# Bees HATE black!!



## TX Ashurst (May 31, 2005)

My brother came to visit me last weekend and we went out to the farm where I keep most of my bees. I have a hive in a metal cylinder out there and I'm trying to decide how to tackle that sticky wicket. I hoped my civil Eng. bro would help, but he had nothing to offer. So we looked into another hive I had there that needed a patty of candy. It was a cold day and I was wearing brightly colored clothes, but I forgot to take off my black, fingerless work gloves. I thought the bees would all stay inside where it was warm anyway. 
I set the patty of feed into the hive and I was amazed at how instantly and how many bees made a beeline  to those gloves - stinger first! It was like it was hailing bees and each made a noticeable impact on my hand. I quickly retreated and the gloves were covered in PO'd bees. Not a single one stung me but they sure worked those gloves over! We stood there and talked about bees for a while as the bees one by one gave up and flew back to the hive. Only one left its stinger in a glove, and two got too cold to return, so we used them for apitherapy.









It's just a reminder: Bees absolutely HATE black.


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

Been there, done that.......  
5 stings in a second or two.


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## Cyndi (Apr 26, 2005)

I don't know about that. I have 9 solid black cats and 1 big black Rottweiler. The cats sleep in areas all around the hives, chase bees and dog's house is right next to one hive too. The only time they freak out is when I'm working the hives, they all scatter, except the dog. I taught him to stay "still" and he's fine now. I have Italian bees.


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## BjornBee (Feb 7, 2003)

My wife a few years back would help me in the yards and she would wear one of those scrunchy thingies to put her hair up in the back. Yeap, you guessed it,...black! She got hit several times before she changed the color. I laughed alot.


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## xC0000005 (Nov 17, 2004)

Hmmm. I wear my black leather jacket to inspect the hive at times. I guess my bees aren't as upset by black.


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## TX Ashurst (May 31, 2005)

Cyndi, if the dog stays low and still, it will be OK, but you don't want to get the bees disturbed when he's around unless you want to teach him new tricks. Bees are most sensitive to whatever is entering their hive, but if they get mad, they'll go looking for trouble sometimes. Sounds like you have pretty savvy cats  

xC0005, I think you are tempting fate. My bees are very gentle and I often open them without even a veil if I'm not going too far into them, but black suede and black fuzzy fabric will drive them completely nuts. Anything black irritates them to some extent. 

I made this post just to share this basic rule of beekeeping. Wear light colors if you want to get along with your bees.
There is a good reason why all bee suits are snowy white.

Have fun and enjoy your bees.


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## Hobie (Jun 1, 2006)

Perhaps it is because bears and skunks and other predators are dark furred?

TX wrote: "There is a good reason why all bee suits are snowy white."

Methinks you mean "...why all bee suits were once snowy white"


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## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

I was helping an aquantance who'd started beekeeping with his daughter and without any help or mentor. One of the problems that he was having is that the bees seemed so aggressive.

When I got there to help I noticed first the black sweater that he was using for some sting protection, and then the dark gloves he had on. When we opened up the hive the bees would fly right past me at him. He found a different sweater and new gloves and all was fine.

Interestingly, I think that all but the newest beesuits are all mostly "spring day snowy yellow"


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## TX Ashurst (May 31, 2005)

He, he. Yeah, they are snowy white when they're new. After that they're Pennsylvania steel mill snow white, or Utah Sulphur mine snow white, or perhaps snow in a raging, muddy river white. Lots of interesting shades of white.


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## Black Creek (May 19, 2006)

gets me to thinking about earlier this year when i once worked my hive wearing nothing but a pair of cut off jean shorts and the bees didnt even seem to notice me.... obviously a sign that i needed a tan !!!


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## ScadsOBees (Oct 2, 2003)

That is a good thought, matt, although I don't think the neighbors would think so. 
Shirtless I would make a brand new snowy white beesuit look like it came out of the coal mines!!!

-rick


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## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

I wear a white bandana on my head when I work the bees. Last year, at a field day, I forgot to put it on. Everyone was standing around in protective gear wondering why I was walking away from the hive... until they saw me pull a bee out of my hair. At least I provided an object lesson. 

I'm engaged to a girl I met there. I often reflect on how interesting I found her to be that day. She often reflects on my getting stung. I like to think that I was "smitten."

Waya


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

A few years back, I had a new employee who went to the bee yards with me. I told him to wear an old white shirt. He shows up in a black Mega-Death sleevless T-shirt. Cute! There he goes...through the gate...across the hay field...and gone! Never did come back, nor pick up any pay. Hee he heee!!


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## Sasha (Feb 22, 2005)

It's interesting how much the bees like black smelly socks








They sting so enthusiastic.


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## Reef Resiner (Jun 9, 2015)

Yeah, always thought it was a myth hearing about bees hating dark color.. I was telling my girlfriend earlier how gentle the bees are and how they never have stung me outside of the hive. Later that evening... Came to the bee yard with black shorts and a black shirt/black butte porter. Immediately one tazed me on the shoulder. That concluded my bee experiment for the evening.


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## jms86233 (Mar 18, 2015)

I wear black quite often no problem I actually have more trouble in a full suit


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Black nitrile gloves about 75% of the time and see no difference. Running out of them and shifting to cheaper blue gloves. Honestly with a blue glove and black glove on, I see not difference. 

