Apiary with 240v overhead power line

[Grant R]

Hello All,

I am after some real world advice on positioning hives within an Apiary that has an over head power line. The power line is a standard village type cable that supplies houses with 240v and is insulated in plastic. A single cable spanning from pole to pole.

As you can see from the attached photos this crosses my planned apiary. I did a bit of google research but articles that I have read contradict each other and often are in relation to USA high voltage power lines/cleared strips.

I am after real life experience and UK based if possible. Leading to my post here.

Is there anyone who has also been in this position and noticed any impact on the bees when a hive is placed with a certain direction or proximity to the cable?

Thank you for reading this and responses.

 

[The Poot]

My hives have a similar cable directly overhead and two more adjacent to them and they have absolutely no effect upon the colonies. The only problem I’ve encountered is pigeons sit on the wire and poo on the hives!

 

[Swarm]

I can't speak from experience but I wouldn't be concerned.

 

[Erichalfbee]

There is a post on Lampeter Beeks Facebook page how Shungite protects bees from EMR.
Just scatter some of the crystals around and you’re sorted.

 

[Sutty]

There is a post on Lampeter Beeks Facebook page how Shungite protects bees from EMR.
Just scatter some of the crystals around and you’re sorted.

Strange that "Shungite" an anagram of "Gnu *****" - probably just as effective & required!

 

[blackcloud]

Don't mention ley lines or James will be chewing the upholstery,but.....
Without realising it I placed the majority of my bait hives along a similar feature and they get hit more than the ones away from it.

As a pup I had a summer job with a farming contractor and one job was silaging the hills around Cheltenham racecourse.
As you passed under the big Grid pylons you could feel your hair follicles stand on end.

Checked the grandchildren for webbed toes but not sure it could all be attributed to voltage.

 

[Ian123]

Seriously don’t worry about it I had some not quite under those bloody great pylons and they thrived!
Forget the conspiracy theories and nut jobs just get on with it!!!!!!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Power lines won't have any effect at all on the bees, in fact Murray Mcgregor reckons one of the best apiaries he has is sited between the feet of an electricity pylon

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Hello All,

I am after some real world advice on positioning hives within an Apiary that has an over head power line. The power line is a standard village type cable that supplies houses with 240v and is insulated in plastic. A single cable spanning from pole to pole.

As you can see from the attached photos this crosses my planned apiary. I did a bit of google research but articles that I have read contradict each other and often are in relation to USA high voltage power lines/cleared strips.

I am after real life experience and UK based if possible. Leading to my post here.

Is there anyone who has also been in this position and noticed any impact on the bees when a hive is placed with a certain direction or proximity to the cable?

Thank you for reading this and responses.

View attachment 37279View attachment 37280

Just issue tinfoil helmets to each bee and it'll be fine. There might even be a grant scheme available if you ask at the green party office.

 

[Sutty]

I very much doubt you will have any problems.
Bees are known to be sensitive to electric fields, so positioning them under high voltage (33kv) lines may have effects, but I'd be amazed if 240v bothered them, or we would already be aware of it

 

[ericbeaumont]

some not quite under those bloody great pylons

Me too, and it had no effect. I was told that the power (of whatever it is that causes electrical trouble to animals) drops exponentially from point of emission, so by the time it reaches the ground the effect is not worth the worry.

Or, as an experienced beekeeper said at the time, when asked to assess the site: try it and see.

 

[pargyle]

My blokes were working on the roof of a Sainsbury store in Crayford, (it's still there) the site was immediately below some high voltage power lines between pylons (they are still there). We were using hydraulic cherry pickers and I was really concerned at the prospect of accidentally getting even near to the power lines with the kit we had on site. It was summer and humid and you could hear the static crackling ... my blokes kept getting shocks - proper shocks - and eventually I got called to site as they were getting a bit cheesed off with getting a belt of electricity every time they touched the fabric of store and with anything metal in their hands they even got sparks. The electricity board told me that it was static electricity being generated by the electromagnetic field that builds up around the cables - sadly they could not turn them off as they supplied about half of South London ! I had to provide my blokes with earthing wrist bands and wire them in to the metal structure of the building to stop the shocks. I don't know if it affected my blokes ... bit difficult to tell with the people I employed.

Whether bees will be affected by it ...who knows ?

https://www.google.com/maps/@51.449...83h_G5c_5Gs7PIAA!2e0!7i16384!8i8192?entry=ttu

 

[CosmoRossini]

Would be interesting to see some research into this. I wonder if the bees adapt to use the EM fields as guides or landmarks. Someone should ask Lars Chittka

 

[JamezF]

Power lines, television and radio masts, mobile phone aerials, wifi, GPS, satellite television, aurorae, not to mention alien space ships. It's a wonder the bees haven't just given up and refused to get out of bed by now. Although if they could pick up the GPS signals perhaps that might actually be a bonus . I had a load of 240V lines running within a few feet of the outside wall of my bedroom when I was a teenager. It's not done me any harm



Given the number of people keeping bees in (sub)urban environments these days I suspect significant noises would have been made about it by now if power lines were suspected to be causing problems with their colonies.

James

 

[JamezF]

Don't mention ley lines or James will be chewing the upholstery

Not today. Got the lurgy today and I'm not really feeling hungry, despite having my mood further darkened when I decided that I really had to achieve something, however small, with the day and then having the bandsaw spew one of its guide bearings all over the workshop (and into the internals of the saw) when I switched it on to use it.

I might have to resort to using a hand saw instead. At least that will spare the bees in my home apiary from the RFI emitted by my power tools. Not sure they'll find my ensuing use of language preferable, mind.

James

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Power lines, television and radio masts, mobile phone aerials, wifi, GPS, satellite television, aurorae, not to mention alien space ships. It's a wonder the bees haven't just given up and refused to get out of bed by now. Although if they could pick up the GPS signals perhaps that might actually be a bonus

I wonder how they managed when they shut down Decca relay stations and then LoranC

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Power lines, television and radio masts, mobile phone aerials, wifi, GPS, satellite television, aurorae, not to mention alien space ships. It's a wonder the bees haven't just given up and refused to get out of bed by now. Although if they could pick up the GPS signals perhaps that might actually be a bonus . I had a load of 240V lines running within a few feet of the outside wall of my bedroom when I was a teenager. It's not done me any harm

View attachment 37312

Given the number of people keeping bees in (sub)urban environments these days I suspect significant noises would have been made about it by now if power lines were suspected to be causing problems with their colonies.

James

Our street was posh - we had underground supply cables. No sewers though a "soup lorry" came round every week. I can still remember the izal toilet rolls.

 

[JamezF]

Our street was posh - we had underground supply cables.

"Underground" hasn't been invented around here yet. The first major job when Openreach kicked off the work to digitise the phone system by 2025 was to replace all the telegraph poles that weren't hefty enough to support the weight of the new cabling.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

We are a couple of hundred meters up a public right of way. Fibre runs along the poles in the road but not up to our house...oh no!
Are there plans to supply it to us? No....not in the foreseeable

 

[JamezF]

We are a couple of hundred meters up a public right of way. Fibre runs along the poles in the road but not up to our house...oh no!
Are there plans to supply it to us? No....not in the foreseeable

Openreach are supposed to convert the entire network to digital by 2025. Of course they (or BT) have in the past decided that "entire" actually means "but not the awkward last 5%".

James