If that bothers you, get out now. Honey bees DIE when they sting, leaving the stinger in YOU.
Hence, honey bees are NOT aggressive, but only sting in protection of their hive, exactly as you protect YOUR home. Honey bees are only DEFENSIVE!
A sting in the face, particularly around the eyes, ears, and nose is not only painful, but normally your entire face will badly swell, if you do not normally get very many stings than tend to immunize you against bad swelling.
JL – Bees in Fiji tend to be very aggressive. Beekeepers in Fiji are encouraged to wear a full bee-suit. A ventilated bee-suit is best as it gets hot in the tropics.
However, I STRONGLY encourage you to FORGET WEARING GLOVES. You can’t thread a sewing needle or squeeze a blackhead off your nose while wearing gloves; nor can you handle frames of bees or pick up the queen while wearing gloves.
JL – Big, bulky gloves are discouraged in Fiji and elsewhere as they tend to make you clumsy and cause you to squish bees while handling frames. Surgical gloves are a good alternative to bare hands.
You will still get some stings but not many and you retain the control that bare hands give you.
But go ahead and were gloves when harvesting…
JL – John Lewis