Cloth gloves, hmmm, tried that 3 times and never again. An old beek told me they will sting cloth on your hands every time.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

TX Ashurst said:


> There is a good reason why all bee suits are snowy white.
> 
> Have fun and enjoy your bees.



yeah you'd have a heat stroke in a dark colored one.


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## Harley Craig (Sep 18, 2012)

I wear camo they think I'm a tree


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

Have some real dark red coveralls I wore on day in a yard of 50 hives - splitting spring nucs - won't ever do that one again


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## Duncan151 (Aug 3, 2013)

I have never noticed a difference, no matter what colors I wear. I have more black T-shirts than any other color! The bees I work with tend to not like where my pony tail touches my back on a hot and sweaty day!!


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

marshmasterpat said:


> Black nitrile gloves about 75% of the time and see no difference. Running out of them and shifting to cheaper blue gloves. Honestly with a blue glove and black glove on, I see not difference.
> 
> Cloth gloves, hmmm, tried that 3 times and never again. An old beek told me they will sting cloth on your hands every time.


I've had them sting thru the blue gloves, which I think are usually 5 mil. They can occasionally get thru 7 mil. Are your black ones the 10 mil?

Some days mine seem upset by black, sometimes they ignore it. Where I notice it is trying to photograph them, when they decide my Nikon DSLR is a threat. They'll also go nuts if I try to run a black snake camera into their entrance. If they notice it, all I see is the underside of angry bees.


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## SmokeEater2 (May 10, 2011)

I've been wearing the blue nitrile surgical gloves for the last 2 years and have not yet been stung through them, I don't think any of the bees have even tried. 

I don't know what the reason is but it's working so far and I've had some seriously mad bees crawling around on them. An added bonus is that they fit tight enough that I can feel what I'm doing and if they get sticky with honey or propolis I can change to a new pair and continue on.


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

My adult daughter learned the 'dark color' lesson last year with an added bonus......try fuzzy dark gloves for a real treat. :no: She was just an observer, but took all the stings.


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

I still think the dark color is anecdotal. I wear black t-shirts and dark ball caps while working my hives all the time, and they are no more aggressive then when i am wearing white. Been that way for years.


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## Hogback Honey (Oct 29, 2013)

What I think is interesting is, I've some red poppys with black centers. I've heard that, to bees, red looks black. Well, the bees LOVE the poppys and are able to land right in the middle of the flower, where it's black. I'm sure there are other spectrums going on there, and someone will give me an education.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Hogback Honey said:


> What I think is interesting is, I've some red poppys with black centers. I've heard that, to bees, red looks black. Well, the bees LOVE the poppys and are able to land right in the middle of the flower, where it's black. I'm sure there are other spectrums going on there, and someone will give me an education.


Flowers signal to pollinators in the near UV range. Some that have different-colored centers do so quite clearly in UV. I don't know if poppies do this, but the fact that a honey bee would even approach a red and black flower suggests there is another attraction going, either scent or a color we can't see.

http://photographyoftheinvisibleworld.blogspot.com/

If I ever get paid for a recent job, an item on my short list is a filter so I can do UV photography with the Nikon.

http://www.company7.com/baader/options/u-filter_bpu2.html


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

I don't think color matters. I think they don't like fuzzy. I know they don't like the snapping of my gloves when I pull the fingers loose that get pinched under a frame.

Alex


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

Bees have a sense we're ignoring here which may be FAR more important than color. This is all over the news today.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/news...ained-how-they-sense-flowers-electric-fields/

Summary: bumbles (and presumably other fuzzy bees including honeys) sense static electric fields via their body hairs. And why not? Humans have the ability to feel static charge with our body hair, although maybe not down in the 30 volt range like bees can.

Also, I've read some things recently suggesting that honeybees do a lot of communicating via an electrostatic sense. They pick up a charge while flying, and this may be what other bees are sensing when returning foragers dance. They dance in the dark, so there has to be some sense other than visual for determining what the dance moves are.

Now think about what happens when you stroke real or synthetic fur across an insulator ... static charge, and maybe lots of it. So we could be blaming color when really some entirely different sense is being used.


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## lemmje (Feb 23, 2015)

Phoebee said:


> we could be blaming color when really some entirely different sense is being used.


Wow, i love the thought process. I recently freed up some time (finished a major project before the deadline) and now i know what I intend to research for my own learning.


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## AHudd (Mar 5, 2015)

May be that's why they don't like fuzzy gloves.  

Alex


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

lemmje said:


> Wow, i love the thought process. I recently freed up some time (finished a major project before the deadline) and now i know what I intend to research for my own learning.


It's a shame you're not close to me. I'm just thinking that the Keithley 610B electrometer sitting on the shelf to my right, which has a 0-100V sensing range, could handle these electric fields. This is not just a voltmeter, the input impedance is >10^14 ohms, about like a wire lead going into a block of glass. It senses the barest hint of a charge floating thru the air.

A search a few minutes ago revealed a ton of articles on this recent flower sense thing. I'm wondering where in my notes I had the link to the paper on bees using electrostatic fields to sense dance moves. The author speculated that foragers pick up considerable electric charge while flying.


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## Phoebee (Jan 29, 2014)

I wonder if it makes a difference if we used fabric softener when washing our bee stuff. Typically fabric softeners have an anti-static effect.

Of course, they also typically have a floral scent.

There are anti-static sprays that might change their interest in static-ky fabrics, if we could be sure they're not harmful to bees.

Those plastic gloves probably can build up a significant charge, too.


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