hive in the back garden, can you advise from these pics?

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CliffDale

House Bee
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
210
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0
Location
Cornwall uk
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
8
I'm thinking of putting a hive in the back garden. It is quite central in the garden. Will it work or will I get savaged everytime I cut the grass?

Below is a view along the back garden. The hive position would be near the blue crate. The granite blob is a water feature!

dscf0594b.jpg



I would like to put the hives against this fence. The other side of the fence is a vegetable plot and childs trampoline, (still part of the back garden). The houses in the distance are neighbours houses. They would be about 20metres away from the hive.


dscf0595.jpg


Could you put a hive here without problems. This spot is away from neighbours. I also like the idea that you can watch the bees at work. The main concern is about cutting grass, and using the lawned area.

Will it be ok in this position, (if you can tell from photos).

This is my first choice of position. Ill post up 2nd and third choices later.

Cliff
 
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"2nd choice

Top Picture, to the left of the tall trees?

There is a small gap in the trees. The fence is the neighbours. The surrounding trees are about 30 feet tall and may stop bees going over to neighbour since they are so tall.

dscf0597l.jpg


During a hive inspection, do the bees get really mad and go for anything that moves?

Distance to neighbours garden 0 feet but a flight over trees. Here neighbours house is about 15metres away.
 
Throw out the trampoline and bingo one ready made screened apiary!! :biggrinjester:

Seriously thought, I am not a big fan of garden apiaries or hives placed any where near other people or in public places. I'm sure if you search through the other current threads you will find I am a little out spoken about it. :beatdeadhorse5:

Don't get me wrong when every thing is going well within the hive its fine, but the slightest problem and the bees can quickly change and become aggressive look to sting any thing that gets too close this includes curious kids, your neighbours and any nearby pets. (I guess thats a rabbit hutch in the picture)
 
Hive in front garden?

Thanks for your reply.

I have asked a local beekeeper to take a look around for me but I keep being let down, hence this post and your opinions.

I do have an option to site away from garden in a farm but I would like to have the hives near as I find them interesting to watch.

Front garden is away from neighbours house.

dscf0599l.jpg


In the distance just behind the car is furthest away from people.

dscf0600o.jpg


There is a good spot in these bushes.

I take your point about being away from all!

Cliff
 
Top Picture, to the left of the tall trees?

Distance to neighbours garden 0 feet but a flight over trees. Here neighbours house is about 15metres away.


lets look at a beehive in this you tube clip from tonybloke ( hope its not copyright)

http://www.youtube.com/user/tonybloke1#p/a/u/0/xvR94VBANsQ

now, you have to walk infront of the entrance ands it going to look like the youtube clip

So unless you want to wear ,everytime you pass it, a bee siut then the entrance needs to face away from your normal route through the garden or have a 6ft barrier ( rember this applys also do your children, rabbit and wife..( ok forget the wife)

Also the washing will get bee smuts if the bees exit over it

so you need as mike implies, a barrier infront of the hive to force them up ( sixfeet?)

Neighbours, better for the hives to back on to them rather than face them
#
but were is your house, are we loooking from the house?
 
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Thanks for your reply.

I have asked a local beekeeper to take a look around for me but I keep being let down, hence this post and your opinions.

I do have an option to site away from garden in a farm but I would like to have the hives near as I find them interesting to watch.

Front garden is away from neighbours house.

In the distance just behind the car is furthest away from people.

dscf0600o.jpg


There is a good spot in these bushes.

I take your point about being away from all!

Cliff
you would need to shield it from road view and your car (and postman etc) with a fancy barrier ,like your trampoline barrier, one parrell to the side of your car,another at right angles...i hide my waste bins with one
 
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I have one in my front garden and a nuc in the back garden.
Now the hive in the front garden is about 6feet from my front door facing towards my neighbours house. Between the houses(terraced) is a 6foot high privet hedge which forces the bees up and over. There are other shrubs around this hive as well. I have had no problems with this hive and it has been there now for two years. I am however going to move it as it is now on double brood and wont be long before it is ready so split.
The nuc in the back garden will be moved very shortly as I got stung on the temple whilst mowing the lawn and I would have felt terrible if it was my daughter that got stung and not me.

