Sex and the bee suit

[tillie]

Well, as a 5'2" woman, I am swallowed up by my bee suit.  For example, the pockets which are numerous and look very effective are essentially beyond easy reach.  I ordered it and wear it - it came from Dadant and since you order by chest measurement, it puts a woman at a certain disadvantage.....

I've looked at other places.  Brushy Mountain offers pants for the short woman, but not suits.  Pants and a jacket allow a space for an interested bee to visit, should they choose.

Now, I'm generally quite calm around my bees.  I often sit with no protection on the ground between my two hives watching them come and go and haven't been stung in my whole two weeks as a beekeeper.  I did have a bee get caught in my hair and after sitting still, hoping she would leave while she instead tried to find my scalp, finally used the bee brush to brush her gently out of my hair.

However, even though I see pictures of bare-armed folks with only veils to protect them from stings, I am not willing to be unprotected when I work on the hives.  

Any suggestions for the female beekeeper?

Linda T in Atlanta

[manowar422]

http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=984SM

Maybe one of our beekeepin' sisters will have something to add,
but this looks pretty good

[TwT]

http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=984SM

Maybe one of our beekeepin' sisters will have something to add,
but this looks pretty good

with those pants and the jacket below makes a nice suit, I bought my wife one of these and I wear it doing removals, nice....

http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=602

[randydrivesabus]

grow

[JP]

Hey Linda T,
unless you are doing removals, I would think all you really need is a veil, jacket and those bee britches, when you need the added protection, but most of the time you can simply work your bees with just a veil, sometimes you don't even need that.

[tillie]

With the pants and jacket do the bees find wiggle room to come and visit?

I live by myself, but would be fine keeping my tall guy's beesuit for occasional visitors who are interested in my bees and ordering pants and a jacket - I've just been concerned that bees could come in.

I do wish someone would make bee suits designed for women.

Linda T

[randydrivesabus]

arent a lot of these suits made of cotton? could you get them to shrink in the washer/dryer?

[JP]

Linda T,
I don't believe you will have a problem with the bees trying to get in between the jacket and pants unless you are working very mean bees or doing a removal where they are agitated. If you find you need to seal this area you can use duct tape, which I don't think you'll wind up doing very often.

[tillie]

Thanks for the reassurance, JP.  I'll go for it.  

I have two 6' son-in-laws who may like to wear my original suit occasionally - I'll go ahead and order the jacket and britches -

I'll put a before and after photo up after they arrive and you can all get a good laugh!

Linda T in Atlanta

[JP]

Linda T,
you're welcome and have fun working those bees!

[tillie]

Where in Louisiana are you, JT?  I grew up in Natchez, MS where my brother now that I have started has an interest in keeping bees.

Linda T

[JP]

Linda T,
I'm in Metairie right outside of New Orleans.

[TwT]

the jacket has a good stretch band at the bottom, when I do removals I just wear the jacket and blue jeans....

[tillie]

I'd love to hear from some women on this topic....

Linda T

[yvette97206]

grow

hahaahha..."beekeeping in Heels"

[Michael Bush]

www.beeworks.com  They will make a suit to about any size you want. They are very good suits.

[tillie]

I'm amazed, Michael - is there anything about beekeeping that you don't know?  

I'm also greatly appreciative that you take the time to post here and on the other sites you frequent.  

Thanks,

Linda T in Atlanta
Where it's COLD for Atlanta tonight - 40 something

[Denise]

Another female-type person here. I got my suit with my "starter kit" and ordered a medium. It's HUGE. Now I'm not anywhere near petite since I'm 5'9 and about 155 pounds, but I still float in it. What's the deal with these things? It's 50/50 so I washed it in high-hot-and-a-hell-of-a-lot but it's still way too big. They are made for a man's frame that's for sure.
My hubby just got his the other day from Dadant and even he floats in that one. Maybe they make them overly big thinking you want to wear a ton of clothing under them. At first I wore my sweatshirt for extra protection. I was pretty nervous never having been that close to bees before. It's getting too warm for that now anyway!

[TwT]

one thing about beekeeping cloths and gloves, if you wear a medium in normal cloths get a small in beekeeping cloths, everything alway to big, they must have started out with alot of returns with suits not being big enough, guest they fixed that problem ;)

[beemaster]

Glad to see Denise charm in one this one :)

I'll just add that MY biggest fear isn't keeping the bees out - it is KEEPING THE BEES IN! I've never felt comfortable with a veil - I know there has to be a better way then the typical draw string setups (I've seen lots of versions in all the catelogs and websites) but nothing that seems both bee proof, able to work in and also not obscure visibility.

I don't mind protection - I think anything that increases a persons confort level reduces the stress and karma around the beeyard. I wear tight fitting sunglasses, I've even worn swimming glasses (although they can fog up at the worst of times - lol) but I'd take a sting on the nose or anywhere on the face MINUS the eyes and lips from a worker in flight than a worker trapped in my hood always lurking with the chance of stinging.

Sometime the threat of a sting is worse, much worse than the sting itself. I've mentioned before that I won't wear boxer shorts any more - I'll leave that one to your imagination. I still wear short pants, but I'm a brief lkinda guy since 1998 - ugh.