How close to a fence can I place my hive ?

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mr.ian

New Bee
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Messages
7
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Location
NE England
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
Two
I want to place my hive next to a six foot fence so that the bees have to rise to leave the garden without bothering the neighbours, but how close can the entrance to the hive be to a six foot fence?
 
Don't forget to consider shade from the fence.
You'd like the hive to get some sun. Especially in midwinter ...
And the hive entrance should face South(ish), rather than North.


You might also consider erecting some very basic trellis around the hive(s) and covering the verticals with small-hole green garden mesh. That serves well to get them up and away, without creating much shade.
 
I was going to face the hive towards a poly tunnel on my allotment 4 feet from the side pointing east to catch the morning sun coming through the polythene. It will then catch the sun through its full cycle til it sets in the west, thats what the sun used to do, now it peeps through the rain clouds sometimes.
Thanks for your advise.
 
My bees go up by choice.
It is like watching tracer bullets as they take a 45 degree path out over the rhodies.
 
:iagree:

When I had bees at home the entrance was a foot back from a privet hedge it worked a treat.
 
but how close can the entrance to the hive be to a six foot fence?

They can be as close as you like.
We have hives 4 to a pallet & sometimes room dictates that some end up nearly in a hedge or whatever. The bees are fine its just the operator that has problems .

You need room to work, to put the lid down handily so as to have somewhere to stack supers. To be able put your splits nearby etc etc.
 
I put mine about 1.5-2mm from a fence, spent ages clearing trees and branches so a clear window appeared.

What do they do, come out of hive, turn 180 deg and fly back across garden :banghead::banghead::rofl::rofl:

to clarify without making later posts odd - I mean 1.5 -2 meters (thanks veg!)
 
Last edited:
jackbee do you mean meters not millimetres?
 
I put mine about 1.5-2mm from a fence, spent ages clearing trees and branches so a clear window appeared.

What do they do, come out of hive, turn 180 deg and fly back across garden :banghead::banghead::rofl::rofl:

They've not read the same book
 
Lots of good replies. Thanks for the advise everyone.
 
I was going to ask ask a simple question, but Jackbe has sort of covered it.

They have to go over the fence if that is the only way out of the garden, otherwise not really any point in the position being close or distant from any fence. One could put up a sign saying 'one way only' in bee language!
 
They have to go over the fence if that is the only way out of the garden, otherwise not really any point in the position being close or distant from any fence. One could put up a sign saying 'one way only' in bee language!

lol, if only there was a bee-english/finnish dictionary :cool:

Of course there'd have to be a v small version to fit in hives!!
 
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