# Can you work your bees at night?



## Kevinsbeez (Mar 22, 2015)

I have been working 12 hour shifts. So hypothetically.... Can you work with bees or rob honey from the hive at night time? pros,cons,likes or dislikes? Does anyone have experience? 

Thanks


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## treebee (Mar 7, 2009)

If You have too work at night. Smoke them good and a red head lamp will be helpful. They are attracted to regular flashlights but don't seemed to be bugged as much with red.They will crawl alot more and you get stung in strange places. Enjoy, it is not as bad as it seems if you are calm and prepared ahead. Try to have everything ready to go and not to bang stuff around.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

two words "Duct tape" like treebee said they will crawl and get into places you don't want them.


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## CubeCove (Jan 6, 2015)

Night working on hives is fine, but be aware that you will probably have several bees on your suit when you leave the hive. They will hang on and when you go into a lit area they fly up to the lights. It is also harder to see what you are doing without good lighting over your shoulder, and you will also have most of the foragers inside the hive, making for more bees to work with than during the day when they are out flying around.


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## BattenkillJB (May 9, 2012)

I really don't recommend opening a hive at night. mine went ballistic the one and only time I tried it. They do fly at night in spite of what I have read and consider a night visit an attack.


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## ScubaMark (Jan 6, 2009)

My experience is they are much much much meaner at night. Bees that I can work without a veil during the day with one puff of smoke will coat the veil near where I exhale at night. They will target any carbon dioxide source at night. If I have to work them at night, I have to smoke them like a rump roast just so I can see through my veil.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

Yes, you can work them at night and even rob honey from them.
Be prepare to take the extra sting when something is not cover or
fail to cover them up. They can see you at night but your vision is reduced so you cannot see them that well. Brushing the bees off the frames is the hardest part. They will craw all over your suit to bite and sting you. Any source of light they will fly to it. So positioning the light source is the hardest part. And not all red lights have the same intensity.


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## Dave Warren (May 14, 2012)

Having a little experience with night operations, green lights work better than red, I would try that color.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> Can you work your bees at night?

You can run out in front of a bus, but I don't recommend it... I would not work them at night. Ever.


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## Ravenseye (Apr 2, 2006)

The only times I've messed with bees at night was cleaning up after a bear. I've done that a few times and it was NOT fun, with or without duct tape. It didn't help that the bees figured I must be the bear coming back and naturally, the possibility of the bear returning was on my mind as well.


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## vdotmatrix (Apr 5, 2014)

BAD IDEA. They have guard bees who are dobermans . Bees crawl at night. shouldn't do it, you will displace your bees that latch on to your nocturnal self ...


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## JMoore (May 30, 2013)

I wouldn't do it if there were other times I could work them. If not, I would work them at night. Some times you have to manage your bees when it's convenient for you, not them--even if it hurts a little extra.


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## devil dog (Jul 1, 2014)

I tried that once, here are a few things I learned.
1. Whatever you do don't make the mistake of thinking the bees won't fly in the dark....or sting. 
2. Don't leave your veil in the house because you think you won't need it
3. Avoid wearing one of those lights with a strap that goes around your head.
4. A 54 year old man can still turn the speed on when properly motivated.


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## dynemd (Aug 27, 2013)

I can attest to not using the headlamp at night, pretty funny stuff really...


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## Moon (May 7, 2011)

I've worked them at night. I too work twelve hours shifts and one of my further yards is about forty-five minutes from my house. As everyone above has been saying it can be done and it's definitely not the ideal situation but if you've got things that have to be done (like pulling a bunch of mature queen cells that are about to hatch) there's really no other option. As stated above, tape up, make sure you're going in for a specific reason and you have everything you need on hand. The less time you spend in each hive the better. 

I don't know if it's because so many of the foragers are back and maybe they revert to guard duty at night but the few times I've done night work in my colonies what may normally be a somewhat docile hive is pretty ill tempered when the sun goes down.


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