Wearing comfortable protective clothing is imperative for the beekeeper. Betterbee offers a wide array of options in high-quality beekeeping jackets, suits, veils, helmets, gloves, and more. Before you choose, consider these five factors:

• Past Experience: Each hive has a unique personality — some are more aggressive than others. Let the past behavior of the hive influence your choice of protective clothing.
• Time of Year: Bees typically display more aggression in the fall than in the spring. This is a result of heightened robbing behavior by predators, owing to the lack of forage, the aging of the bees, and the approaching winter.
• Time of Day: There are fewer bees in the hive at the hottest part of a sunny day. Fewer bees mean fewer opportunities for stinging.
• Your Purpose: Why are you going into the hive? If you're simply going in to top off feed, you may not need as much protective clothing as you would to perform a sugar roll varroa test.
• Your Comfort Level: Wear the protective beekeeping clothing and gear that makes you feel most comfortable.

No protective beekeeping clothing is completely sting-proof, but we offer many excellent options for the beekeeper, the casual observer, and even for kids.

Each beekeeper has to decide what type of protective gear they want to wear. While a hat and veil is the required minimum, add other pieces of gear if you wish. The most important thing is that you feel at ease while you are enjoying your bees.

There you have it fellow beekeepers. Bee clothing ideas that you need, want and can do without. Also, it is perfectly okay to have several of each kind.  I do.