# Do people work hives in the rain?



## chr157y (Feb 14, 2013)

I would avoid it at all costs. Bees get angry when the barometric pressure drops.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

Smart beekeepers don't. The bees will all bee cooped up and real pissy. You will get stung prolly several times.


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## WBVC (Apr 25, 2013)

A weeks wait it is then.


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## SpeckledPup (May 25, 2011)

Personelly, I would limit it to checking that the queen has been released. 

I moved 5 Nucs this morning in the rain. 
Closed them up last night with no rain in the forecast for this morning, some scattered showers predicated for this afternoon. Woke up to almost 2 inches overnight and misting to showers now predicted all day.


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## deknow (Jul 17, 2006)

Anyone with a significant number of hives, or has raised queens on any scale has no choice sometimes. Not ideal, but not impossible, it really depends on how important the task is.

Deknow


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## John R C (Mar 15, 2011)

I do it all the time. Time is very precious and when I'm at the farm be it rain or shine that's when I have to work the bees. They do get pretty ill when the top comes off in the rain and its hard to keep a smoker going with wet fuel but it can be done. Don't forget to duct tape your pants legs to your boots. If you forget you'll be reminded.


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## JSL (Sep 22, 2007)

More than I care to this year! Deknow and John are right. Sometimes things just have to be done, but sunny days are more fun!


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## Bill91143 (Jun 7, 2013)

I would much rather work bees in good sunny weather, but do to circumstances I had to rob out 30 hives in the rain. Not a fun situation and you have to deal with a lot of angry bees, but sometimes it can't be avoided. My daughter has 30 hives a little over 100 miles away, and she asked me to help her harvest her honey. The weather was suppose to be good, but like so many days this summer about the time we got into the bees it started raining. I refused to waist the trip so we pulled supers in the rain, and everything went fine, except for angry bees, but we made sure all holes were covered, all zippers were closed and everything was tucked in and we made it through 30 hives without a sting. Although it wasn't because the bees weren't trying. The rain didn't seem to hurt the honey either. After extracting it tested at an even 18% moisture.


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## gmcharlie (May 9, 2009)

bees get real pissy when it rains in the hive. even the pressure hose from my feeder can set them off (they get sprayed) a unbrella when checking nucs in the rain is actually very helpful


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## Andrew Dewey (Aug 23, 2005)

You have nailed the primary difference between the hobbyist and commercial beekeeper: the ability to make decisions regarding working bees on the weather.

We had our EAS field exam on a day when I wouldn't have been within 100 feet of my own hives. I was feeling pissed about it until i was reminded by a commercial beekeeper that this season he had opened his hives more in the rain than not. And that arranging a tarp over you and the bees to keep a driving rain out of the box just has to be done.

As a customer if I am making plans to receive queens on the 15th of July, I don't really care what the weather is in your location on the 13th. Just get me my bees at the time you promised.


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## Oldtimer (Jul 4, 2010)

Yes, commercial beekeepers can not always sit at home when it's raining LOL. Although they don't have to be crazy or anything.

The worst to me, is having to plant queen cells in the rain. You have to work weak nucs that cannot tolerate a lot of water, plus you have to keep the cells in your box dry, hate it when that happens. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.


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## BernhardHeuvel (Mar 13, 2013)

Work bees in rain, too. No worries. Don't see any difference in behaviour.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Oldtimer said:


> Yes, commercial beekeepers can not always sit at home when it's raining LOL. Although they don't have to be crazy or anything.
> 
> The worst to me, is having to plant queen cells in the rain. You have to work weak nucs that cannot tolerate a lot of water, plus you have to keep the cells in your box dry, hate it when that happens. But sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do.


This year we started using prewarmed gel packs placed in a warmed Pyrex bowl covered with a cloth when planting cells in cool and/or rainy conditions. We would usually put no more than around 30 cells in them and then switch with another warm one out of the incubator. It may have been overkill but it sure made me feel good placing a nice warm cell.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

Just last week, in a modest rainstorm, I worked almost every hive in both yards. No more difficult than any other day working the bees. Still wore shorts, T-shirt, and wide brimmed hat. I keep some of my straw (smoker fuel), where it stays dry, despite the weather, and my striker where it also stays dry (I use it to light the propane torch). In the past I've had bees that were very difficult to work when it was raining, but my present bees seem to not mind it as much. I did get wetter than I would have preferred, so I'll probably wear a poncho, next time, if I need to do it again.


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## j.kuder (Dec 5, 2010)

after several years of keeping bees and having popped the lids many times on cloudy rainy days for a quick peek. i was pretty confident that day was gona be like any other time so i popped the top and all hell broke loose they came at me with a vengeance. they chased me in one side of the barn and when they wouldn't let up i ran around and in the other side of the barn all the while they where stinging my legs and i was wearing jeans. probably got about 30 stings thru the pants. guess i caught them on their period.


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