Just to say Hello

[beebreeder]

Dee Bee
Go to the top of the page and next to the beekeeping forum logo is a beekeeping directory, check beesuits there are many and various on there,also use the search as there was a thread not long ago about the best beesuit. Welcome to the Forum

Thank you Tom that sounds like a good plan. I will keep viewing the forum so as I dont look stupid when I go and visit the association members.
I will need a suit for my 'hands on' visits where do you all get your stuff from?
Regards DB.

 

[REDWOOD]

look on Google earth for farm land in your area

 

[The Cumbrian]

Thank you Tom that sounds like a good plan. I will keep viewing the forum so as I dont look stupid when I go and visit the association members.
I will need a suit for my 'hands on' visits where do you all get your stuff from?
Regards DB.

I haven't been following the thread to carefully but if your hands on visit is to the local association they may well be able to lend you a suit.

 

[Hebeegeebee]

Our association often has people contacting them to say that they would be happy for someone to keep bees in their garden/on their land so you association may well have received similar offers to site hives.

Your neighbours may be fine but if someone gets stung by a wasp whilst walking along the footpath, YOU'LL get the blame! Sad but true.
Best of luck finding the right place.

 

[nelletap]

Don't get disheartened. When you think about beekeeping you imagine keeping them close to hand and other options seem to have more difficulties. If I were you I would still join your BKA - there are usually associate memberships which are much cheaper - of the order of about £12-18 pounds for the year. Seeing other setups - the association apiary as well as those of other members - will help you think it through. You are metres from farmland you say - well those farmers may well have an ideal place for bees and would be delighted to allow you to use a place that is convenient to you and not required by them - and they may benefit ffrom the pollinators. Or you will hear through the BKA of someone who wants to have bees on their land but not have the care of them or else someone offering an out apiary - we seem to have about 3 offers each month in our BKA newsletter. This may well be a much better solution that the garden which at the moment sounds to be your preference. We are luckier - we have a separate part of the garden adjacent to farmland but we did have one occasion when a visitor got stung - it seemed a one off - just someone a little too confident. Then of course I was intrigued by one member of my BKA who has an observation hive in her living room. Observation hives use a clear tube which the bees use as the entrance - and I read on this forum I think, that such a system prevents wasps robbing a hive. It makes me wonder whether outdoor hives could sometimes use such a system so their exit is less risky to residents and to reduce wasp problems.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Observation hives use a clear tube which the bees use as the entrance - and I read on this forum I think, that such a system prevents wasps robbing a hive. It makes me wonder whether outdoor hives could sometimes use such a system so their exit is less risky to residents and to reduce wasp problems.

I think DerekM mentioned the same sort of idea. For a hive kept in a shed, garage, workshop or summer house the entrance could be high up - just beneath the roof.

I know the general opinion seems to be that having a hive in this garden isn't practical, but I know somebody with a hive in a similar sized garden. They've had it for several years with no problems. They do, though, have an alternative site available if they need to use it and have supportive, honey-eating, neighbours.

If this was my garden and I was determined to keep bees in it I think I'd put them in corner, with the entrance facing the fence and the side of the summer house - where the compost bags are. The bees would have to fly up to get over the fence, house and nearby trees.

 

[DeeBee]

Thank you so very much for your encouraging reply's. I have a farmer in mind also an allotment association two miles away, not to mention the local BKA. Thanks again DB.

 

[steph333]

Hi Deebee

I am coming up to my second year in a similar garden to yours. I will try and cover all the down sides which people will no doubt mention in coming posts the main one being the amount of bees i will have this year over the first. Ok i still have to experience of this and will manage it to the best of my ability but if i had not started keeping bees my life would have been half as enjoyable as it has been for the last year. There have been less problems than i had expected with the confined space and the girls show no interest, so far, in my garden,myself or the neighbours. Make sure you site them well away from paths and so they have no option but to fly straight up and out. No doubt i will be knocked back for this post ( which is one of the reasons bee keeping is a private hobby to me) If and more probably when problems do arise i will deal with them. So i say go ahead do it,enjoy it, read a lot of bee keeping books,You Tube has so much bee keeping info and this forum is great ( unless you have a small garden lol You wont regret.

Stephen

 

[BBG]

I agree,but not so much the size of the garden being a problem,more the close proximity of the Neighbours,could perhaps buy the neighbours a bee suit each,or ask them nicely not to use their gardens during daylight hours,or to use the door of the house just over the fence.

Seems reasonable to me!