[VanBeek in MI]

Let me know how you feel about letting someone else in your bee yard, I personally won't let anyone in my yards with their protective clothing on, if someone want's to check out my hives with me I keep an extra jacket, veil and even a suit that they can wear.
am I crazy or over cautious or am I right on with this?

 

[sqkcrk]

Over cautious, seems to me. What are you concerned about? Diseases and pests? Not normally spread by clothing. What if they only want to wear a veil? Do you demand that they wear your coveralls?

 

[Santa Caras]

I'm a newbie so take everything i say with a grain of salt. My first few days I was real leary around my hives. Even told my neighbor.."Oh your wearing a black shirt, you may not wanna visit them just yet." Now that they've been back there a month....I walk back in shorts, flipflops and tank top. Color doesnt matter. Anyone else that would want to look, I'd tell em "go for it." and in whatever they are wearing. Now if I was actually breaking into the hive and getting into the brood area....yeah....shirt, pants and veil but even with that stuff I'm starting to wonder. I think it has to do with the "mood" of your hive too. Just like my wife can get super cranky a few days "before that time!" and I know better than to go "sticking my head in the lioness's mouth"....it's the same with bees. Catch em on a good day and all is blessed. Catch em in a bad mood and they'll let you know. just play it by ear.

 

[VanBeek in MI]

Yeah, my concern would be diseases, I don't want to invite any if possible. Just a thought though.
So I shouldn't be concerned with someone with well used clothing or gloves for example?
if they just want a veil that wouldn't bother me.

 

[EastSideBuzz]

..... but even with that stuff I'm starting to wonder. I think it has to do with the "mood" of your hive too.

They are just bee's so worst case is you run and get stung a dozen times. I would never open up a lid without having a vail on except the time I do. You do get one that did not read the memo about you stopping by for a visit and ripping the roof off their house and yanking up their bedrooms for a look see.

You will learn after the 3rd time you get one right in the face.

 

[Phoebee]

Read the sign. Enter at your own risk. Bee suits available if you want a close look.

The local bee inspector is said to wear shorts and a tee shirt when inspecting bees.

 

[sqkcrk]

Yeah, my concern would be diseases, I don't want to invite any if possible. Just a thought though.
So I shouldn't be concerned with someone with well used clothing or gloves for example?
if they just want a veil that wouldn't bother me.

I think you should look deeply into how AFB is spread. Learn as much as you can about Honeybee Diseases and how they are spread. What you will find is that gloves, suits, and veils worn in other yds are not normally found on the list.

I work w/ a number of other beekeepers, mostly commercial beekeepers, and none of them have ever required me to wear their equipment, use their smoker and hive tool, or even asked me about how, when, or if I clean any of those thing previously mentioned.

Me thinks thou doth worrieth too much.

 

[Phoebee]

You could certainly offer disposable nitrile gloves. They don't cost much and they seem to work pretty well.

I personally keep one suit for visiting other yards (primarily my mentor's), and another for my own, and I use the disposable gloves. We don't mix tools, either.

AFB is about the only thing that scares me.

 

[sqkcrk]

Communicability of bee diseases is not anywhere near what a Veteranarian deals w/ going from one dairy farm to another. But, I guess there is nothing wrong w/ being over cautious. Unless you are operating from fear, rather than knowledge.

 

[Phoebee]

Operating from what the instructor recommended in bee school. That, and a degree in biology with emphasis on microbiology, pathogens, and parasites. Its not that I'm especially fearful, but more that the microbiology training is quite exacting on sterile methods, so I'm primed to take such instructions to heart.

AFB, I think you must admit, would be heartbreaking and traumatic. On the other hand, we were just given some drawn comb to use in our new nucs. We cleaned them out ... obviously one frame had starved bees. I plucked out one dried up sacbrood victim ... not nearly so scary as AFB. The source has never had AFB. We chucked the frames in the deep freezer (wax moth insurance) and expect we'll use them to help our nucs get a start. This is a balancing act ... we're taking SOME risk of disease transmission, but we consider it small, and the bees should get a boost from a couple of frames of drawn comb.

