How long would you drive to an out apiary

[lukenuc'em]

I'm exploring my options for out apiaries and an opportunity has come up for a wonderful piece of land. It is a 30 minute drive away though! I'm thinking this might be a bad idea, how far away are yours and does anyone regret setting up out apiaries too far away?

 

[Mint Bee]

how do you define wonderful without having kept bees there ? really needs a couple of bee seasons at least to see if the bees agree with your assessment. I have apiary's 20-25 minutes drive from home, but I don't have Poole's tourist traffic to contended with. Go for it. Worth a try and if travel or site don't work out you can always look for a site nearer to home in the meantime

 

[Garry R]

I think if you are having an out apiary about half an hour away from home it's worth having at last 10 colonies there. to cut unit costs and give yourself a morning or afternoon's work at a time. Also gives an idea whether the site is a dud or a cracker and not just a random hive or two's performance.

 

[rolande]

I'm exploring my options for out apiaries and an opportunity has come up for a wonderful piece of land. It is a 30 minute drive away though! I'm thinking this might be a bad idea, how far away are yours and does anyone regret setting up out apiaries too far away?

Wasn't going to comment until @Mint Bee mentioned Poole. Now I am, as I'm sure you're aware there has been a bit of a historic efb zone to the west of Poole so I'd be considering that if your drive is heading in that direction. It wouldn't be a deal breaker in itself of course.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I'm exploring my options for out apiaries and an opportunity has come up for a wonderful piece of land. It is a 30 minute drive away though! I'm thinking this might be a bad idea, how far away are yours and does anyone regret setting up out apiaries too far away?

90 miles away is my furthest out apiary which takes me 1.5hrs to get to, but it’s well worth it as there isn’t a house or farm with in 1.5 miles in any direction, you choose your out apiaries scope them out for local forage, try and find out if there are other beeks around preferably hardly any or none.

 

[Antipodes]

I'm exploring my options for out apiaries and an opportunity has come up for a wonderful piece of land. It is a 30 minute drive away though! I'm thinking this might be a bad idea, how far away are yours and does anyone regret setting up out apiaries too far away?

Do you have a home apiary or a place very close to keep a good number of colonies?

 

[pargyle]

I'm exploring my options for out apiaries and an opportunity has come up for a wonderful piece of land. It is a 30 minute drive away though! I'm thinking this might be a bad idea, how far away are yours and does anyone regret setting up out apiaries too far away?

If this is your first apiary (and looking at your other posts it probably is) unless you drive past there every day it's too far ...

In your first couple of years you need somewhere that you can drop by very regularly - you learn from being with your bees and seeing them at various times of the day. Out apiaries too far away or inconvenient in any way will discourage you from visiting .. weekly inspections during the season are the absolute minimum but as a beginner you may well miss vital signs of what they are up to if you are only there once a week.

Ideally 10 minutes away maximum - walking distance even better, I'd look for somewhere closer .. lots of big houses with big gardens in Poole and around .. look on Google earth for likely sites within a sensible radius of where you live or work and go knocking on doors or make up a leaflet and drop it through the door. Don's discount business premises - they often have areas of space around them where you could place a couple of hives. There is often better forage in urban areas these days than out in the sticks.

 

[Penninetrader]

If this is your first apiary (and looking at your other posts it probably is) unless you drive past there every day it's too far ...

In your first couple of years you need somewhere that you can drop by very regularly - you learn from being with your bees and seeing them at various times of the day. Out apiaries too far away or inconvenient in any way will discourage you from visiting .. weekly inspections during the season are the absolute minimum but as a beginner you may well miss vital signs of what they are up to if you are only there once a week.

Ideally 10 minutes away maximum - walking distance even better, I'd look for somewhere closer .. lots of big houses with big gardens in Poole and around .. look on Google earth for likely sites within a sensible radius of where you live or work and go knocking on doors or make up a leaflet and drop it through the door. Don's discount business premises - they often have areas of space around them where you could place a couple of hives. There is often better forage in urban areas these days than out in the sticks.

That is valuable advice

 

[rolande]

try and find out if there are other beeks around preferably hardly any or none.

