Apiary Near Pylons?

[hallshoney]

i was abbreviating 66000v and 132000 volts. It would depend on who owned the pylons to what voltages they would be opperated at. If they were your local distribution company they could be upto132000v if nationgrid they would between 132000v and 400000v

 

[peteinwilts]

I'm not convinced it does the individual bees, or any other creature, long-term damage but as the bee colony is a super-organism which relies on the mood and co-ordination of its members, it may well be 'naused up' to use a technical term by that sort of electrical field.

FG

i have bees about 50m away from PROPER pylons. can't notice much of a difference except they are the most productive of apiarys.... the forage is probably a little better nearby which may explain productivity, but mood... no issues.

not exactly creaytures, but the plants are noticably different. blackberrys are over sooner with the majority very small or deformed. Other pants have smaller leaves

if the pylons crossed one hedgerow, it could be just the lay of the land, but as the pylons cross 8 hedgerows on the farm varying in topolologys, all have plants in this condition.

 

[Peaches]

MathJ,

I am new to the UK forum, but I will answer your question. It usually takes 21 days +- for the bees to forget their old home place. Sort of like if you move to another home, for a while you will try to return to you old house automatically. After the 3 weeks or so, you can then move your bees to any location and the bees will do another orientation flight to learn their new location. Since bees can fly up to about 3 miles, you need to move them at least that far to be outside their normal flight area so they will not recognize any landmarks. Hope this helps you a little.

 

[Into the lions den]

Cannot believe ths old chestnut has come up yet again.

Its complete drivel. The bees are perfectly happy beside power lines, even right under them. Must someday take a pic of my bees at a fruit farm near here................full apiary right in the base of a huge pylon. Had it for many years.

No ill temper
No wierd comb building
No navigation problems

Just nothing odd at all.

 

[gavin]

Except that when you walk past the electrostatically charged bees zip towards you and stick to your clothing as if they were polystyrene fragments on a dry day .....

 

[Hivemaker.]

Except that when you walk past the electrostatically charged bees zip towards you and stick to your clothing as if they were polystyrene fragments on a dry day .....

Also depends if the hives are warm way or cold way,top bee space or bottom bee space...and if the electricity being carried in the pylon wires is from hydro electric or radio active electric from a nuclear power station.

 

[Travelator]

High voltage cables (as seen on pylons) are probably much less of a problem than lower voltage ones (as seen on poles).

Two reasons:
- Pylon cables are a long way up (inverse square law)
- High voltage means low current, which means less magnetic field. That's why the distribution companies use high voltages in the first place - to stop their valuable energy leaking into beehives, etc.

 

[Into the lions den]

Also depends if the hives are warm way or cold way,top bee space or bottom bee space...and if the electricity being carried in the pylon wires is from hydro electric or radio active electric from a nuclear power station.

Tut tut. I suspect both you and Gavin are not taking this major topic seriously!

Its the ferrous metal nails in the frames and boxes that are the culprit as their presence warps the magnetic field and causes temporal disturbance to the local mesh of leylines. The metaphysical complications are a real unknown and it is utterly essential that both powerlines and frame and box nails are immediately banned until conclusive reseach is carried out.

Probable exceptions to this, where beekeeping can be carried out in safety, would be to used glued only tbh's on St. Kilda and Rockall. And please, if keeping bees in these places, remember only to use LOCALLY sourced stock.

 

[gavin]

not exactly creaytures, but the plants are noticably different. blackberrys are over sooner with the majority very small or deformed. Other pants have smaller leaves

if the pylons crossed one hedgerow, it could be just the lay of the land, but as the pylons cross 8 hedgerows on the farm varying in topolologys, all have plants in this condition.

Silly mode <OFF>

Really interesting observations, thanks Pete. I'll keep a look-out myself.

 

[Teemore]

Its the ferrous metal nails in the frames and boxes that are the culprit as their presence warps the magnetic field and causes temporal disturbance

At last, the true reason for CCD - the bees are going back in time!

and yes - i am being silly!

 

[Travelator]

The only way to be properly sure whether pylons affect honey bee behaviour is to do a proper double-blind test. Set up a statistically significant number of colonies underneath various pylons and controls away from the pylons.

Then ...er... persuade the national grid to switch off the power on some of the lines for a few months, without anyone in the area noticing...

 

[steve1958]

I have Bees near Pylons as well as on 3 other sites.
Last year it was the 'Pylon Bees' that brought in the most honey

 

[Travelator]

Perhaps there's a business opportunity selling mini-pylons to wealthy beekeepers. Place them over your hives and enjoy an improved honey harvest.

 

[RoseCottage]

I am sick to death of people complaining to me that somehow my bees are different and our family behaviour has been in some way affected by living under a pylon. Someone said that our bees were slightly larger than average, but we cannot see it ourselves.

One and all please take note whilst I once again present the evidence that our bees attitude is just like your bees attitude:

Completely docile, none of our bees appear to get easily upset.

As for those malicious neighbours who say that they have observed subtle changes in our behaviour since living near pylons I say again look at the evidence:

and yes we do like sculpture...

Surely based on this clear evidence you can now all see that nothing is different just because we live under a pylon.

Please note no adult of any species was harmed in the taking of these non-photoshopped evidential pictures!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Into the lions den]

When was it you moved away from Sellafield?

 

[MuswellMetro]

When was it you moved away from Sellafield?

 

[Erichalfbee]

MathJ,

It usually takes 21 days +- for the bees to forget their old home place. Sort of like if you move to another home, for a while you will try to return to you old house automatically.Since bees can fly up to about 3 miles, you need to move them at least that far to be outside their normal flight area so they will not recognize any landmarks. Hope this helps you a little.

The bees won't recognise any landmarks after three weeks as they won't have been out of the hive before.
Surely the three week rule is to ensure that any foragers flying on day one are dead by day 21.

 

[DanBee]

One more voice of experience to say "It's bollocks."

We kept colonies on this site throughout the 1980's; apiary in the red area before the carpark was there, a nicely hedged and fenced area with locked gates.

Good little site, secure but accessible, good forage. Interesting local features are the main Paddington - Penzance railway line to the north, and the sub-station for the adjacent light industrial estate to the south. Google streetview just shows anaemic "Caution - danger of death" signs now, but I remember signs warning of circa 450,000V which were much more impressive.

So the bees were between the regular ground vibration of the railway line and the constant hum of the sub station. Both were said to be terrible for bees; in truth the colonies there were no better or worse than any others for health, temperament, or crops. Approx. 12 colonies out of 120 total for about a decade.

 

[Worldsend]

Ive seen a photo on this website last year Imthink from a beekeeper who works at a substation in Wales and keeps his bees at work!

 

[REDWOOD]

This was a beekeeper I once knew that kept bees under power lines