How many hives

[Bron]

Hi, I am new to this forum and as yet do not have any bees. I am trying to learn as much as possible before I embark on this fascinating hobby. My grandfather kept bees when I was a very young child so I cant say I learnt a lot from him. But I do remember that he really loved them and I would hang around whilst he was tending to them. I didn't wear a suit or any protection!! Yet I only ever got stung once, on my thumb and that was my fault for trying to pick up a bee
I am at present laying out a fruit and veg garden which in total will be 20mx30m and earmarking a 3m x 10m area for the bees. I have stone walls with hawthorn hedge above to shelter them on the south and west sides. I am planning to keep my compost bins at one end up against the barn wall and the rest is for the bees. There will be lots of fruit and cherry trees and bushes plus bulbs and perennials through out the area. It is surrounded by fields and about 300m from my house where I have 2 large ponds.
Does this sound like a feasible area to eventually house a hive or two?
Many thanks in anticipation of your advice

 

[Curly green finger's]

Hi, I am new to this forum and as yet do not have any bees. I am trying to learn as much as possible before I embark on this fascinating hobby. My grandfather kept bees when I was a very young child so I cant say I learnt a lot from him. But I do remember that he really loved them and I would hang around whilst he was tending to them. I didn't wear a suit or any protection!! Yet I only ever got stung once, on my thumb and that was my fault for trying to pick up a bee
I am at present laying out a fruit and veg garden which in total will be 20mx30m and earmarking a 3m x 10m area for the bees. I have stone walls with hawthorn hedge above to shelter them on the south and west sides. I am planning to keep my compost bins at one end up against the barn wall and the rest is for the bees. There will be lots of fruit and cherry trees and bushes plus bulbs and perennials through out the area. It is surrounded by fields and about 300m from my house where I have 2 large ponds.
Does this sound like a feasible area to eventually house a hive or two?
Many thanks in anticipation of your advice

Sounds perfect you will have early pollen and nectar sources which is an added bonus, I would also bear in mind and also think about an out apiary incase you need to move a colony maybe a neighbours field preferably a few miles away.
Two hives are a good number to start with good luck and welcome

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi. It sounds lovely. Just make sure you have the hives positioned away from the bees’ flight path so that you aren’t bothered when you are working on the veg patch

 

[Murox]

Sounds perfectly feasible; try to shelter them from prevailing winds. Have you looked at what they have to forage on in the surrounding area - that is up to, say a couple of miles or so?

 

[Bron]

Gosh thank you so much for your helpful replies.
Mark: I have 10 acres so can easily put the bees in another field or a neighbours field is necessary.
Dani: I am not sure what you mean. Should I face them from where my fruit and veg will be?
Murox: I am surrounded by fields here. Pretty remote. It is mostly sheep and cattle farming around me though one farm does plant some arable. I have only really got two neighbours and they are are great I am sure if I asked to use a corner of one of their fields they be helpful.
The area for the bees has stone walls with hedges above which will shelter them from the winds and provide shade in the summer.

I am attaching a plan of my proposed layout. It's and old orchard where what trees were left have died and succumbed to the gales. Plus the barn took a bashing. Work starts in a couple of weeks

 

[Erichalfbee]

Dani: I am not sure what you mean. Should I face them from where my fruit and veg will be?

Yes. You don't want to be standing in the way of the bees returning to the hives

 

[Curly green finger's]

I think you would be better as you said you have 10 acres to situate the bees ajasent to your veg garden as dani said you don't want to be working around there flight path.
I would pick a corner of a field south facing against a hedge and out of the prevailing wind.
My reasons it doesn't matter how docile they are but after inspections they can be a bit temperamental, if they were say the other side of the stone wall with hurdles around them to stop stock from interfering with them if you have livestock.
I have hives at the edge of big gardens but they are outside the gardens this works for me,
I also had hives in my garden for three years but there was always a problem more so when they were at full strength, I moved them out on to the common some 50 metre away against a stone wall and they have been fine.

 

[Bron]

I think you would be better as you said you have 10 acres to situate the bees ajasent to your veg garden as dani said you don't want to be working around there flight path.
I would pick a corner of a field south facing against a hedge and out of the prevailing wind.
My reasons it doesn't matter how docile they are but after inspections they can be a bit temperamental, if they were say the other side of the stone wall with hurdles around them to stop stock from interfering with them if you have livestock.

ah ok. I may well be better putting them in the field next door. My alpacas don't go in that field but my dogs do. However I can build a frame around them with the heras panels left over from making the fruit cage. Or maybe I need to do a complete rethink. Thanks for your advice everyone, it's really helpful.

 

[Erichalfbee]

. My alpacas don't go in that field but my dogs do.

Dogs are pretty smart with bees after one encounter

 

[pargyle]

Your site for two hives as a starter looks pretty good to me .. where they are in your site plan looks fine but I would face them so that the entrances face South or South East so they get the morning sun - they don't need shade - they like sunny spots and the earlier the sun gets to them the quicker they will fly. You need to leave enough room behind them so that you can inspect them from behind. There is no problem siting them directly next to each other - you can even make a stand for them both to sit on.

