Allen wrote:

>My favourite hot weather bee suit is a pair of Birkenstocks, blue jean 
>cut-offs and a broad-brimmed hat.  That's it.  No veil to restrict 
>vision and cause sweating, but usually sunglasses or, occasionally when 
>required, reading glasses.

Yesterday, a friend of mine came by mid-day to show the bees to his 9 year old, mildly autistic step son (I happened to be on a PTO day and was home, a rarity).  It was a beautiful, late-summer day - sunny, temp around 80, low humidity.  The bees were very busy doing their bee thing, so I decided to take a chance.   While they stood off to the side, I opened a smaller hive (from an earlier split), puffed a little cigar smoke at them, carefully removed a couple of frames, until I got into the heart of the hive, removed a frame and took it over to show them the details - eggs, larvae, pollen, honey, bee dance, etc.).  I did all this in 'normal' clothes with only a cigar in my mouth (and wearing a pair of reading glasses).  For the most part the bees completely ignored me/us.  It was a great learning experience for the boy (and his father), and went off without a hitch.  Put the frames back, closed up the hive and all was well.

That was the FIRST time I actually removed frames from a hive without wearing at least a veil (so, it was a learning experience for me, too).  Popping the cover, adding feed or boxes with no protection, sure, but never actually manipulating frames.  How long have I been doing this???  Don't want to get ahead of myself, but it certainly gave me confidence that, on a good day, a small colony that is busy, can be handled with no protection and minimum issues.  Oh, and I've been kept by bees since 1996.

Bill

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