Hi All, this is probably a silly question but if I don’t ask I won’t know
I normally, on sunny days, sit near the hives about 3 metres away and watch the bees coming and going.
It seems that around midday there is a lot of orientating flights, they are fascinating to watch.
During the last couple of days I have been standing in front of the hives, about 2.5 metres away, directly in their flight path.
Each time several bees have come right up to me, buzzed around me a couple of times and then flown away on their business.
They did not sting me or landed on me but a couple came very close to landing on my sleeve.
So I was just wondering, do bees actually recognise the bee hive owner and feel that there is nothing to fear ?
I know that if I stir them up too much during frame inspections they will sting me.
But if I take it slowly and steady they will tolerate me without stinging.
Just interested what other people think
Cheers, G
No, not in my experience. If you go out there with a new aftershave, or wearing black and red, or during a severe nectar dearth, they will attack. You have just had a good experience so far. Long may that continue! 
@Dawn_SD
Thanks Dawn, I probably have just been lucky whilst they were in a good mood.
I won’t test my luck any further.
Cheers, G
Hi George, I always find it charming when a bee lands on my sleeve, grooms herself for a few seconds and then flies off. I have read that bees can recognize faces, but can’t recall if ‘recognition’ is to distinguish one from another or just to know the best spot to aim a sting if necessary 
For what it is worth George in my opinion bee do have a memory lasting about a week for what is important to them. It seems they can visually recognize a person and their scent over that time. They don’t see us as a friend or foe but more someone to tolerate with little concern based on your last visit if it was recent and it went well, but someone to attack if they had a bad time of it. Further back in time your a total stranger.
A few puffs of smoke, leave the hive for a few minutes and then working slow and smooth and most times any hive work will go well. I recently went to my apiary to mow the grass, almost instantly every hive had bees wanting a piece of me so much I had to give it a miss, a few hours later a thunderstorm hit, but there was no sign of it when I went to the apiary. Next day I returned and had no trouble with the bees at all.
Cheers
@Peter48 @Eva @Dawn_SD
Thanks for your thoughts, at the end of the day I will just play safe and come prepared with protective gear when doing a hive inspection.
On some of the YouTube videos I see people in shorts, short sleeves, no head veil or gloves doing frame inspections, and just pushing the bees aside with bare hands, to get a grip on the frame.
That prompted me to ask the question.
Cheers, G
In Summer with high humidity and temps I always suit up minus the gloves, I only wear them if the bees are really hot to handle or a night move of hives. By the time I have smoked a hive or two I’m sweating up even with a mesh suit on and I have a good idea on how the bees are behaving, so I often strip down to a T shirt and shorts but always have a veil on to protect from a facial sting. I’m ok with an odd sting on the hands and rarely get stung on the legs or arms. At this time of year, heading into Winter and around 25C wearing a suit is still hot but bearable with the ever present humidity. Every two hours I take a break and re-hydrate.
Play it safe, that way you will work slower and calmer and so less hassles from the bees.
Cheers George
Hi Peter, I know what you mean, it gets very hot here during the summer and I don’t like to put on a full suit.
I’m going to look around for just the jacket and head protection. The full suit is too hard to get on when you are already sweating.
Cheers, G
Flow do a jacket/veil but have a look on EBay as well. Dehydration and heat stroke can hit you faster than a freight train so quickly. Especially when there is a low humidity.
In Summer I wear a bandana that has water gel crystals sewn into it around my neck, that is a life saver. Days of over 90% humidity and 100C and wearing a mesh suit that doesn’t allow any air flow makes bee keeping hard. Funny, you can see thru a mesh suit but no air flow.
Cheers George
Bees recognize human faces using feature configuration
Date:
February 8, 2010
Source:
Journal of Experimental Biology
Summary:
Bees can be trained to recognize human faces, so long as the insects are tricked into thinking that the faces are oddly shaped flowers, new research shows. The insects use the arrangement of facial features to recognize and distinguish one face from another.
I’ve been using an OzArmour jacket for almost two years and much prefer it to a full suit.
Hi Adam,
That is interesting but I won’t rely on that for bee stings
Thanks for the info regarding bee jacket.
Cheers, G
I spend a lot of time (retired) at my beehive, I even have a chair that I sit on to watch them that’s right in front of the entrance. The bees fly around me, on several occasions I’ve even had a bee land on my hand, and not make any attempt to sting me. My opinion is 2 pronged, the first is that the more time that we spend with our bees, the more we are at ease with each other, and second is that the queen has to be one that has been breed to be a placid queen. The queen bee in my hive was breed by a local queen breeder whom breeds queen bees for that trait.
Even when I’ve done an inspection, my bees have never tried to sting me, just buzzed around the vailed hat. I believe that my bees do know who I am.
I don’t believe that bees know who we are. Whenever we open their hive, they only view us as another predator, in there to rob their brood & honey.
They’re not here to make friends, they’re here to make honey.
I agree that bees get too know who cares for them and their sources of food and water. I tend to get very close to gaze at this wonder of them, I dip my fingers in the bird bath (where I keep their water) and stand close to their entrance. During their busy time of day, they let me know to stay out of their flight path without stinging, I quickly move to the side. I love them!