@dave
I don't know that anyone has ever absolutely determined *why* they don't like leather but they don't. They also don't like sheepskin or black or very dark colors. It's all speculation as to why but the general consensus seems to be that these things remind them of their predators such as black bears, coons, skunks & so forth.
We used bee gloves that are like a thick canvas material & they never got upset.
Working with bees, one is bound to get stung once in a blue moon. It just happens. But for the most part, they really are docile creatures. When we were working them commercially, those bees went through all kinds of stuff, moving the hives, taking the supers of honey off (using an "acid board" on top to drive them down to the brood chamber & loading them on a truck, driving them miles & miles, then moving the supers around in the honey house during the extraction process, pulling frames out & putting them through the uncapping machine, whirling them around with centrical force in big machines.... and through ALL of that, ALL of THAT they were pretty cool about it. Seriously, if someone did that to me, I would be spitting MAD! Or should I say stinging mad. Yes, we got stung sometimes but it's understandable.
They also are highly offended by our breath.
That's why they get so mad when they are buzzing around people & the person starts blowing at them --- wrong move! Then the person wonders why the bee got so PO'd. The bee just thinks we stink.
