horses and bees dont mix

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Heather

Queen Bee
Joined
Dec 7, 2008
Messages
4,131
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Location
Newick, East Sussex
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
6
I cannot find if already reported but too important not to be somewhere. Copying in an email report from another Division.. I haven't managed to verify-
In an adjoining field one of the horses managed to jump into the section of the field where several bee colonies were kept, and it appears that a hive was knocked over and the horse was stung.
The horse panicked, and practically all the hives in the apiary were knocked down, and the horse was severely attacked.
This attracted the other three horses in the field to come over, and these too, were severely stung.
As a result, all four horses died of heart failure.
Our sympathy goes out to the members involved, and we would wish to avoid any such thing ever happening again.

This is a very tragic and rare occurrence, and in many places horses are kept near to bees without any problems, but there is an old saying "bees & horses don't mix", and it would seem that we need to re-learn a salutary lesson.


Under normal circumstances cattle and sheep are not bothered by bees at all, and it is fine to keep bees in an adjacent field.
It is vital , though, that your fences are very well stockproofed.
Many people with chickens keep them close to the bees, and there is no problem there.

With horses, it would be sensible to keep a field's distance between them and the bees, at least 100 yards, and to be aware of bridle paths, etc.

As we know, bees do not like some odours, particularly strong ones, which may contain scents similar to some of their pheromones. An example of this are the citrus type fly sprays, which are reputed to upset the bees.
If you handle horses, it is best to wash and change before handling the bees, just to make sure you are not taking any strong odours with you.
 
I'm very prepared to be shot down in flames if I am wrong, but I seem to have heard this story, or something very similar before. Could it be an urban (or rural) myth?
 
I think I heard that this had been in the papers (though I didn't think that all the horses had died). Can't find it as an urban legend anywhere though.

Kind of makes me wonder how secure the field was though if the horse jumped the field (I know it's not unusual for livestock to attempt to abscond but it could potentially be partly the horse owners fault for having an improperly secured field. (Playing devils advocate))
 
I'm still willing to be shot down, but not without a proper confirmed source for this 'news'.
 
I looked for this a few days ago and couldnt find any references on line. The only recentish incident I found was 2010 in New Zealand. Would have expected lots of coverage if it was in UK.
 
I looked for this a few days ago and couldnt find any references on line. The only recentish incident I found was 2010 in New Zealand. Would have expected lots of coverage if it was in UK.

Quite. Nothing on tweeting Twitter (my feed was sooooo out of date:bigear:), nothing in the Daily Mail. Trying to stir up bee hatred by exaggeration I wonder...
 
I looked for this a few days ago and couldnt find any references on line. The only recentish incident I found was 2010 in New Zealand. Would have expected lots of coverage if it was in UK.

Thats what I thought- I have also searched. It came from High Weald Division- am checking out- but just in case, warning re horses, near hives-
 
As I've said before, I keep bees and I've kept horses for many years. I don't keep them in close proximity but I would have no qualms about keeping my horses close to bees. Horses are very intelligent animals and are not going to get near
Anything they don't like. Try riding a horse and see what happens if you want the horse to go somewhere he/she doesn't want to go. Also, in my experience, horses will only jump anything, involuntarily ie without someone on their back, for three reasons: sex, better forage and fear. In the absence of any of those three, they will stay behind a fence.
 
As I've said before, I keep bees and I've kept horses for many years. I don't keep them in close proximity but I would have no qualms about keeping my horses close to bees. Horses are very intelligent animals and are not going to get near
Anything they don't like. Try riding a horse and see what happens if you want the horse to go somewhere he/she doesn't want to go. Also, in my experience, horses will only jump anything, involuntarily ie without someone on their back, for three reasons: sex, better forage and fear. In the absence of any of those three, they will stay behind a fence.
A stable backs on to my apiary, during Winter an Irish cob took out the wire , crossed my apiary ,departed through the hedge into the front field (better nibbling) . Fortunately she didn't disturb any hives ! Needless to say the wire was replaced with stock fencing topped with barbed wire :cool:

John Wilkinson
 
Peterwh,
I agree with most of your post but would add one more reason FUN! I had a horse that would often jump in and out of fields in short succession and just end up where he started! And these were full height post and rails!
 
Me too- and a greedy horse just barged through to the the long grass taking the hedge with him! And when barging anything gets laid flat. Including me... different life time :rolleyes:
 
My out apiary is very near (in the same village) to where this catastrophe happened. Tragic stuff.


Ben P
 
I am still ready and waiting to be shot down. Can we have a proper source reference or link to the news story please?
 
Will this do??? An extended version of Heather's account...



Dear Beekeepers,


Here is a copy of an email from Keith Obbard from High Weald Beekeepers.
Very upsetting and completely awful.
Regards
Jacky Eustace

Dear HWBKA Member

I expect by now you may have heard that one of our new members at Nutley have had an awful tragedy involving their four horses, which were severely stung.

One of the horses managed to jump into the section of the field where several bees were kept, and it appears that a hive was knocked over and the horse was stung.
The horse panicked, and practically all the hives in the apiary were knocked down, and the horse was severely attacked.
This attracted the other three horses in the field to come over, and these too, were severely stung.
As a result, all four horses died of heart failure.
Our sympathy goes out to the members involved, and we would wish to avoid any such thing ever happening again.

This is a very tragic and rare occurrence, and in many places horses are kept near to bees without any problems, but there is an old saying "bees & horses don't mix", and it would seem that we need to re-learn a salutary lesson.

Under normal circumstances cattle and sheep are not bothered by bees at all, and it is fine to keep bees in an adjacent field.
It is vital , though, that your fences are very well stockproofed.
Many people with chickens keep them close to the bees, and there is no problem there.

With horses, it would be sensible to keep a field's distance between them and the bees, at least 100 yards, and to be aware of bridle paths, etc.

As we know, bees do not like some odours, particularly strong ones, which may contain scents similar to some of their pheromones. An example of this are the citrus type fly sprays, which are reputed to upset the bees.
If you handle horses, it is best to wash and change before handling the bees, just to make sure you are not taking any strong odours with you.

This email is going to High Weald members and others we believe to have bees, in order to make beekeepers aware to the risks, however rare.



Lionel
Newsletter editor



Ben P
 
I'm going to put some bees near a horse but theres no way the horse can get near the hive. But will keep my eye on the situation.

Thanks for the information.
 

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