I would not worry too much about them being difficult - new colonies tend to be fairly manageable if you make sure, when you get them, that you obtain from a reputable source and ask the question about temperament. Gentle inspections and picking the time and day to inspect will not normally disturb them too much. As a new beekeeper there are some real benefits to having them somewhere where you can get to them and look at them on an almost daily basis (not opening up - you can learn a lot from watching the coming and going). With 10 acres you have plenty of room to set up a secondary apiary in the event that you need to move them for any reason.

Sounds like a perfect place to start up .. lots to learn but it's a fascinating hobby and you might even get a few jars of your own honey. They will certainly improve the crop from your soft fruit and other fruit trees.

Good luck, stick around here - there's always lots of advice (good and bad) but you will soon get used to sorting out which is which.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Dogs are pretty smart with bees after one encounter

My dogs used to love sitting watching the bees, one used to sit under the hives listening and watching them.
'our' cat spends her time amongst the bees at the home apiary too

 

[Curly green finger's]

Your site for two hives as a starter looks pretty good to me .. where they are in your site plan looks fine but I would face them so that the entrances face South or South East so they get the morning sun - they don't need shade - they like sunny spots and the earlier the sun gets to them the quicker they will fly. You need to leave enough room behind them so that you can inspect them from behind. There is no problem siting them directly next to each other - you can even make a stand for them both to sit on.

I would not worry too much about them being difficult - new colonies tend to be fairly manageable if you make sure, when you get them, that you obtain from a reputable source and ask the question about temperament. Gentle inspections and picking the time and day to inspect will not normally disturb them too much. As a new beekeeper there are some real benefits to having them somewhere where you can get to them and look at them on an almost daily basis (not opening up - you can learn a lot from watching the coming and going). With 10 acres you have plenty of room to set up a secondary apiary in the event that you need to move them for any reason.

Sounds like a perfect place to start up .. lots to learn but it's a fascinating hobby and you might even get a few jars of your own honey. They will certainly improve the crop from your soft fruit and other fruit trees.

Good luck, stick around here - there's always lots of advice (good and bad) but you will soon get used to sorting out which is which.

As the op has plenty of space would you still put the hives in the garden or just out side, the crops and garden are still going to benefit.

 

[Bron]

Your site for two hives as a starter looks pretty good to me .. where they are in your site plan looks fine but I would face them so that the entrances face South or South East so they get the morning sun - they don't need shade - they like sunny spots and the earlier the sun gets to them the quicker they will fly. You need to leave enough room behind them so that you can inspect them from behind. There is no problem siting them directly next to each other - you can even make a stand for them both to sit on.

I would not worry too much about them being difficult - new colonies tend to be fairly manageable if you make sure, when you get them, that you obtain from a reputable source and ask the question about temperament. Gentle inspections and picking the time and day to inspect will not normally disturb them too much. As a new beekeeper there are some real benefits to having them somewhere where you can get to them and look at them on an almost daily basis (not opening up - you can learn a lot from watching the coming and going). With 10 acres you have plenty of room to set up a secondary apiary in the event that you need to move them for any reason.

Sounds like a perfect place to start up .. lots to learn but it's a fascinating hobby and you might even get a few jars of your own honey. They will certainly improve the crop from your soft fruit and other fruit trees.

Good luck, stick around here - there's always lots of advice (good and bad) but you will soon get used to sorting out which is which.

Thanks, I must admit I did think/hope having them so close would be a benefit as I would over there every day. This is just the very beginning of a huge learning curve for me and I am really enjoying reading the posts and hearing your advice.

 

[pargyle]

As the op has plenty of space would you still put the hives in the garden or just out side, the crops and garden are still going to benefit.

Looking at his plan I think what he has is an almost perfect place for them ... my apiary is much the same - having them where they are next to the house with a flight path that interferes with family life is more problematical I would agree but in the area he has earmarked - looks fine to me.

 

[Erichalfbee]

As the op has plenty of space would you still put the hives in the garden or just out side, the crops and garden are still going to benefit.

He's beginner. where would you have put your first hive?

 

[Curly green finger's]

He's beginner. where would you have put your first hive?

In my garden but three years later I wish I'd of had them just out side the garden, to be honest they naturally ended up out on the common anyway because of swarms.
I will also say I do miss them being in the garden I felt like some one had taken part of me away when they were moved, I missed watching them in the morning having breakfast and in the evening.
All isn't lost I only have to walk out on the common and I can observe, they are safer there ultimately.
And now I will have around 150 by seasons end bloody hobby... It's the best thing in the world!

 

[Erichalfbee]

In my garden but three years later I wish I'd of had them just out side the garden, to be honest they naturally ended up out on the common anyway because of swarms.
I will also say I do miss them being in the garden I felt like some one had taken part of me away when they were moved, I missed watching them in the morning having breakfast and in the evening.
All isn't lost I only have to walk out on the common and I can observe, they are safer there ultimately.
And now I will have around 150 by seasons end bloody hobby... It's the best thing in the world!

The chap has no neighbours, you do.
The reason all the bait hives go on the potting shed till the winter is so that I can watch them

 

[Erichalfbee]

And now I will have around 150 by seasons end bloody hobby... It's the best thing in the world!

Yours isn't a hobby though. You're a bee farmer. It's what you do

 

[Curly green finger's]

Yours isn't a hobby though. You're a bee farmer. It's what you do

Well it feels like a hobby still even with all the work load.

 

[Bron]

And now I will have around 150 by seasons end bloody hobby... It's the best thing in the world!

Do you have 150 hives?