Bee suits: Ventilated or non-ventilated?

I'm often questioned about what's the right bee suit. In fact, I'm asked that so often that I thought I would take a few moments to expand on my usual answer to that question and post this where it's always available to those with the same question.

First off, the right bee suit is the one you feel comfortable in. After all, you are going to have to work in the bee yard wearing that suit, especially if you are a new or fairly new beekeeper.

If you've never done it, you are in for an experience, especially on hot summer days. With an unventilated suit, you will soon be covered in sweat and often literally unable to work. The sweat builds up on your head, drips to your brow and then gets into your eyes, burning them without relief until you step away to remove the veil and take care of it. But as soon as you put that veil back on, the whole process starts again. Even a ventilated suit can still give you that problem but it takes a lot longer and is a bit more bearable because the rest of your body is cooler, whereas a non-ventilated suit will make you sweat in all the wrong places and make you feel miserable. That's the long and short of it.

But let's dig deeper. Ventilated suits are usually made of mesh layers (generally three, sometimes more) and those layers rub together and move in different ways as you work, making it virtually impossible for a bee to sting through the mesh. Does it happen? I've heard of it on rare occasions on Reddit posts but I've personally never had it happen. Quality ventilated suits are built to prevent that and they work very well. 

Non-ventilated suits, especially the cheap ones you can get from Amazon, Temu, etc. are made of a single layer of fabric that is only a little heavier and thicker than a heavy t-shirt or thin khaki. I have even seen them made with actual 50/50 blend t-shirt material! I got stung in those cheap suits plenty of times until I wised up and went with the ventilated suits. As a beekeeper, you will be bending over a lot to pick up a smoker, a hive tool, a frame or a hive box and I will tell you from personal experience that being stung in the butt is something you will never forget. Especially if you are stung multiple times. And let's not even think too much about the time I bent over to pick up a heavy bee box and the suit split right up the crotch area.  If you get stung and start flailing your arms or smacking at bees landing on you, the game instantly changes.  A bee in distress will release an alarm pheromone (primarily isoamyl acetate) that smells like bananas. This chemical signals danger, causing nearby bees to become more aggressive, defensive, and likely to sting. The scent acts as a rapid, volatile alert to the colony. If your back end or arm or elbow or anything else is pressing against the fabric, you are going to get stung. I would urge you to avoid those bee suits. They are not worth the $49 or $75 or whatever you paid. There are some quality non-ventilated bee suits on the market but you are going to deal with the heat problem regarless of price. 

With bee suits, as with most anything else in life, you are going to get what you pay for and when it comes to handling venomous insects, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure. For a beginning beekeeper, I enthusiastically recommend a ventilated suit. Several bee stings will likely discourage you and may even tempt you to quit your beekeeping adventure to avoid the hassle, causing you to lose not only your enthusiasm about beekeeping but also all the investment in gear. 

So what about the negative aspects of ventilated suits? Yes, there are some. Ventilated suits are heavier in weight due to the layers of mesh material. Some of the lesser quality suits are outright annoying to wear as they may feel very foreign to skin accustomed to being covered by cloth. Some will say you get used to it, but I never did. I have a ventilated suit here that I paid nearly $160 for that I only wore three times because of that. It just felt like chicken wire on my skin. Now, I wear other suits that are better quality and while they still feel a bit odd at times, it's not so bad that I'm fixated on it while working the bees.

So when it came to offering bee suits through my Kitsap Beekeeping store, I requested samples from many different manufacturers and actually wore them in the house while watching television or answering customer emails at the computer. I wore them outside while stacking firewood or working in the bee yard. I wanted to make sure that the suits I added to my inventory would be suits that did what they were supposed to do and were not miserable to wear. Just know that whatever suit you buy, they aren't  designed for comfort, they are designed for protection.

More experience beekeepers tend to wear ventilated jackets instead of bee suits. The jackets are much lighter and have all the same protection as the suits but come on and off quicker and do not bind when bending over to work. A ventilated bee jacket allows you to wear denims or sweats or even shorts while keeping your upper body protected. I generally just wear the jacket unless I'm working with angry bees during a drought, or pulling supers to extract honey.

But what about those beekeepers I see on YouTube all the time that don't wear much (if any) protection at all, you may ask ... Well, those people have been working with bees for a long, long time and are very good at reading the room - knowing when the bees are likely to be calm and quick to notice when they are more agitated. And yes, they do get stung. Over time, some beekeepers get used to it and brush it off - or retreat for a bit if the bees start homing in on them to protect the hive. This most often happens during the drought (when bees are very light on food and water resources) or when removing honey from the hive. I never recommend taking brood and honey from the hive without adequate protection.  When dealing with an agitated hive of bees, your face and head is an inviting and accessible target as the bees will home in on anything that looks like a hole. Many beekeepers are stung on or in the mouth, the nose, the ears or even the eyes. If you insist on working your hives during the drought without a suit or jacket, always wear a veil to protect your face and head. Don't try to show off, don't try to produce a heroic YouTube video - use common sense and protect not only yourself, but others around you.

Remember, stings hurt like the dickens and in some cases, they can be fatal. I've had beekeeping associates die who were not previously allergic to bees. In fact, I took 72 stings at one time when doing something foolish (more on that in a bit) and now I have to be extremely careful because I'm a lot more sensitive to bee stings following that episode and can have extremely unpleasant reactions that can sometimes require urgent care. And it can happen to anyone regardless of their experience level. 

So what did I do that made the bees angry enough to inflict 72 stings? I made some of the most common mistakes beekeepers make: being in a hurry, thinking to myself that I've done this for so long that nothing could possible go wrong, and being a showoff. I did all three. Never do anything quickly while working your bees. Slow down, take your time and always be aware of how your actions are affecting your bees. You may have many years of experience but all it takes is one careless moment of inattention or lack of preparation.

Always wear a quality bee suit or jacket if there are indications that the bees might not welcome your presence. No one will laugh at you or think less of you for doing so. But they will sure get a kick out of it if you show up to work the next day with a golf-ball sized lump on your lip or an eye swollen shut. 

Please take a look at our ventilated bee suits, jackets, gloves and pants. We've got you covered.