Bee Excrement & Neighbours

[enrico]

Ok..... I have some sympathy here. I have eight hives at the moment, everything gets covered in bee poo. Washing, cars, windows, us. We can't put white washing out on a sunny day. The bee poo won't come off glass easily, it sticks to the paint work of the car. It isn't just a bit, it's loads of the stuff...... But.... I keep the bees so I put up with it. Would I be so patient if we didn't have the bees. I know my wife would be cursing about the washing. We have a holiday let and we can't use white sheets with yellow dots on it in the holiday let so all the sheets have to be dried in doors.
As I say. They are our bees but if they were not I can somehow understand the problem! Just being devils advocate here!
E

 

[Dishmop]

At the moment I have two full colonies in my garden and a couple of double nucs so basically three colonies.+ the obs hive in the house.
I was talking to the council bloke the other day who did at one point say the bees had to go but then said they could stay because he had sent out letters asking people if they had a problem but only the original complainant had replied. He also told me that he was aware that she had been talking to other neigbours with the intention of persuading them to join her campaign...

anyway, the other day it transpired that since that time he has done a little research about bees because he mentioned having been told that its not really possible to keep only one hive, and that regardless of what you do, swarms can still happen. He said people needed educating about swarms instead going into panic mode.

Have had my bees for three years and its very rare that they "foul" the washing.

 

[madasafish]

I find bee poo comes off easily with detergent and warm water....

I would do everything I could to be reasonable so if you are dealing with an unreasonable person, the conclusion of anyone is just that.

Digging heels in - even if you are in the right - can appear unreasonable.

 

[Dishmop]

I find bee poo comes off easily with detergent and warm water....

I was going to put that but couldnt remember if it was warm or cold water as I decided at the end of last year that I can no longer be bothered to wash it myself.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Ok..... I have some sympathy here. I have eight hives at the moment, everything gets covered in bee poo. Washing, cars, windows, us. We can't put white washing out on a sunny day. The bee poo won't come off glass easily, it sticks to the paint work of the car. It isn't just a bit, it's loads of the stuff...... But.... I keep the bees so I put up with it. Would I be so patient if we didn't have the bees. I know my wife would be cursing about the washing. We have a holiday let and we can't use white sheets with yellow dots on it in the holiday let so all the sheets have to be dried in doors.
As I say. They are our bees but if they were not I can somehow understand the problem! Just being devils advocate here!
E

Have you considered using yellow bed linen?

 

[Dishmop]

Have you considered using yellow bed linen?

or tell them to bring their own..

 

[enrico]

I find bee poo comes off easily with detergent and warm water....

Trust me, mine doesn't, I have to use a paint scraper. Must be the food round here!
E

 

[Dishmop]

Trust me, mine doesn't, I have to use a paint scraper. Must be the food round here!
E

OSR?

I think it depends on how old it is..If its new it just speads about like popilis, but if its old dry vintage matured stuff it washes of ok.

Slop water all over the car and leave it for a few minutes, then start again.

 

[madasafish]

OSR?

I think it depends on how old it is..If its new it just speads about like popilis, but if its old dry vintage matured stuff it washes of ok.

Slop water all over the car and leave it for a few minutes, then start again.

Some of us wash our cars every month so bee poo is fresh.....

 

[charlievictorbravo]

Well this is an interesting situation, isn’t it?
One of the first questions to ask is “Is it a nuisance” and the answer is yes, it probably is, if what the complainant says is borne out by evidence.
Next question – “Is it a public or private nuisance?” In Attorney General v PYA Quarries [1957] 2 QB 169, the Court said that a nuisance will be public if enough people are affected by it to constitute a class of the public, so I suspect it is a public nuisance.
“Will the local authority to anything?” – probably not, because they’ve got bigger fish to fry and they’re so understaffed, they could not justify the time spent on it, plus they’d be worried about adverse publicity.
“Can the complainant take a civil action for Nuisance and either seek an injunction or ask for damages?” The answer is possibly, but I’m not sure about the burden of proof required. The balance of probabilities is that some of the nuisance, if not all, has been caused by the OP’s bees.
My conclusion – I’d very quietly move them and leave an empty hive or two in their place and see what happens.

CVB

 

[Dishmop]

Some of us wash our cars every month so bee poo is fresh.....

Sod all that...I have mine cleaned when I cant see the light reflecting off the bonnet when I'm driving it, and the mascot doesnt glint in the sun.

It takes an hour to just wash mine down with water, including all the door shuts etc.

For £6 I get a full wash/wax and they scrub the whitewall tyres.

 

[Dishmop]

Well this is an interesting situation, isn’t it?
One of the first questions to ask is “Is it a nuisance” and the answer is yes, it probably is, if what the complainant says is borne out by evidence.
Next question – “Is it a public or private nuisance?” In Attorney General v PYA Quarries [1957] 2 QB 169, the Court said that a nuisance will be public if enough people are affected by it to constitute a class of the public, so I suspect it is a public nuisance.
“Will the local authority to anything?” – probably not, because they’ve got bigger fish to fry and they’re so understaffed, they could not justify the time spent on it, plus they’d be worried about adverse publicity.
“Can the complainant take a civil action for Nuisance and either seek an injunction or ask for damages?” The answer is possibly, but I’m not sure about the burden of proof required. The balance of probabilities is that some of the nuisance, if not all, has been caused by the OP’s bees.
My conclusion – I’d very quietly move them and leave an empty hive or two in their place and see what happens.

CVB

That just about sums it up.
Perhaps the overriding factor is just how many people are finding it a nuisance.

 

[Dishmop]

I have only just noticed that this thread was started in 2009!!!!!!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

That just about sums it up.
Perhaps the overriding factor is just how many people are finding it a nuisance.

To see the lack of effect of a local authority AND the EA you only have to Google Gilberdyke landfill and city plant Ltd. Both stood idly by while planning and environmental conditions were ignored big style

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Some of us wash our cars every month so bee poo is fresh.....

Every month!! life's too short jeep last washed and inside cleaned when SWMBO graduated - no sign of her pursuing a doctorate so goodness knows when it will get washed next.

I have only just noticed that this thread was started in 2009!!!!!!

Yup, and five years later we're still talking sh!t

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

If the bees were there before the neighbour they have no ability to complain because they "came to the nuisance".

This is wrong; sorry. This is the old common law that was invalidated by a C19 case. Still true in the USA, not here.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Some of us wash our cars every month so bee poo is fresh.....

That's twelve times a year, don't you think that's a bit excessive?

 

[madasafish]

That's twelve times a year, don't you think that's a bit excessive?

Can't have a dirty Bugatti...

 

[Dishmop]

SWMBO told me I cant have any more cars let alone a Bugatti..dirty or not.