Why dont beekeepers wear gloves

As I've only recently returned to beekeeping I'm making sure I use gloves at all times when handling my bees. I use marigolds and I've removed the finger tips from the gloves as I find that the gloves stick to the propolis on the frames which causes a lot of jarring which agitates the bees. The few beekeepers I know in the area all wear full bee suits but no gloves as the find them a hindrance, they keep them for when dealing with bad tempered hives/swarms only.

Get bees that you can handle without gloves. I haven't worn mine once this season.

I use latex gloves, if they get too sticky or I move to another hive I use another pair.

Use Latex/Nitrile gloves to keep my hands free of propolis as much as anything. There's no protection per se but I find that my bees are a lot better tempered since I switched as I don't crush as many. Had one sting across 20+ different colonies (3 of my own plus a few others I've been through) so far this season.

I do find the heat can be a problem somtimes, it seems to annoy the bees to have sweat drip from my nose into the top of the brood chamber when I'm picking out another frame to inspect! As I'm still new to beekeeping I love having the propolis on my fingers purely because of the smell of the stuff so I think I may switch to no gloves at all, might help to keep me cooler.

As a newbie, I started with latex,then nitrile gloves. Now nothing. Two stings on hands so far: both my carelessness. I have a pair of thick gloves inside closed (taped) pocket in my bee jacket in case of emergencies. Not used so far Also antihistamnine tablets and handwipes ditto...

i have always used leather gloves but tried rubber gloves for the first time this weekend - wilkinsons heavy duty washing up gloves - very good. Much better to handle the frames with etc. One or two bees tried to sting but they didnt let any through.

Ensuring sympathetic handling is (or should be) the aim of all of us, my only concern about the theme of this thread (i.e. minimum / no hand protection) is the 'un-expected'. We might understand the rules but you can't ensure the bees do. See a previous threads with regard multiple sting reactions and a previous thread where a (subsequently identified as queenless) hive on rape attacked me when I hadn't opened or manipulated their hive at all. There we hundreds of stings on gloves and fore arms and a few got through. By the time you had registered the situation and put your thicker protective gloves on it would have been too late to protect you. There are times when you are planning to handle the queen or similar where 'feel' is essential, there are other times where maintaining protection should be the norm. I think having gloves that are both effective at protection and fit properly is important. How many times have you seen people in gloves that are wrong for them with spare leather hanging off the end of their fingers to get stuck under frames.

I would love to be able to use no gloves but with mine it's not possible. Inspected today with marigolds over nitrile (stings don't get through) so they stung me on the arm and on the back through the bee suit - serves me right for only wearing a short-sleeved shirt under. This particular hive is awaiting a virgin to mate but it's always been bad tempered and I can't wait to see if the new queen produces gentler bees.

Any thread that promotes minimum / no hand protection / non-suit wearing / naked bee-keeping needs taking outside, lining up against the wall and shooting dead.

Although i'm new i wear everything. As i use to work in glass houses in heat of upto 100F dressed in full white suit and wearing gloves , the heat when inspecting bees does not bother me at all. Maybe as i get more experience i will take the odd layer off, we'll see lol

Well I know it's not my gloves when they start pinging the veil as I walk up to the hive. As I said, they swarmed so I await the new queen (assuming she mates).

When I started last year I wore yellow kitchen rubber gloves, but one of my mentors wore none. He never got stung on the hands, so I started leaving my cloves in my box. At first i was nervous, but it makes you look very carefully at where you put you're fingers. I have not been stung and my confidence has grown. I still carry my cloves but have only used them for cutting out comb from a chimney and a swarm collection when I had to put my hands into and around the cluster.
Steve.

Last edited: May 22, 2012

Specifically about Cloves EDITED/DELETED Thought I'd piggyback my Oil of Cloves question onto a thread where it had been touched upon. But actually, I now think it was just a typo for 'gloves'.

Nitrile gloves here but if I stretch they expose my wrists, Id say they are longish cuffs but maybe someone knows of better one's?

We had a chap (beekeeper) die in plymouth last year (perhaps year before) it was reported that he had taken 30 stings. I use full protection all the time! I cant use leather but do go for heavy duty washing up gloves, i have considerd taping them to my suit as they keep riding up. Even when realy hot i keep long sleved clothes under suit and just sweat. many of the experanced guys at the assoiciation go in bare handed but i think its just that they are REALY experanced and although i would wish to emulate them i am not realy experanced and should stay on the side of caution. I hate wearing a veil as i cant seem to see stuff right but i wouldnt dream of going in without one.

