Hi Grant
Sorry we didn't get to talk in Orlando. I didn't get to meet with a lot of people I wanted to, sorry to all of you if we somehow missed the connection!

As to the color red ... red being my favorite color, I guess I have thought a bit about this. The question is not whether red is "invisible", it's how does it appear to bees. To a honey bee, red is the same as black. No light is reflected. And as we know, black is probably one of the dumber colors to wear in a bee yard. If they saw red as gray, that would be OK. My mentor always wore gray work clothes, and he seldom got stung.

Why are bee suits white? This is also a pretty dumb color to wear in the bee yard, because they show every bit of dirt and gunk, and are generally immediately and permanently stained by propolis, etc. Unless you wash it every day, it always looks filthy. When I worked at the bee lab, I had a bunch of white bee suits, so I could always put on a clean one. Why doesn't somebody make a yellow one? That would be good.

Khaki is the traditional beekeeper's garb. I always figured it was because it shows propolis stains the least. But then, bird watchers like khaki so I suppose it is the color that is least conspicuous to animals. A lot of folks, including me, have settled on faded denim. You can use old blue jeans, or buy them already light blue. Mine are all stained with propolis, though, so I have separate faded jeans to wear to parties ...

plb

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