Bee Suit Too Big or Too Small? The Signs, and What to Do

Is your bee suit too big or too small? Move in it and watch the edges. Too small shows up as tightness: the back pulls when you bend, the veil drags onto your face, cuffs leave your gloves and legs leave your boots. Too big shows up at the ends: cuffs that will not seal, legs that drag under your heels, a hood that slides over your eyes.

How to check: two minutes, five movements

You cannot judge a bee suit standing in front of a mirror. Almost every suit looks fine standing still. The problems appear when you move the way you move at a hive.

Put the suit on over the clothes you normally wear underneath, with your hive boots on. Zip the veil and put on your gloves, over the sleeves. Then touch your toes, crouch low, kneel on one knee, reach both arms straight out in front of you, and walk up a step.

Texas A&M AgriLife Extension gives the first of those as the core test: "While suited, the person should be able to touch their toes without the suit or jacket pulling tight along their back or pulling the veil against their face." (Texas A&M AgriLife Extension, ENTO-097)

As you do each movement, watch for the signs below.

Signs your bee suit is too small

The last one is the clearest sign of all, and the most painful. A bee standing on fabric that is pressed against your skin can sting through it. The University of Arkansas Cooperative Extension says it plainly: suits are "sting-resistant, but they are by no means sting-proof." (Beekeeping Basics, University of Arkansas) Where a suit is too small, it is pressed against you more of the time.

Signs your bee suit is too big

None of these lets a stinger through the cloth. What they do is open gaps. Wrist and ankle elastic that is too loose stops sealing, and a collar that gapes leaves room at the neck. And spare cloth that catches or trips you is a hazard in its own right when you are carrying a full box.

Bee suit too big or too small: symptoms, causes and fixes

The pattern is simple. Tightness means up. Gaps at the ends mean down, or a closer look at the closures.

When the problem is not the size

Before you send a suit back, rule out the things that look like a sizing problem but are not.

You are stung inside the suit, not through it. That is a gap, not a size. Check every zip is fully closed and the storm flap is down; check the veil is zipped all the way round; check the gloves are over the sleeves and pulled up high; check the ankle closures are around your boots, not your socks. For defensive colonies, Texas A&M notes that many beekeepers "use 1-inch tape to cover any accidental openings around zippers," because "honey bees can find and fit through small holes — even some seemingly smaller than their body."

The veil touches your face, but the suit is not tight. Try a cap under the hood. Texas A&M: "Wearing a cap under hooded jackets or suits will keep the front of the suit from touching the face and protect the chin and nose from bee stings."

The ankles gape, but the legs are the right length. The elastic may be worn. Texas A&M suggests leg covers, which are "also a good idea for suits that have lost elasticity around the leg."

It fitted last summer. You may be wearing thicker layers underneath, or the elastic may have aged. Re-run the movement tests in the clothes you wear now.

You lean on the hive. Kneeling on a hard stand or resting your forearm on a box presses even a loose suit against your skin. Change how you stand before you change your suit.

What to do if your bee suit is too small

Go up a size. There is no safe way to make a small suit bigger, and the protection a suit gives you depends on the room inside it.

If you are between sizes, our guide to choosing a bee suit between sizes explains why the larger one is almost always right, and the few times it is not. Our size guide puts the rule in one line: "A suit that is slightly too big still protects you; one that is slightly too small pulls tight across the shoulders — which is exactly where stings get through."

Do not keep a too-small suit for "gentle" colonies. Colonies change mood with the weather, the season and the nectar flow, and the day you need the suit is the day it fails you.

What to do if your bee suit is too big

First, decide whether it is actually too big, or just roomy. A suit that passes every movement test, seals at the wrists and ankles, and does not drag under your heels is the right size, even if it looks generous in the mirror.

If it really is too big:

• Legs a little long? Wear the suit to the hive a few times before you hem it. Extra length often sits exactly right when you crouch.
• Sleeves a little long? Your gloves go over them, so slight extra length is harmless as long as the cuff stays inside the glove.
• Cuffs and ankles will not seal? That is a reason to go down a size, because the seal is what keeps bees out.
• Hood slides over your eyes? A cap underneath often fixes it.

Do not take in the body. The room is the protection.

Jackets, gloves and children's suits

The same logic applies to the rest of your kit, with a few differences worth knowing.

Bee jackets. A jacket has one extra weak point: the hem. Too small, and the jacket rides up when you bend over a hive, opening a gap at your waist above your trousers. Too big, and the hem hangs low and loose, so the elastic does not grip. Bend forward in front of a mirror and look at your back. The hem should stay below your belt. If you keep finding gaps at the waist, a full suit rather than a jacket may be the better answer.

Gloves. Gloves are the one place where a little too small is sometimes the right call, because gloves have to let you work. Texas A&M sums up the trade-off: "tighter-fitting gloves may result in stings on the knuckles, while larger gloves reduce dexterity." Signs gloves are too small: stretched leather over the knuckles when you make a fist, or fingertips that press flat. Signs they are too big: empty fingertips that catch on frames, and fumbling with a hive tool. Whatever the size, wear them over the sleeve; Texas A&M says gloves "should be worn over the bee suit and pulled as far up the arm as possible."

Children's suits. Children grow, so a child's suit drifts from too big to too small faster than an adult's. Check the fit at the start of every season, not once. The signs are the same as for adults, but look hardest at the wrists and ankles: a growing child's sleeves and legs are usually the first places a suit stops covering. We make children's suits in ready-made sizes and made-to-measure.

Too big or too small for your body shape

Sometimes a suit is too big and too small at the same time: tight across the chest but long in the leg, or long enough but loose everywhere. That is not a fault in the suit. It means your proportions sit between two standard sizes in different directions.

When that happens, the safe ready-made choice is still the larger size, because a tight chest and back is the failure you cannot work around. The better answer is a suit cut to you. Our custom-fit bee suit is made to nine measurements, in cotton or ventilated fabric. Our guide to how to measure for a bee suit shows how to take them.

Getting it right next time

Most fit problems trace back to one of three things: measuring bare skin instead of over your usual clothes, standing to attention while being measured, or choosing a suit by the size you wear in shirts. Our guide to how a bee suit should fit shows what a right fit looks like from head to ankle, and the movement tests to run before you take the labels off.

And if you are still choosing between a full suit and a jacket, start with bee suit vs bee jacket.