There's so much propolis on my gloves, the bees can't sting through it

I use SHONA gardening gloves. They have rubberised palms and underside of fingers but are still thin/soft enough to feel what you are doing, but makes me feel safe. The backs are soft fabric, like socks, which I guess would not offer much protection if a bee were determined to get me! The ones I use are light blue and I have never had a sting through them yet (that's cursed it!) but you can get them in a whole range of colours, I also have pink as a spare pair.
My Dad was more of a "naked" beek, he never wore gloves that I remember, and often just had a lighted fag in his mouth instead of a smoker or veil!!!!!

This guy should wear gloves:

Up until 10 years or so ago I was much less careful than I am now. A queenless hive taught me a painful lesson. Then I had a worrying experience with a non bee related allergic reaction which hospitalised me for a few days. Took me a month to be able to return to work and I still looked and felt awful when I went back. This put me off taking any risk of any allergic reactions to anything. Nowadays I take PPE VERY seriously. No gloves is a no no.

I've always worn gloves and after last year, I will continue to wear leather gauntlets. Last year, I was going through the hives when I got stung on the back of the hand between the thumb and forefinger. I managed to pull the sting out and then went to work. One hour later, with pain mounting, I decided to go to the pharmacy. By this time my hand and forearm had swollen right up and the pharmacist gave me an antihistamine and told me that if the pain did not ease then I should go and see my doctors. Well, that day the pain eased a little and to cut a long story short, I had an ECG and blood tests...a few days later and the pain had gone. I have been stung this year and so far so good...so maybe last year was just a one off, who knows. Anyway, I will be using gloves again this year.

Just watched that You Tube video

Gloves and no gloves, who cares? What ever you feel comfortable with.

There is no such thing as a bee whisperer...it always comes down to the bees themselves. Personally have tried with and without and now simply don't need to go without. For the operations such as queen marking it is still possible to do this in gloves while pinning her on a comb. You just cannot trust your bees that much unless you can be sure of their circumstances, breeding attributes, etc. We have had some very gentle bees but they seem such a distant memory and to be honest we don't keep bees to increase our risks just for a little honey, All the best,

Gloves or no gloves, it's a good idea to take off rings before handling bees, because stung fingers can swell quite a lot.

I beekeep without gloves - unless the bees are very bad tempered . In those cases I wear marigolds. Nitrile for handling fondant.

I swell far too much when stung so don't take any chances. Big thick latex gloves for me every time I touch the hive. Not accidentally squashed a bee yet but still get stung on the fingers from time to time although the sting doesn't penetrate

I have a colleague who has just started a beekeeping course and the teacher advocates that they don't wear gloves. I really don't get this. I work with gloves and in the 3 years since I have been a beek I have been stung 3 times through the gloves. I know that it would have been many more if I worked without.

no gloves ... except for hive hygene reasons and SWMBO says ... no rings, its no fun having them cut off... we have had bees sting through motorbike gloves so we have given up on gloves and leave them alone when they dont want to play.. but then our bees will put with alot providing we dont muck them about... i.e. :

I swell when stung so take 8 hour Benadryl tablets when at risk of being stung. And pull the stings out asap which makes a real difference.

I wear gloves when necessary usually when working on colonies that use propolis to the extreme !

when i nitrate gloves at work and they last about 10 seconds so leather I have no probs with, I can do all beekeeping manipulations with them except marking queen that i do when the hive is calm

I didn't use gloves a few days ago and my wife complained about the state of my sticky fingers. So back to the nitrile ones. I'd only use leather if I had to deal with some suicidal nutters.

Many of ours are quite keen on the propolis. I don't select against it as it has useful properties (and we have never had any chalkbrood...so who knows...). So it's thin nitriles for everything except really arsey colonies when the weather's bad etc and something has to be done when I have been known to wear the blue plastochrome gloves with the attached gauntlets: too thick for any finesse though so don't like them.

As far as stings go, I averaged 40 odd per year in my first two years and now in year 3 I am at 27 so about normal I guess.

Not had too many stings. I must be naturally slow moving. (Hope I didn't jinx myself now saying that). I wear marigolds and they can sting through them but it must be more difficult to do. Today I found that marigolds make it easier to get the stings out. Just pull away from the hand.

I've started using the thin nitrile ones once I know the hive, but the thick ones come out for the unknowns.

Wouldn't dream of opening any of my hives without full suit, marigolds and a lit smoker just in case.

I have to agree with the full protection brigade. Plan for the unexpected. Even if its baking hot I still wear full suit, wellies and the sting proof thick blue gloves. Who knows when you might drop your hive tool or sneeze or a frame sticks to the CB or QE and jarrs upsetting the little ladies. And once one bee is upset then the others usually start fussing too As a newbee I didn't realise that bees could be that nasty until I had a fiesty hive of my own to deal with - they can.

Frankly I keep bees for an enjoyable hobby. Having to dress up in clothes which make me look a bigger ***** than I already am, with full gloves which render me incapable of any sensitivity at all and with wellies on a hot day is NOT my idea of fun.