So try them in the garden but make sure you have somewhere else to move them to if they are a little feisty.
 
Having kept in the back garden 10m from the back door I would suggest that it is the orientation of the hive (natural flight path on approach) that you should think about and also getting the bees high quickly - a 2.5m fine mesh does the job, they are then up and away from you and your neighbours. Also provide a managed water source in the 'bee' zone that you have created to avoid neighbour disruption.

One other point from your comments, don't put your hive up against a fence, give your self room to work around them. You will either be inspecting from the side or back of the hive (depending on warm or cold orientated frames -side ways or front to back relative to entrance). There are risks with garden sites. If the bees get a strop on they may follow you, that is your problem, they may latch on to your family (you can avoid / limit that), but interference with neighbours enjoying their garden is outside your control.

I have kept in the garden (none at home at present) and I would do it again with a single hive or building up colonies / nucs, but for sustainability you need a couple or three hives and that increases the traffic and potential disruption. Think about the practicality of your location for multiple hives, good luck with it

bee-smillie
 
Direction of hive - advice please

Not wanting to steal this thread but also considering where to site my hives I have a area I was planning to site my 2 hives on. Having read as much as possible about this I understand that they would be best positioned facing south east, and slightly staggered. Although this is in a meadow we still want to be able to pass the hives and this is unfortunately the direction most open to family passing (about 10-15m away).

Would it adversely affect the bees if I faced them more northly towards bramble patch (would be prevailing wind direction)?

If i sited facing south and then had a problem could I turn the hive/hives at this point or would this cause disorientation problems?:willy_nilly:

I could possibly put a screen in front of them (wicket panel?) but had hoped to avoid this as quite a steep site on very rocky ground.

Thanks for advice - I would like to try to get best option sorted to avoid moving later.
 
Yes you can turn the hive best if you do it in stages with a couple of days between turning so 180* say 3 stages you may be able to do it in one move but best to take your time and facing north not so much of a problem when warmer.
 
Just starting, there are lots of ideals but we rarely achieve all of them. I sited a hive in my back garden to house a swarm, the entrance faced north, it only got sun from about 10:30 in the morning but is was reasonably sheltered and secluded. It was do this or not keep the swarm, I wanted the swarm - it was a biggie! This was early June 09. The girls made the best of it, I am sure your colony/ies will do the same. The swarm I housed there did so well I had to give them a super for extra space over winter. A hive in good nick and a caring beek should get a colonies vote over the local old hollow tree every time.
 
A hive in good nick and a caring beek should get a colonies vote over the local old hollow tree every time.

I take your point and in theory your right providing.......

I think its fair to say if the beek leaves the colony completely alone, is happy if they choose to swarm and doesn't pump 101 different toxic chemicals into the hive and lets them continue to be feral they would vote for the bee keeper.

I doubt very much many of the members of this forum can say hand on heart they could or would do this..

I'd fail !bee-smillie
 
Thanks, Yes this pic is helpful as it gives me some encouragement!

Cliff
 
I have netting around to make the bees fly over our heads.
I used nails to hook the neeting on.
So I can unhook the netting to get in.
Also you can stand right next to the netting and watch the bees.
I have 2 girls and they have never been stung.
Had bees for 5 years now.

Mozzy.
 
Good photos Mopsquito I think they will be a big help to people with similar situation.

Tel me is the netting so fine that a bee is not able to fly through or do they just avoid also does it cause a problem for the birds.
 
It's Crop and pound protection netting.
You holes are too small for them to fly through but they can land on it and crawl through.
They seem to avoid the netting and when they return to the hive they seem to come straight down from the sky above the hives.

Never had any problem with the birds.
The cats and Fox's pull the netting down sometimes.
Trying to jump over the netting.:svengo:
 
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Bringing the full weight of my inexperience to bear- in response to juststarting, I have often read about having the hives facing southeast, but I believe this is a misunderstanding. The important thing is for the morning sun to warm the hive, but it will do this equally whichever way round it is, the point is that the site should be exposed to the southeast. The only thing I can see regarding which way round it is, might be to avoid the prevailing wing blowing in through the entrance. Unless of course I'm wrong.
 
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