Post by steveinpa on Apr 17, 2017 22:46:51 GMT
I know that there are a few hardy souls that tend their bees with bare hands. I can honestly say that is not in my plans. But, what gloves to use?
I didn't want to buy the gauntlet leather gloves because I thought they would be too heavy. I had been using dishwashing gloves from the dollar store but they don't last but an inspection or three. I had read a few times about Nitrile Gloves from Harbor Freight but never saw an actual thickness that people were using.
This past weekend I decided to buy the 7mil gloves. I have 5mil for working on my car and figured they would be too light and the 9 mil ones are black so I didn't want to try those and risk provoking the bees even more. At under $10 for 50 I figured it would be worth a try at worst I'd get a few quick stings and I'd close up the hive.
I just finished doing an OTS split on my booming overwintered double nuc that was getting mean. I was getting bombed constantly by angry bees to the point I had trouble seeing the frames at times but the 7mil gloves worked just fine. I could still feel through them but I didn't get a single sting. The experiment was a success!
These are the gloves I used.
I didn't want to buy the gauntlet leather gloves because I thought they would be too heavy. I had been using dishwashing gloves from the dollar store but they don't last but an inspection or three. I had read a few times about Nitrile Gloves from Harbor Freight but never saw an actual thickness that people were using.
This past weekend I decided to buy the 7mil gloves. I have 5mil for working on my car and figured they would be too light and the 9 mil ones are black so I didn't want to try those and risk provoking the bees even more. At under $10 for 50 I figured it would be worth a try at worst I'd get a few quick stings and I'd close up the hive.
I just finished doing an OTS split on my booming overwintered double nuc that was getting mean. I was getting bombed constantly by angry bees to the point I had trouble seeing the frames at times but the 7mil gloves worked just fine. I could still feel through them but I didn't get a single sting. The experiment was a success!
These are the gloves I used.