For my own bees, 4 colonies I normally use a Thorne's occasional jacket and veil, which even the bees could spit through if they chose to, but it is convenient.
I also have a Bee Basic fencer type cotton suit. I purchased it mid March and use it extensively two days a week.
Mostly it is washed almost weekly (sometimes once a fortnight) to remove sticky deposits, wax, propolis and sweat. The wash varies between 30 and 40 degrees C with a combination of washing powder and washing soda.
The fabric is soft and heavy. In summer it is very hot.
The soft fabric has on occasions collected a lot of stings around the legs, looking like Desperate Dan's chin. This has been remarked upon. Poly Cotton suits seem not to suffer the same problem.
I like the Velcro fastenings on the wrists although the velcro has torn away (frayed) from the stitching at those points. Inspection a few minutes ago shows one of the patches to be connected by one edge only and the other has finally failed in the wash. (find the houswife - sewing kit - time).
The zip on the veil is fairly light and was a source of some concern, but has given no problems whatsoever.
The veil mesh is constructed of mono-filaments and I have had some damage from either a hive tool or brambles. On some other veils the mesh is a more complex weave from thinner fibres that I think would be less susceptable to a "splitting" type of damage.
Sting proof - In a T-shirt and thin trousers, a bad day with angry bees has seen me taking stings to the body on occasion and to the inner arms and inner thighs (squatting) more frequently. That is not to say that most don't get through, merely that several do.
At around £70 I feel that I got value for money, but will be looking for a more capable replacement suit next year. I had to telephone to establish how to remove the veil for washing and found the help to be courteous and to the point. The two zip heads need to be together and come off the left hand end of the track. Replacement procedure is the reverse.
The pockets are not ideally situated, but then gloved hands are likely to be sticky and so of limited use. The suit has no pocket for a hive tool, but then I think putting a sharp hive tool in a pocket is a recipe for disaster anyway. I feel that a tool should be in one of three places: the hand, on a roof or in the washing soda bucket.
I will be thinking carefully before my next suit purchase, which will probably be polycotton, might be Sherriff and won't be white.
So now you know.
I've had a busy season two days a week, so feel qualified to opine on the quality of my suit which has been put to a rigorous test regime including squash, sandwich spread and chocolate stains.
I would like to be able to find a source of those long sleeved string vests that used to be issued to RAF firemen. This would give a bit of stand off of the suit from the body and potentially be a bit cooler than a T-shirt in summer. Any one know of a 'regular' supplier?