That's probably setting standards too high for Dorset Curly

 

[lukenuc'em]

Wasn't going to comment until @Mint Bee mentioned Poole. Now I am, as I'm sure you're aware there has been a bit of a historic efb zone to the west of Poole so I'd be considering that if your drive is heading in that direction. It wouldn't be a deal breaker in itself of course.

It's Swanage/Wareham way, interesting to hear about the EFB in the area

 

[lukenuc'em]

If this is your first apiary (and looking at your other posts it probably is) unless you drive past there every day it's too far ...

In your first couple of years you need somewhere that you can drop by very regularly - you learn from being with your bees and seeing them at various times of the day. Out apiaries too far away or inconvenient in any way will discourage you from visiting .. weekly inspections during the season are the absolute minimum but as a beginner you may well miss vital signs of what they are up to if you are only there once a week.

Ideally 10 minutes away maximum - walking distance even better, I'd look for somewhere closer .. lots of big houses with big gardens in Poole and around .. look on Google earth for likely sites within a sensible radius of where you live or work and go knocking on doors or make up a leaflet and drop it through the door. Don's discount business premises - they often have areas of space around them where you could place a couple of hives. There is often better forage in urban areas these days than out in the sticks.

Thank you for the detailed response. I would like to start next season, so no rush for me, I will continue my search to see if anything better comes up, I think your right. Over time it will become more and more of a chore I'm sure.

 

[pargyle]

Thank you for the detailed response. I would like to start next season, so no rush for me, I will continue my search to see if anything better comes up, I think your right. Over time it will become more and more of a chore I'm sure.

You will find somewhere - lots of time to walk the streets looking. Plus, don't forget, a lot of businesses are crying out for green credentials ... some bees on their premises ticks a lot of boxes - an easy sell for them and also for domestic sites.

 

[manek]

I'm exploring my options for out apiaries and an opportunity has come up for a wonderful piece of land. It is a 30 minute drive away though! I'm thinking this might be a bad idea, how far away are yours and does anyone regret setting up out apiaries too far away?

My furthest apiary is 30 minutes away and sometimes it is a pain to visit the (now) two (was four) hives there. But it's a personal thing too as the field's owner is a friend so there's some compensation... Maybe you could build that relationship?

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

just timed the drive to my furthest apiary (Carreg Cennen Castle) this morning took me about fifteen minutes (with a slight delay for reversing to accomodate oncoming grockles and the water board working on a new pipeline) it's a comfortable time but I would drive a little bit further for a good apiary

 

[Wingy]

I have 6 apiary sites (including my garden where I keep my breeder queens) the total round trip is 17 miles.

 

[Darryl]

Apiary 1 - on my allotment site. 10 mins walk and abundant forage on site and surrounding countryside, Close to site of biodiversity, sheltered from winter winds- 3 hives
Apiary 2 - 5 minutes drive on a stud farm. Private lake surrounded by woodland and diverse forage. SE facing in a shallow hollow. Free access through farm yard and a remarkably supportive owner - 3 hives
Apiary 3 - local fire station. Good town centre forage and nearby river (HB). 10 minutes drive but passing the site several times a week so no problem. Well sheltered - 1 hive.

 

[hairywill]

You will find somewhere - lots of time to walk the streets looking. Plus, don't forget, a lot of businesses are crying out for green credentials ... some bees on their premises ticks a lot of boxes - an easy sell for them and also for domestic sites.

I thought about asking my company if I could keep bees on some of their land. They would probably be up for it. Then I thought some more and decided I didn't want to be involved in the greenwashing around honey bees. In my opinion a company with a few hives on its premises is not contributing anything to the environment and I would not want to be helping them make capital out of it.

 

[ericbeaumont]

involved in the greenwashing around honey bees

Fair point, but bees are a shop window to tell a bigger story - planting for pollination, food production, intimacy with nature - and education is often worth the effort (and you can charge for it).

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

The furthest we travel, 5 hrs ish, but that's the exception.
Furthest in Shropshire is 1.5 hrs, north Wales sites are just over the hour.
I have just binned a couple of sites because they were not viable, cost V reward etc and gained a fantastic farm of 700 acre closer to home & we will have secured storage there for boxes etc.

 

[Paulypaul]

Only far enough that when I realise I've forgotten the gate keys again it won't take too long to return home, then back to the apiary, again.