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BEE SUITS

The most important single protective item a person can wear when around bees is a hat. Bees associate hair with their natural enemies like bears or mice and once entangled in hair, almost always end up stinging. Bee suits, of course, are better because they protect your hair and most everything else.

Bee suits are traditionally made of cotton as it is a heavy enough fabric bees can't sting through it. A more recent development is a thin light weight nylon fabric bees can easily sting through, but because of it's slick non porous texture, the bees don't recognize it as skin or anything worthy of their sting. Shown at right, it is a much lighter weight fabric and cooler in hot weather.

There are two commonly used types of veils, the traditional folding veil supported by a brimmed hat or helmet and the more recently developed self- supporting veil which requires no hat. The folding model is attached to the beesuit by a zipper or held in place by draw strings pulled down and tied at the waist. The self supporting veil is attached with a zipper around its base.

The suit and veil offer no protection for the hands so the final items are a good pair of gloves with gauntlets or sleeves. Goats skin or a soft leather make the best gloves while the gauntlets can either be attached or separate as shown. The attached sleeve is nylon, and works as described above, while the separate gauntlet is cotton or cotton nylon. The separate glove and gauntlet has the advantage of being able to replace one without the other. There are ventilated gauntlets featuring a mesh or net like opening in the sleeve for air circulation but bees easily sting through the vent mesh.

REFERENCE MATERIALS

People have been studying this insect since Biblical times. It is one of the most thoroughly documented branches of agriculture you will find. Today, the US Department of Agriculture operates several "bee laboratories", many universities have apiary programs and there are thousands of books and papers on the subject.
Shown above are just a few of the many books, catalogs and periodical devoted solely to the honey bee. One of my favorites is "ABC to XYZ of Bee Culture" (published by A.I. Root) because, like a dictionary, you can research topics about honey bees alphabetically. Links to some of this information are listed below:

SUPPLIERS OF BEE EQUIPMENT

Western Bee Supplies, Inc.

The two magazines "The American Bee Journal" and "Bee Culture" cover the full range of beekeeping subjects from the latest research results, techniques, hive management, feature articles and the like; while "The Speedy Bee" is delivered on news print paper and presents an easy reading less technical update on the industry. If you are interested in subscribing to any of these publications, get a sample issue and decide which one(s) suit you.
As for the suppliers, they all publish excellent printed catalogs of the items they manufacture and sell and are happy to send it to you for the asking. They typically have the full line of bee equipment as well as many books and other information on the subject. Some offer starter hive kits and other assistance for a beginning bee keeper.