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.