Suit or Smock

[Uzzy]

Yes me again,

I am aware that it is possibly a personal issue but what are peoples preferences a smock or a full suit?

 

[VEG]

Suit

 

[Tom Bick]

Jacket and separate trousers when needed.

 

[dpearce4]

suit. need the protection.

wish i could wear just a smock.

 

[Hachi]

I like a smock but prefer my suit and when the going gets tough, the suit minus the veil with the smock and veil over the top.

 

[itma]

As a beginner, you NEED a one-piece suit.

You don't want to be worrying about bees finding the builders cleavage while you are trying to lift a heavy hive.

If you want to get a light smock to keep bees out of your hair while pottering around the hives, that's fine - but get that AFTER your one-piece suit.

 

[ichbinpaul]

I wear a smock and second pair of trousers in war time! but I prefere my Motherinlaw to wear a black Leotard.

 

[Queens59]

Suit for hives from hell - but if your hives are placid...a smock...

 

[kighill]

Suit

I have ruined numerous pairs of trousers when using a smock. I now wear a suit when doing my weekly inspections and a smock when I am doing some manipulations such as feeding etc.

So if you can afford both then buy both at least you will have a spare when other interested persons visit your apiary.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

Buckfasts and tolerant of stings: smock for deeper manipulations or iffy conditions, nothing for lighter ones. No shorts though. Boy I'm going to get it one day when they supersede

 

[Arfermo]

I always put on a double layer top and bottom and frequently regret it when I take a short cut. Have full suit and 2 smocks, 2 pairs of wellies, 4 pair of washing up type rubber gloves and a coverall. They still get me through the double layer occasionally but my gloves are impenetrable providing I put parcel tape around the overlap of gloves to suit/smock. I have immunity tp stings but still prefer to avoid them - they hurt.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Suit with long legs and sleeves underneath. Even if I don't need it it makes me feel safer.
Jacket when adding feed or fiddling with entrance reducer etc.
Hubby used to wear Jacket and shorts until he dropped a clearer board's worth of bees down his wellies one time he had climbed the stand to take off a super.
Now he adds waterproof overtrousers.

 

[ail901]

how do you wash the suits and how often pls

 

[Putnamsmif]

Being a newbie I don't think I'd feel confident enough yet not to wear a full suit, but I have already dispensed with the gauntlets in favour of surgical type rubber gloves. Much easier to work in, and my rationale is the less you're messing around the less fed up they're going to get. And I'm presuming they're not going to like dropping a frame which I came close to doing in those damned gauntlets. Mind you I haven't thrown the gauntlets away or anything, you know, just in case...

 

[drstitson]

spare smocks in car/swarm box/at work etc for when needed in hurry/out and about (plus one ready to go at home in case of emergency).
otherwise for proper inspection work a full suit (in my case BB wear lightweight).

 

[madasafish]

Jacket

If I needed a suit, I would requeen.

Beekeeping should be enjoyable.

Suits in 25C + are a sweat bath - definitely not enjoyable.
So if summer is the best time for beekeeping, why make it the worst?

Simples.
(If bees are really horrible, a one piece mechanics suit with no pass through pockets (Panoply) plus a jacket plus wellies is 100% beeproof.)

 

[Suzi Q]

Jacket, I like the zip up the front, easier to take off and put on than a smock. A suit for any 'dangerous' occasions.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

As a beginner, you NEED a one-piece suit.

You don't want to be worrying about bees finding the builders cleavage while you are trying to lift a heavy hive.

If you want to get a light smock to keep bees out of your hair while pottering around the hives, that's fine - but get that AFTER your one-piece suit.

I wear a full suit whenever opening up - although if it's just a quick pop in for feeding, or I'm working a bit close to the hives, a smock.

I prefere my Motherinlaw to wear a black Leotard.

Whatever you do in your own mind is your business - but there are other forums for your kind of preferences (either that or electric shock treatment

how do you wash the suits and how often pls

Bit like bath nights really - once a year whether I need to or not.

Veil zipped up inside the suit - 50 degrees low spin - I use persil small and mighty non-bio washing liquid, wash them whenever they get a bit dirty, or it's taken a few stings

 

[itma]

how do you wash the suits and how often pls

Washing Soda is the old-fashioned but magic ingredient for taking off propolis.
Its pretty good for washing, actually!

My suit gets machine washed with soda most weeks plus before and after visiting other people's apiaries.
Unfortunately the hat part is hand wash only...
Good quality fencing-type veils can be stuffed into the suit and put through the machine. My next suit will be that type!

 

[Vramin]

I just have a smock. Don't agree that a beginner needs any more. I've only ever been stung on the hands, so normal trousers seem ok to me. Use latex gloves and cotton gauntlets to cover the wrists as gap can open up.

I hate wellies, so wear walking boots and gaiters to protect ankles. Far mor comfortable and impregnable.