Dry leather gloves

[victor meldrew]

A tip from the old bee books was to wash your hands with carbolic soap (still available)
Bees run away from the smell. Carbolic acid soaked cloths were once used to clear bees from supers!
VM

 

[Swarm]

It sounds like the anti leather gloves brigade need to realise that leather gloves are not massive and bulky like welding gauntlets and they are not all stinking, putrid breeding grounds for all sorts of evil.
An association bans their use at association apiary? They can't understand that a leather glove can be covered with a vinyl one? What absolute nonsense.

Skin rot and irritation? No thanks, I'll carry on wearing leather and disposable vinyl.

 

[victor meldrew]

It sounds like the anti leather gloves brigade need to realise that leather gloves are not massive and bulky like welding gauntlets and they are not all stinking, putrid breeding grounds for all sorts of evil.
An association bans their use at association apiary? They can't understand that a leather glove can be covered with a vinyl one? What absolute nonsense.

Skin rot and irritation? No thanks, I'll carry on wearing leather and disposable vinyl.

I didn't realise I was a brigade member. I do realise that beekeeping leather gloves are unlike welding gauntlets ,,never the less they are still clumsy and by definition create a barrier between the hand and the bees!
Add another skin in the form of a pair of vynil gloves and all sense of touch is gone through the window.
Once nervousness is overcome and a karma when beekeeping is developed ,the necessity for archaic leather gloves designed for handling rabid dogs will cease
VM

 

[madasafish]

Go barehanded and learn to live with stings.

As for leather gloves, bears wear them..

 

[Swarm]

Hilarious.

 

[Ely]

Each to their own. Far too much made of spreading pathogens, winding the bees up with clumsiness and sting pheromone. There is nothing more clumsy than a pair of nitriles with flapping fingertips due to sticky propolis. Vinyl gloves worn over leather can be discarded as per nitriles, between hives. Leather gloves should be a size smaller for a tight fit. Biggest virtue of leather gloves is as a sweat sponge. In any other format my hands are in pools of sweat which results in skin irritation.

BTW, neatsfoot should keep them really supple.

I'd have hands like the elephant man if it wasn't for my leather gloves last summer. Angry bees because of the weather. I started 2 years ago with rubber gloves but got stung through them with almost every inspection causing painful swelling. And like you say, the floppy ends of rubber gloves got right on my wick every time they got stuck under a frame or with propolis. I'd love to go bare handed but I ain't 'ard enough. Especially with my bees.

 

[beekim]

cotton gloves inside my rubber gloves extra protection and stops my hands sweating,works for me.

 

[Swarm]

cotton gloves inside my rubber gloves extra protection and stops my hands sweating,works for me.

Already tried that Beekim, not much success. Hands in a mess.
I'm happy with the combination I've been using and, surprisingly, I've managed to avoid spreading disease around my bees. I cannot understand the insistance that they make you clumsy, I can easily feel bees against the frame lugs. As for karma and nervousness .... erm ... they can sting through leather, they can sting through your suit, their mood can also change, so it's quite meaningless and not the reason I wear leather gloves in the first place.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Carbolic acid soaked cloths were once used to clear bees from supers!

I still have a couple of bottles of vintage Calvert's number five.

 

[victor meldrew]

I cannot understand the insistance that they make you clumsy, I can easily feel bees against the frame lugs. As for karma and nervousness .... erm ... they can sting through leather, they can sting through your suit, their mood can also change, so it's quite meaningless and not the reason I wear leather gloves in the first place.

Come on , let common sense over ride bigotry !
No way on gods earth can you pretend you can handle bees clad as you describe with as much finesse as with bare hands or a thin pair of nitrile gloves .
Try using the back of your hand to shift bees in order see into cells properly with a layer of leather and poly between you and them?
like having a s**t with your trousers up !
VM

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I carry a pair of leather gloves in my pocket 'just in case' but usually just take the odd sting or twelve (as in Chris B's apiares last year) as part of beekeeping, but the leather ones are handy if the hive goes absolutely berserk and you need some time to close up and b**ger off! (or when you're trashing around the hive in the Garn cottage apiary)

 

[johnnythefridge]

Surely you can wear what kit you like to inspect your own bees?

 

[victor meldrew]

Nobody has suggested you can't
VM

 

[victor meldrew]

I still have a couple of bottles of vintage Calvert's number five.

That's the one Pete
VM

 

[Drew]

.....like having a s**t with your trousers up !

Errrrrr
warm???

 

[victor meldrew]

Errrrrr
warm???

**** hot even

 

[Swarm]

Come on , let common sense over ride bigotry !
No way on gods earth can you pretend you can handle bees clad as you describe with as much finesse as with bare hands or a thin pair of nitrile gloves .
Try using the back of your hand to shift bees in order see into cells properly with a layer of leather and poly between you and them?
like having a s**t with your trousers up !
VM

Not bigotry, ( that could just as easily be applied to your view of leather gloves ) just something that works for me. Yes I do shift the bees as you describe, I'm sorry you don't believe me.
I've never tried your last suggestion

 

[victor meldrew]

Not bigotry, ( that could just as easily be applied to your view of leather gloves ) just something that works for me. Yes I do shift the bees as you describe, I'm sorry you don't believe me.
I've never tried your last suggestion

Haven't you noticed the ribaldry ?
The topic's exhausted
If you haven'd noticed it maybe that your wearing a leather cap
VM

 

[masterBK]

Is the elephant in the room that some beekeepers are so scared of their bees that they are unable to handle them without leather gloves? Or maybe it is time that these beekeepers selected bees that are less aggressive? Someone gave me some leather beekeeping gloves 30 years ago and my bees have never been so bad that I have ever needed to use them. I am a Marigold beekeeper (yellow ones as pink ones just aren't me!). I find the blue nitriles as used by the Bees officers tear too easily. Bare hands are not an option with an out-apiary as I find I get propolis on the car door handles and steering wheel. Also sweaty hands can upset some bees.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Is the elephant in the room that some beekeepers are so scared of their bees that they are unable to handle them without leather gloves?

No, I don't think so, it's just what some people prefer to use.

It's the same with gardening gloves - some people prefer fabric but I always use leather gloves for gardening, because I'm more comfortable wearing them. It doesn't mean I'm either clumsy or scared of thorns.