 

[sqkcrk]

A bee school instructor told you to wear one bee suit in your yd and another in someone elses yd? What bee school was that?

In two years of bee school in OH I was never instructed to be that cautious.

 

[Phoebee]

PWRBA. The mover and shaker therein manages a number of US guvmint hives.

For us there is the practical matter of shuttling back and forth between two states. Our apiary is in WV, but half the time we're in VA. So rather than lugging the suits back and forth, we got a couple of pairs of painter's overalls ($30) and a couple of cheap hat/veils to do the local stuff.

I personally think the glove thing is worth considering. They get right down into the gummy stuff, and leather gloves are about impossible to clean effectively. If you are going to transmit something, gummed up hive tools, gloves, etc. are the most likely things to do it. Suits you can wash a couple of times a year whether they need it or not . We used to flame-sterilize innoculating loops ... I'm good with hitting hive tools with a propane torch to kill anything in the goop.

Honestly, I thought the original post was more about the liability of letting folks into your apiary. West Virginia wants you to put up some warning signs, and I'd say that's a good courtesy since some people react badly to stings. And we would loan protective gear to friends wanting a closer look.

 

[deknow]

I agree that one should be careful with gloves and hive tools. Neither of these rises to the exposure from moving comb from hive to hive.

deknow

 

[Phoebee]

I agree that one should be careful with gloves and hive tools. Neither of these rises to the exposure from moving comb from hive to hive.

deknow

Agreed, and one must know the source.

But you want to know what's really risky? Taking hives of bees, sending them to a huge bee convention in California where they can trade diseases and pests, bringing them back, yanking out not just comb but comb full of brood covered with bees, sticking them in a box, adding a queen from yet another source, and calling this a "nuc." Can you imagine people spending money to take such a chance at getting disease? Having just committed this folly, the question is what next?

Also keep in mind they're 3 weeks late.

What gives these poor creatures the best chance at survival? Drawing their own comb is safer from the disease standpoint, but the new queen won't have much to lay in until that's done. A couple of frames of drawn comb is a head start, and we're hoping the risk (for AFB minimal considering our source has never had it) is well offset by giving them a chance to be stronger before next winter.

But at least our gloves and hive tools are clean.

 

[deknow]

I'm not telling you not to use comb from a known source, I do it all the time. I'm pointing out that if a hive tool or gloves has the equivalent germ exposure to 'a peck on the cheek', then moving a frame of comb is like 'long term, intimate co-habitation'.

If the source has never had AFB but uses OTC or Tylan as part of their management, I would not assume the risk is minimal.

deknow

 

[Acebird]

I feel my bees are healthy and strong and can survive a minimal exposure of someone else's protective clothing. I would think that a beekeeper that had an outbreak of AFB in his apiary would take precautions to protect his other hives. Maybe not.

 

[sqkcrk]

Such as?

 

[VanBeek in MI]

The biggest reason I asked the question is that I guy I know had a 70+% loss this winter and I made it through with just 30%, we had a very long and cold winter this year. now he want's some queens from me and want's to come to my yard and look things over because I do everything organic and he want's to try my system out. the problem is I know for a fact that he had AFB (it was confirmed) a couple years ago and I'm a little nervous about him in my yards with his clothing, tools etc. he didn't destroy his equipment when he had AFB he just stacked his hives (without frames) and stuffed a bunch of news papers in them and burned just the inside of them, I haven't talked to him in the past couple years until now and am afraid I will offend him if I ask him not to wear or use his clothing or hive tool etc.

 

[sqkcrk]

Stacking and scorching the insides of empty supers is how AFB equipment is handled. You said w/out frames, so, apparently the frames were burned, which is the usual practice.

I don't think you have anything to worry about, but you are already worried, so tell him he has to wear your suit or veil.

 

[Phoebee]

That sounds fair and I bet he'll understand. Just a guess, but I'll bet he likes AFB even less than you do.