Harvesting honey is a messy, sticky business. It involves looking at every frame and inspecting the honey stores to ensure there will be enough for the bees to make it through the winter. Frame removal involves brushing and/or shaking bees from frames, trying to get off as many of the bees in the hive as possible, leaving the honey frames bee-free. The frames have to be transported to wherever they will be extracted.
Harvesting honey without the proper equipment (a bee suit) can lead to a lot of issues – from suffering a lot of stings to being covered in wax and honey, attracting bees to yourself. This can become a problem when you’re trying to leave with all of their honey stores.
Suiting up comes down to personal preference as well as the temperament of your bees. During the season you can wear a variety of honeybee protective equipment – from a veil and gloves to a torso jacket to nothing at all! But as the season goes on, the bees become more territorial about their hive and honey stores. Honey harvesting season overlaps with robbing season. If the bees think you’re robbing them, they will be angry and vengeful. I would recommend fully suiting up for honey harvest, at least for your first year. From there you can see how comfortable you are and how temperamental your bees are.
