Did you know we keep bees here at Green Eggs & Goats? Honestly, I don’t post about them very often because I’m such a novice. Usually I feel like I have nothing but bad advice to give, but this frugal beekeeping tip is different! (Mainly because it doesn’t involve actually caring for bees!)
When we purchased our Langstroth hives and bee jackets, we went with the recommendation of the “guru” and bought (from him, of course) beekeeping gloves as part of our outfits.
When we began using the gloves, Eric and I both found them to be ill-fitting and bulky, despite mine being special-ordered size smalls for my freakishly small hands. We hated the gloves so much we opened the hives several times with no gloves at all.
Eventually I stumbled across such a simple, frugal solution on a beekeeping forum, that I had to share it!
For about a year now, Eric and I have bee using nitrile exam gloves *affiliate* instead of beekeeping gloves.
They fit better (he gets larges, I get smalls) they are disposable, inexpensive, and not bulky! This is the kicker, though. Because they are made to be used in the medical field, they are puncture resistant. In other words, if it protects you from being stabbed by a dropped syringe, it can also protect you from a bee sting!
We always keep a few extra pairs in our pockets when we go out to work the hives so we can change them if we get too sticky or sweaty. I just love this simple, frugal beekeeping solution!
So, the moral of the story is, save your money and buy exam gloves instead. (We get our’s at Sam’s Club.) I’m sure you’ll find a million other uses for them once you have a box or two lying around.
Just for fun, here are some other ways I use exam gloves:
- icky parts of chicken processing
- coloring my fuschia hair streak
- pulling BBQ pork
- demonstrate milking without getting kicked
- balloon fun for the kids
- handling super-spicy peppers (have you ever rubbed your eyes afterwards? YOWSERS!)
The list goes on and on. Really, I use exam gloves all the time, but beekeeping with them is probably my favorite. Now to improve my skills when it comes to actually caring for the bees…
So, let’s discuss. Do you keep bees? Do you have any frugal beekeeping tips to share with me?
If you enjoyed this post, you might also like my “Beekeeping” Pinterest Board!
***This post may contain affiliate links. That means that a small percentage of the purchase price of items bought through my links goes toward keeping this blog up and running and food in Beulah’s bowl, so thanks!***
Our neighbor always used these too (he’s a Master Beekeeper) and we used them in the beginning as well … however I think we went too frugal and got the cheap dollar store ones. I never thought about the medical ones being puncture resistant. I had a bad reaction when I got stung in the hand one time, so we have been using the bulky other ones – but they are much harder to use for sure! I’ll have to look for a some of these soon.
Hand bee stings are the WORST! You can probably find medical ones in smaller packs than I buy to try them out. If your reaction was really bad though (dangerous) I understand not wanting to chance it!
The nitrile exam gloves are puncture RESISTANT not puncture proof. I am a place bird generation beekeeper and a nurse for the past 25 years. I also use them when working ng my bees or go barehanded. My tip for everyone is to scratch the stinger out as soon as you possibly can. As long as the stinger remains embedded in the skin it continues to pump venom. With the stinger continuing to pump venom the more the affected area will swell. When the stinger is removed from the skin quickly there is not such a large dose of venom injected and edema is not as severe. I have also found that when I tend my hives gloveless and get stung my arthritis doesn’t bother me as much.
Oh my!! Yeah that whole puncture resistant for those gloves… having been a nurse for 24 years… we were always trained to let a falling needle….. well fall. So for safety sake I wouldn’t put allot of ……well I just wouldn’t… well what I’m trying to say you can still punctured wearing those gloves. There I said it. Now. They do look like they would be a better option than those bulky goat skin gloves I see beekeepers wearing. That is a great tip. I really hate being negative. It is something I have struggled with all my life. I really love your stories.
Monte, You’re not a downer for enlightening/warning others. Those are puncture resistant NOT puncture PROOF.
