As long as we are on the subject of beekeeping gloves, here is my own two cents. I generally don't use gloves, but I keep a set in my bee tool pail, and there are times when using them makes the difference between being able to get a necessary job done and getting chased away by a hyper-defensive colony. I have one such colony just now, and I don't think I could have split it into more workable sections without gloves. True, beekeeping gloves are clumsy, but I don't try anything delicate with them. Also, gloves should be worn when working with Apistan strips. However, if a colony' behavior forces me to use gloves, that colony is marked for requeening. Beekeeping is supposed to be fun, and hyper-defensive colonies are definitely not fun. W. G. Miller Gaithersburg, MD