To wear the suit or not??

[lazy shooter]

About wearing a bee suit of jacket:

From time to time a pearl of wisdom comes into my thick skull.  These pearls are things that I apply to many happenings.  Long ago while taking flight training and talking about flying in marginal weather conditions and old flight instructor said:  "It is better to be here (on the ground) wishing you were up there (in the air), than to be up there wishing you were here."  It's better to have the bee suit on than to have the bees on attack and wishing you had the bee suit on.  I am well trained in safety and seldom does to much PPE (personal protection equipment) harm you, but quite often not having enough PPE causes pain.  If in doubt wear the suit.

As a sidebar, I have never met an experienced beekeeper that doesn't say, "keep the smoker lit."

[WantToBeeLady]

I like many of the suggestions provided. I've been paying attention to the sound of the hive and you can almost hear by the sound of their buzzing what kind of mood they're in. 

[neillsayers]

I like many of the suggestions provided. I've been paying attention to the sound of the hive and you can almost hear by the sound of their buzzing what kind of mood they're in.

Absolutely!  The sounds of the hive , the smell when you open it and the action at the the entrance are all key to understanding the colony's mood.

[Garden Hive]

My experience is that all of those observations can be way too late for the one that makes A BEE Line for your face. I'm even more stubborn than my bees! I wear protection whether needed or not
Tim

[brooksbeefarm]

I'll agree with what Neil and Lazy shooter said Like the other day i lift the lid on two hives with comb honey supers on top. It was in upper 90's F, the bees were bearding from top to bottom on front of the hives, i seen the beautiful white comb down between the frames, i had gave them a couple puffs of smoke when i lift the lid and instead of going down they came up playing peeky boo with me . Well i slid the super forward and lifted it up to see if they were capped, they were, and at the same time they were getting noisy and coming up at me which alarmed the bees bearding on the front to come and help out .. They were stinging through the jacket so i put it back together and took off on the 4 wheeler, both hives also have 3 med supers of honey on them that i have to take off and put another super on them, not looking forward to robbing mean bees in this hot sultry weather. Jack

[WantToBeeLady]

Well yesterday was a bad bee day.  I was totally relaxed, fully suited with a smoker that stayed lit.   It was sunny and hot, around 11am.  The conditions were ideal.  The hive has not been disturbed in several days. So I needed to check the feeders, adjust the ER and take a look at the frames.  Needless to say, the girls were very aggressive. The frames are loaded with honey, nectar and lots of capped brood. The hive is not consuming much of the sugar water, so they must have found a food source outside that they like. They did not want me disturbing them.  And as someone mentioned earlier.....once one the guards tries to sting you and releases that pheromone the game is on. So I had all kinds of stingers on my suit and a couple that got through. This hive is a ten framed and those  frames are all filled out, so the girls have lots to protect. Is there something different I can do to calm things down?

[apisbees]

You only have the one hive?
I would requeen When every thing is right and they are still mean it is time for her to go.

[WantToBeeLady]

Upon further review I think I realize what I did wrong.  There was a group of girls, kind of a large group bunched together fanning the hive at the front entrance.  Then I messed with the ER and that was a bad idea.lol. Funny how in retrospect one can usually recognize their errors.  All the little tasks I tried to do after that just made things worse. I mowed pretty close to that hive today and they just ignored me. So I don't think this hive is especially aggressive, I think I do dumb things make them mad.  I was studying some documentation regarding hive behavior when I lucked up on "fanning". This will be my "learn something new" for this day.

Thanks for all your suggestions and for sharing your experiences. I learn a lot from you all and appreciate your patience with a rookie.

And now I'm getting back into my baseball game (on tv)...I'm addicted.     

[efmesch]

Suggestion: 
After removing the roof and the inner cover, apply some smoke to the top of the hive and cover the entire top of the hive with a piece of heavy fabric.  Then fold it back to expose only the frame closest to the side wall of the hive.  Using the hive tool, "squeeze" the frames together.  Then pry the frame closest to the wall away from the others (giving room to raise it without rolling the bees) and lift it out gently, examine it and put it aside.  Fold back the fabric to expose the second frame and similarly move it away from the third frame and remove it from the hive for inspection. This way you can progess across the entire super, examining each frame while the others are covered with the fabric. 
The examined frames can be put down, standing on their sides, next to the hive you are working, on the side away from you, or in an empty super.  If you put them in an empty super, you can also cover them with another piece of cloth or an inner cover.
Working your way through the frames this way, keeping as many as possible of the frames and bees covered, generally keeps even the most antagonistic of families relatively quiet.  This, of course, doesn't mean that you don't have to use your smoker.  Carefully applying smoke is always a good assistant for removing and examining frames.
If necessary, you can also spread the fabric to cover the entire box while you are examining each frame.  The fewer bees exposed, the better you can control them and any smoke you apply for control dissipates more slowly.

[brooksbeefarm]

  EF, The part about setting the frame on the ground on the other side of the hive is good advice it took me several stings up the pant leg to learn not to set the frame against the hive by your feet Jack

[pistolpete]

I have a couple of suggestions for your consideration: if your bees are hot enough to be fanning, the entrance reducer should go all together.  Also if they have 10 full frames, you should have another box on top already.  A good rule is to add another box whey they cover 8 frames in the first.  If you don't give them room, they will swarm. 

As for the original post: bees are like dogs, some varieties are meaner than others.  My bees are calm and  I wear no protective gear of any kind, just a baseball cap so they don't tangle in my hair.  Normally I go through all my hives with no stings at all except for the occasional one on the finger from squishing one.   A couple of times a year they get rowdy on me and I have to run for cover and come back with a veil, happens to everyone.

[Bakersdozen]

I have a couple of suggestions for your consideration: if your bees are hot enough to be fanning, the entrance reducer should go all together.  Also if they have 10 full frames, you should have another box on top already.  A good rule is to add another box whey they cover 8 frames in the first.  If you don't give them room, they will swarm. 

Pete beat me to it.  I think crowding can cause some crankiness. 

[brooksbeefarm]

My bees have several supers of honey on them (been a good year) and it has turned dry here. They are not flying much in this hot humid weather and even the hives with screen bottom boards are bearding, they are saying rain most of this weekend and and next week, but i can hear thunder all around and towns close by getting 1 in. to 3 in. of rain but not a drop here. Took two comb honey supers of beautiful white capped honey off yesterday and put in the freeze, they were not happy to let me take it. For the last month abd still, when i take the lid off they fly up and say, My Name Is Sue, How Do You Do. Jack