As your delicacy and confidence of movement improve, stings to your fingers will reduce.
It helps to scan fingers quickly just as you pick up; left-right becomes second nature.
Gloves are not there to prevent stings but to keep your hands free of propolis and prevent transfer of bacteria and spores between colonies (hope you have a bucket of washing soda to clean hive tool and gloves between colonies).
If smoother operation fails to reduce stings, ask an experienced beekeeper to assess colony temper. Do not put up with defensive bees, but re-queen.
We all get stung occasionally but your lack of experience will increase your chances.
I agree with the comments which Eric has made.
I remember that when I first started to keep bees I wanted to avoid being stung. To a certain degree I have been successful in this endeavour. I have found on some occasions that the bees have been placid, but on others they were ready for “combat”.
At first I used leather welding-gloves which were virtually impenetrable to bee stings. The problem was that they reduced my sense of touch and delicate movement, and they were not 100% sting proof. On one occasion the bees made those gloves the target of a determined attack, with very many bees stinging my gloves. I formed the impression that they did not like leather, or perhaps they did not like that particular type of leather.
I agree that nitrile gloves can give a much greater sense of sensitivity of touch, and help to keep hands and fingers free of propolis, etc, as well as providing a degree of sting-resistance.
I visited a glove supplier some time ago to check out what options were available, and bought packs of two different types - thick knitted cotton gloves which are maybe 2mm thick, and black nitrile gloves. I have worn two gloves on each hand – first a cotton glove, and then a nitrile glove over the cotton glove. I have formed the impression that the black colour is not a problem, but I certainly believe that the thickness of the cotton gloves gives an additional layer of protection. Any stings which may penetrate a nitrile glove would need to reach through the layer of the cotton glove before they could reach my fingers or hand.
This combination of gloves has still enabled me to have a good sense of touch. I would however have been very happy to have bought nitrile gloves with longer wrist covering, if they would have been available.
