The things beekeepers use

Reading Time: 2 minutes

When beekeepers go to work they have essential tools needed to keep themselves safe because having a couple hundred beestings can be fatal. This is why it’s important that beekeepers practice and exercise safety. First and foremost beekeepers wear protective suits that are supposed to be puncture and sting proof because there are cases where the bees will swarm and have covered beekeepers from head to toe. They wear a mesh screen face protector to protect their face from the bees when they’re flying around. They also use a smoker to calm the bees down.

Something about smoking them causes them to be docile and to stay where they are. This is to allow the beekeeper to collect honey or to check the hives to make sure they’re where they should be in the honey production process. Beekeepers normally keep their hives in a secluded wooded area so that bees can come and go and not pose a threat to anyone coming and going. Beekeepers also have a crowbar-like tool to scrape the honey since it can be tough to remove.

Beekeepers have such a lengthy access to the internet that there are hundreds maybe thousands of different companies that provide supplies to beekeepers like comb cutters, grafting tool (used in prying the layers of honey comb apart scraping honey off the comb), cages to capture the Queen, and different types of hive settings that can be from flat, elevated to upright where they slide out. Other items companies such as this also sell containers the honey is packed in the most popular item is the bear bottle since honey is a staple food for grizzly, brown, and black bears primarily the ones that inhabit much of Northern California and up and down the pacific coast through Alaska. Beekeepers also have to watch for things like pests that feed on bees and using certain kinds of feeds to keep them healthy since bees are a constant threat by mites and various kinds of pests that feed on them. Beekeepers also have to purchase stuff to treat hives for things like moths and flies that feed on the honeycomb and flies can carry diseases since they feed on animal manure and compost material.

The suits beekeepers wear are fairly inexpensive no more than $50 so it makes it easier for beekeepers to maintain an effective hold on their supplies cost wise so it’s not taking a bite out of the budget for them. The hard thing is that their biggest expense is keeping their hives pest free. It’s difficult because the hives are located in high pest areas and in secluded wooded areas that make them prone to birds and other pests. This is the riskiest part of beekeeping is the expense keepers have to go through to maintain healthy hives. Beekeepers have to apply scientific knowledge for them to make what they do work well and to also last them the entire season when they harvest honey and beeswax.

Like this article?

Share on Facebook
Share on Twitter
Share on Linkdin
Share on Pinterest

Sign up for our Newsletter

Leave a comment