Bee Stings

[itma]

I am... i work on bees all year round, from inspections, splitting,shaking out, blowing them out of honey supers, winter checks, etc, wearing just leather moccasins, black jeans and dark colored shirt, often black as well, and have no problems with bees attacking the black clothing. Also seen plenty of monks working with bees dressed in black, they don't seem to have much of a problem either.

Aaah, but that would be with one particular sort of bee, wouldn't it?

Fancy trying it with the bees that Peteinwilts has?
And Victor Meldrew had a bit of a problem with IIRC a black pouch for his camera …


Certainly (at least some) bees, when tetchy, will select the darkest area to target - or rather the darker side of a light/dark boundary.
I too had a similar problem with socks darker than trousers … really should have had the boots on for that job!
However, it may be that dressing all in black confuses the 'boundary' targeting instinct. I think its relevant in this context that bees vision is optimised for 'edge detection' rather than overall acuity.

 

[peteinwilts]

When clothing is washed, it will often fluoresce under UV light. This will break up the black which could add to ITMA's edge detection theory.

I am not saying it is not a myth, and have kept bees a lot less time than HM, and a lot less of them.
However, with the limited experience I have had, there appears to be 'something' about black objects that make them a little more defensive when they are already tetchy.

If a hive is already defensive, the black 'appears to' to heighten their level of aggressiveness towards the object.

Alternatively, if already aggressive, the black handle of the scraper or phone may 'focus' or concentrate an area from them to be aggressive to, making it seem like aggression to a black object. (?)

 

[YorkshireBees]

Although it may not be true that the colour black itself causes bees to attack I can certainly understand the combination of a dark colour and fluffy / furry type material becoming a target for them.

I have had a couple of experiences where a dark colour in combination with texture seems to have attracted un-welcome attention from bees.

As per others the wrong kind of socks, back when I used only a top half beesuit and just used to tuck my cotton trousers into my socks. I swapped to another kind of sock which contained more wool and hey presto received multiple stings to the ankles.

The other incident was when I was taking a breather between hive inspections and took the hood section off to have a drink. Underneath I was wearing a black fleece and when I heard buzzing found a bee really intent on trying to sting the fleece on the collar. Hastily and carefully I removed the fleece and have not worn it for beekeeping since!

 

[peteinwilts]

I only wore socks once when attending a swarm in a tree. Lots of stings... now only wear wellies.

hhhmmm if bees have a fascination for socks, maybe it is not the dark colour they are interested in and they might like cheese...

 

[jeff4051]

The socks kept in the bee shed were black fluffy ones, I wont be wearing them again. My ankle is sore swollen and itchy still. The Celirizine has certainly effected me tho

 

[alanf]

...Certainly (at least some) bees, when tetchy, will select the darkest area to target - or rather the darker side of a light/dark boundary...

I suspect there's something in that. When I used an electric mower too close to have, they went for the smaller black part of the engine covering, not the larger green part of the cowling. Same material, same texture, darker colour. Could just about be a different vibration pattern that attracted them, but seems less likely. Not suggesting that it's just colour, but if something does provoke them into being tetchy then a dark patch is likely to be the target.

Speculation, but the softest parts of any animal likely to attack a beehive is probably dark. Eyes, mouth, ears, nose, maybe paws. Most of us can testify that stings around the eyes and other soft skin are likely to be effective (from the bee's p.o.v.) in maximum swelling and inconvenience. Could be an interesting school project to determine if there is an effect in targetting.

Does texture make a difference? Hard to say. It's certainly the case that bees will attach more easily to fuzz than smooth, so that's where you're likely to see any stings left.

 

[iawtkb]

You need a kingspan insulated bee suit.

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