Greetings
Well, gloves for beekeeping is always worth an hour discussion! When I was
introduced to beekeeping in 1974, I was given a veil, a hive tool, and a
smoker, the keys to the pickup and the owner had over 2000 hives. Gloves,
coveralls, etc., I knew nothing about. Of course, I used to get the whiz
stung out of me, hundreds per day.

Later, moving to California I found out about all that armor that a lot of
people wear. But even in California, I used to work with the basics only: a
veil, a hive tool, and a smoker. Now, when taking off honey or moving bees,
coveralls and gloves are a big plus. But what kind of gloves? Personally, I
have a tote box in which I keep several sets of everything I might remotely
need. Heavy duty bee gloves, duct tape, extra veils, you name it. But for
normal bee work I find that gloves are not necessary and are a hindrance.

The tolerance of stings, however, is a personal thing. If you have a couple
of hives, work only in good weather, and work very carefully, perhaps you
can go bare-handed and not get stung. I usually get stung a lot on the
hands, but accept that as part of the game. But what is a lot? Now, I never
actually counted it, but when I think about it I would guess I would
tolerate being stung about every 5 minutes or so. This is normal casual
stinging from rapidly working hives that are not angry. More often than
this and I put on gloves. Or, if a hive is furious for some reason, gloves
have to go on.

But again, what kind of gloves? About 4 years ago, I was introduced to
latex gloves -- the type they sell for washing dishes. Of course, I buy
them in large lots to bring the price down. These gloves allow you to be
almost as skillful as bare-hands. I have caught queens wearing them. (Not
easy, but possible.) The main drawback is they fill up with sweat when its
hot. I usually wear them for a few days, till they get really grubby, and
throw them out. If you have to pay 2 o3 dollars for them, it is worth
washing them and making them last. Also, very occasionally they rip.

I carry the long sleeved leather bee gloves, but these are only used in an
emergency, like if a hive gets dropped or some other such disaster. I have
also tried high quality leather gloves without sleeves, but the bees really
sting about the wrists with those. Another handy item is Velcro strips --
that is, if you are not wearing a suit with elastic wrists. I sometimes use
these on regular sleeves to keep the bees from crawling in. I don't wear
them around my ankles (some people do). I find that wearing overly long
blue jeans seems to make a good seal around my high topped boots.

A lot of beekeepers have made fun of me for always wearing coveralls, but
face it: beekeeping is a messy job. If the clothes don't get gross from
honey, they end up stained from propolis. I used to have tons of T shirts
with streaks of propolis across the stomach, and jeans with stains all over
the legs. The white suits get stained in about 2 days and from then on they
look pretty bad. Someone should market a tan bee suit.

pb