Agreed Ma Kettle! 🙂
Monte, Speak your mind friend! I appreciate your opinion as a nurse and you are always welcome to express an opinion here (politely, and of course, yours was) I will certainly not say that you can’t get stung with these on, it just reduces the chances to a level I’m comfortable with. 🙂
You are right. They actually can sting through the jacket are goatskin gloves if they are determined. I use the 5 mil vinyl from Harbor freight 100 for $5. I use white. My bees don’t like dark colors. They are great because you can change between hives and not cross contaminate if you are dealing with sic bees. Also keeps all that sticky propolis off your hands.
Have you seen a bee try to sting and fail?
I can’t say I’ve seen one bounce off or anything, but they have come at our hands aggressively for sure and haven’t stung us. My hands seem to be a favorite place for them to sting me when I’m not wearing a bee suit and minding my own business, so I would say they work. (P.S. Bee stings on the hands are AWFUL!)
I started with the heavy gloves also, but I was told about the medical gloves and changed to them. I love working the hives with them. I only used the heavy ones about 3 or 4 times and changed to the lite ones. Only 1 sting the all of the beekeeping season.
Pingback: Top Simple Living Posts of 2014 | Green Eggs & Goats - Green Eggs & Goats
It took about five years for me to adapt to bare-handed beekeeping. If there’s no choice but to open the boxes when weather is bad or it’s getting dark, I’ll be ready to put on gloves. I figure the propolis and wax is a good skin treatment. The bees give instant feedback as to how they think I’m doing with them. I do always wear a veil.
Instant feedback! I love it! I’ll try to look at it that way next time one decides to “play tag!” 🙂
I know beekeepers that do this and what I know from personal experience that one handy thing about them is if you do get stung through the glove, you instantly can pull on the rubber to pull the stinger out, as the sac obviously won’t go through, thus stopping the flow of venom quickly. I have been stung through them and I get increasingly worse reactions to bee stings so I have to stick to the leather gloves. I also have to go through 12 hives in one go when I check up on them and that haste means more agitated bees. I’m in awe of barehanded beekeepers, but I can’t. Another thing I’ve noticed is that some people seem to really bother the bees, and others don’t. Bees don’t like me. I get stung a lot. My husband, when he beekeeps with me, has no problem, and has never been stung in our 6 years. I swear it’s a smell thing. And we are doing the same things in the hives.
That’s a great point about the venom that I hadn’t thought of! Thanks for sharing! I totally agree that some people are more attractive to bees than others. I tend to get stung a lot, when I’m not working the bees, but not much when I am. It’s very strange!
I wonder if taking vit b would help. Up here in northern BC the mosquitoes can get really bad in the bush, Some people have started with the vit B and it helps.
Just to clarify, you must feel well protected in these? How much would you say you get stung through them? Perhaps I should revisit them for when I’m beekeeping in ideal situations and not too late in the day, the rain, or on a cold day in winter.
Neither my husband, nor I have ever been stung through the gloves. 🙂 We have had them break on occasion if they get snagged, so we keep extras in our pockets just in case we need them.
I have been using the nitrile gloves with my hives for a few years.
While the bees can sting through them if they push hard enough, the texture seems to be so different than “mammal ” skin that they rarely try. Most stings I have taken through the nitrile gloves were when I trapped one inadvertently against something.
When you get stung pick a leaf of plantain, give it a quick chew and apply to the sting. It stops the pain and swelling for me and let’s face it, free and effective is frugality at it’s best! Plantain is a common herb you have probably seen and ignored all of your life because it is considered a weed.
In my youth a beekeeper advised me to put some vinegar on my hands. It worked, no stings. A drop or two on the rubber glove perhaps? The old belt and braces principle.
We rub our hands with a drop of cooked linseedoil. It really is a matter of smell. Thats why the gloves help. Washing your hands and rinsing really well is also helpfull. I did get stung in the hands 3 times this year, always after not washing and no linseedoil.
Hi…..found you on Pinterest…love the blog and all of in-common loves.
I’m a born and raised Alabama girl living in Tennessee !! ( not by choice but love it)
I also have cousins by the name of Jackson…who knows??
I also live on and work a small farm.
So delighted to meet you and thanks for pinning from my boards.