Allotment - No Bees Allowed

[XYZ]

Hi all,

Just wondering how many members have found allotments refused for beekeeping purposes for health and safety reasons.

I applied back in May and had to keep pestering them until finally last week I received an email to say it was decided beekeeping on allotments was not allowed due to health and safety issues.

This was all back when I set them up in my garden and was concerned it was too close to home. The allotment was going to be my main apiary. As it turns out, my garden apiary has been just fine and I'm not massively fussed about not getting the allotment.

I won't be pursuing it any further, I'm just curious to know how many members have come across this before, and if anyone managed to convince them otherwise?

 

[enrico]

I can totally understand their feelings!
E

 

[pargyle]

It very much depends on the Allotment Site Manager and the rules of the local council (if it's a council allotment site). Our local council permits up to two full hives or a full hive and 2 Nucs but they have a five page book of 'conditions' which include everything from screening around the hives to insurance to having to have the BBKA Basic under your belt. They require the other allotment holders to be consulted and if any plot holder objects then it's a no go. We have a couple of members in our Association who have managed to get hives sited on an allotment. I was asked by the committee on another allotment site to put some hives on the plot and whilst the committee were all for it the Site Manager was clearly very anti and has dragged her heels, put obstacles in the way and by the time I'd finished jumping through her hoops I's come to the conclusion that, if it was this difficult before I put any colonies there it was going to be even worse if I ever managed to put some there. Spent hours in the planning and admin .. total waste of time. There's easier places to site bee hives.

 

[XYZ]

That last sentence is exactly the conclusion I came to Pargyle. I live in a fairly rural area and there are plenty of farms around, I'm not desperate for another site.

 

[drex]

I kept my bees on bottom of council allotment plot for years, with the blessing of the town clerk and other plot holders. Then a new clerk took over and issued an edict that all livestock had to go. I appealed and got nowhere. The plot is a funny shape so I asked the council for a site map. By chance, the bees are on land outside the official boundary. Two polite fingers held up to town clerk. The farmer whose land it is does not mind at all.

 

[Swarm]

A site with a friendly, helpful landlord is the way to go.

 

[Poly Hive]

Drifting slightly off course it is sensible regardless of where your bees are to have a spare site under your hat. I am actively looking for site "B".

My current site is on a farm and the farmer is very supportive so all's well there.

I found that having bees in the garden really was literally unworkable as every bonny day when I went to do something with the colonies the neighbour was out in his garden too so no go. I moved everything out to the field.

I am (for convenience) looking for the other site over three miles away to make life simpler.

Being honest I have never understood the desire to put bees in with other people. It's not the best of plans as inevitably someone will say they have been stung whether its true or not and whether it's a desire to stir trouble or an accident. It's certainly not a site I would be looking for myself. Bees are nice and simple people, on the other hand, can be very odd indeed.

PH

 

[madasafish]

One of our Association members put a hive with bees on an allotment in May 2019. And did not inspect or visit for three months.. They swarmed, became Q- and died..

With behaviour like that....

 

[Hachi]

I was offered but when I seen all the paperwork, risk register, plans etc I gave up. I wasn't keen in the first place and like it or not you are in close proximity to a lot of people some of which, wont care for them being there. Some guy did it and left them to swarm....end point, they're still talking about it now....

Best out of it in my opinion.

 

[Popparand]

One of our Association members put a hive with bees on an allotment in May 2019. And did not inspect or visit for three months.. They swarmed, became Q- and died..

With behaviour like that....

Not allowed on our allotment and a good thing too. Some bright spark always has the idea how nice it would be to have bees and it don't work out well either for the bees or the people.

 

[For want of a better word]

Drifting slightly off course it is sensible regardless of where your bees are to have a spare site under your hat. I am actively looking for site "B".

My current site is on a farm and the farmer is very supportive so all's well there.

I found that having bees in the garden really was literally unworkable as every bonny day when I went to do something with the colonies the neighbour was out in his garden too so no go. I moved everything out to the field.

I am (for convenience) looking for the other site over three miles away to make life simpler.

Being honest I have never understood the desire to put bees in with other people. It's not the best of plans as inevitably someone will say they have been stung whether its true or not and whether it's a desire to stir trouble or an accident. It's certainly not a site I would be looking for myself. Bees are nice and simple people, on the other hand, can be very odd indeed.

PH

Rule of thumb is never to site bees anywhere in sight of a house.... or anywhere that you could by chance meet another person.

Cemeteries are even worse..... I know of at least one beekeeper who had to move his bees during the burial season!

 

[drex]

My fellow allotmenteers were all for it and still are. Forethought and careful planning and consideration are essential. There is a belt of trees between my bees and the rest of the site.

 

[XYZ]

My garden apiary is fine. Neighbours on both sides are more than happy with it and have had no issues so far. We cut the grass near them, as do our neighbours - no issues.

So there are arguments for not having bees on allotments if you don't plan on looking after them. What if you're proactive and you have an end plot next to someone who loves bees?

My association apiary is 4 miles away from my garden apiary so I've got it pretty good if I need to take the bees away for "behavioral adjustments"

 

[Newbeeneil]

Rule of thumb is never to site bees anywhere in sight of a house.... or anywhere that you could by chance meet another person.

Cemeteries are even worse..... I know of at least one beekeeper who had to move his bees during the burial season!

Burial season? I suppose winter with all the flu about?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Cemeteries are even worse..... I know of at least one beekeeper who had to move his bees during the burial season!

Didn't realise there was a season for burial, around here we bury our dead within a few days of them breathing their last - regardless of the time of year.
It can get a bit whiffy otherwise, especially in the summer.

 

[For want of a better word]

Burial season? I suppose winter with all the flu about?

My uncle was a grave digger, and up until the time that small mechanical diggers were available, he said that they had to wait until the ground warmed up enough to get a spade into it.... back then they used to embalm the corpses.

 

[Poly Hive]

Err they still embalm if you agree to it.

Just as well if you remember the strike and the three week backlog.....

PH

 

[For want of a better word]

Err they still embalm if you agree to it.

Just as well if you remember the strike and the three week backlog.....

PH

I'm not quite ready for embalming yet.... too much to learn about keeping bees!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

back then they used to embalm the corpses.

Only the rich would do that
Never been a thing around here
Even now there's only one embalmer in the whole of West Wales - Dorian Death, who funnily enough is a fellow bee farmer

 

[bingevader]

Didn't realise there was a season for burial, around here we bury our dead within a few days of them breathing their last - regardless of the time of year.
It can get a bit whiffy otherwise, especially in the summer.

I wish it was the same here! 3 weeks is more like it. We were fine, church was fine, cemetery was fine. There just don't seem to be enough undertakers!

On the allotment front though, if anyone was remotely against it, I'm not sure it would be worth the bother. There have been reports on here of vandalism and suspected sabotage.