Is there a red light available for night work?

[Robbo]

Hey,

Im starting to do a bit more night work on the hives.

Been doing the red cellophane thing.

ANyone recommend a proper or better unit to use instead?

Preferably hat mounted or otherwise mounted to keep hands free.

An ebay link or a store link would be sweet.

Whats good????

[BeeCurious]

http://www.campmor.com/outdoor/gear/Product___37492

[wildbeekeeper]

cableas.com or gander mountain carry headlamps that have redlenses in them. May check Dicks Sporting goods or Dunhams if you have those in your area.

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Some buddies of mine bought me a headlight for my Bday in Dec. It has a red setting. Saw em at walmart fro 10 bucks. I am convinced that they can see the red light though, but not as much as a white light....I use it for loading bees and I hardly get stung.

mike

[alblancher]

Astronomy sites will have a wide range of red light flashlights, head lights and lights for sheds or porches.

[jrbbees]

http://www.optcorp.com/product.aspx?...5-281-285-3005

Check this out for $10.
Think. white led lights so they wouldn't get to hot and have very little power drain while you were working.

Should work on those floresent camping lights too.

Or buy some red led driven brake lights for mounting on trailers or boat trailer if you want water proof.
Mount them on a stand and run a cable to the cig. lighter plug. or a small 12 volt

[alpha6]

Why are you working your hives at night??

[Joseph Clemens]

I've worked my hive at night, using red LED headlights. I've been doing it, off and on, for most of a decade. As long as I don't give them any reason to cause me problems, everything usually goes very well. Nights with clear skies and a full moon, can be a problem.

[rlsiv]

WalMart sells several "Energizer" brand headlamps that have red lights... they're both inexpensive and very effective.

[hpm08161947]

Why are you working your hives at night??

For example... moving into blue berry fields... start about sunset when the bees will stay in their hives during the move. Loose a million field bees if done during the day.

[alpha6]

working your hives at night and moving your hives are two different things. I move mine in and out of their holding yards, out yards, onto trucks, all at night but I am not opening them up to "work" them. Opening a hive at night means the bees are more defensive, there are lots more bees because all your forgers are back so it's harder to see what's going on, it's dark and a red light doesn't give you good enough light to see what's really going on...and that's just three reasons I can think of off the top of my head.

[hpm08161947]

Well.. ok... agreed... if working hives only means opening hives and manipulating frames... then I too would wonder why it is done at night. Red lights do come in handy while moving bees.

[alpha6]

Yeah...nothing like dropping a pallet of hives with white lights on....

[RayMarler]

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Energizer-...6-LEDs/8111444

I got this one, or one very similar, works great

[Joseph Clemens]

Reason (Here in the desert, I only need one):

Daytime temps - 90F, now. 100F+ in a few more weeks. Sun is out adding heat.

Nighttime temps - 55F, now. 70-80F in a few more weeks. Sun is down, no additional heat.

Smoke works at night, just like it does in the daytime. Not as good for viewing fine details like brood or eggs, but works fine for most everything else. I began using this technique back when most of my hives were AHB. Now that none of them are, it works like a dream.

[Robbo]

Cheers for all the replies,

Ended up ordering the Petzl - will let you know what I think when it gets here.

Like has been covered, Its just gone autumn here - still warm at night - once the little fella is in bed, I can duck out for an hour and finish things in the hives I may not have completed during the day - just clumsy using the torch I have found lately - hands free should be great!!

[mrsl]

Look on huntsmart.com; a coon hunting light is hat mounted & puts out a lot of light. I use my husband's sometimes; I didn't think about using a red lens though (I sprayed around my veil with Fischers Bee Quick & that kept them off of the light pretty good).

[bfriendly]

I bought the Petzl "taktika" (spelling may be incorrect) about 2 years ago, and although it works, and provides just enough light to get by with the red lense on, I would LOVE to find a red led headlamp with significantly brighter light, I think this would be best accomplished with actual red led's, not a red lense filter that cuts out most of the lumens...

Anyone have any ideas? Have you stumbled across any products that I didn't see 2 years back? Thanks!