I hope with this piece I can give you some help in deciding what sort of beekeeper you would like to be, by suggesting some ideas and tips that I have learnt over the years.

Some of the basics and why:
Washing your kit in soda crystals - Bees love flowers, so washing anything in something that has a floral smell, will unnecessarily draw attention from your bees. The same applies to wearing any type of nice-smelling product. Try to avoid them the day you inspect your bees. Perfumes, aftershave, hair sprays, anything that has a smell like flowers or sugar-sweet smells.

Let's start with the footwear:
Wellington boots are the protection of choice! Bees do love an unprotected ankle, it could be to do with the cleaning product on your suit smelling floral again. If you tuck your bee suit inside your Wellington boots, it will give the bees the opportunity to get into your boots and wriggle down until they get stuck and then sting you! By far a much better idea, is to not give them the opportunity, wear your elasticated bee suit outside your wellingtons, so they cannot access your legs.

Gloves:
A couple of points in this area, for some reason that is still a mystery to me, bees love to sting the elastic thumb strip, the piece of elastic that keeps the sleeve attached to the hand and stops it riding up the arm. This area sets up an area of interest and thus stinging for your bees. It therefore makes sense to wear your gloves under the sleeve of your bee suit.
Secondly, the elastic at the end of the glove that grips your arm will reduce the distance between the outside of the fabric enough, so the bee 6mm sting will reach your arm, again supporting the earlier suggestion that a better idea is to wear the glove under the sleeve. Pheromones from stings stay in their suit or gloves so wash regularly in a no-smelling non-floral cleaner such as soaking in soda overnight and then giving the suit a rub will clean it well, then drip dry.

Small tub for pieces of wax:
Always make a small tub available for collecting those odd pieces of wax, it soon mounts up to a candle. Don’t get obsessed by scrapping and cleaning propolis and wax, it irritates the bees, clean it from essential areas that prevent you from carrying out an effective inspection if it doesn’t then leave it, after all the bees will replace it soon after you close up anyway.

Frames:
Ensure the frames are tightly nipped up after every inspection, the dummy board firmly against the last frame. No space for a brace comb, leave the excluder as you find it, propolis and wax, just scrape the excess off after removing it from the hive, remember the wrecking ball impact!

Your Hive:
Ensure your hive is sound. After your inspection, take time to look back at it and ensure everything is as it should be and that the hive is level on the stand, if it rocks in the wind it will irritate your bees. Don’t get obsessed with cutting back vegetation from the front of the hive, these are orientation guides for newly emerging bees, if you cut them back when your bees are out foraging, it could make returning more difficult. Clear your working area and the space you need to stand. Also, something to think about and with no idea if it impacts the Hornets or not, It would be reasonable to think that any obstructions or disorientation we can cause the Asian Hornet may be a positive……who knows?
Even if you only have one hive give it a name or number, this will make keeping records easier and help the bee Inspector when it comes to location and identification. Painting your hive is always a good idea, you don’t need to be an artist, just look at Picasso and Dali, I am joking of course, you get the idea.

Next time, how tweezers can help, using a craft knife to identify eggs and a bit more about wax moth and chalkbrood. 

Stay tuned!