you ever need to.
