Keeping bees in yoru garden

[CB008]

I have been keeping bees for 7 years now. I have 6 hives but more colonies all in my garden. When I started out I read with interest various views on why you should not keep bees in your garden. I have to say that in many ways it is a far more satisfying experience as you can see as many times a day as you like exactly what the bees are doing. However, I can now state categorically that you will have problems.

With one hive it is unlikely that you will develop a really nasty hive. Once you get into multiple numbers then it is my experience that every year you will get at least one bad colony. Not just aggressive and following but truly nasty where they will attack anyone within 50 metres of their hive or more. This is where it gets really tricky especially if you have neighbours.

So, if you are thinking of keeping bees in your garden please be aware that there will be a time, sooner or later, when you will have real problems to deal with. I usually put one bee suit over another in order to tackle the problem but when you are 6 meters up a tower painting your house at least 50 meters from your hives and you get stung repeatedly trust me you have a problem.

Re-queening may work but takes a few weeks to work through, on one occasion when they attacked people in the lane minding their own business then I had to "petrol" the colony which is sad and expensive. I am fairly experienced but still get new queens or old colonies hat just can turn on you.

 

[Motobiman]

Yeh I have one hive in the garden with the intention of just using it for swarms and splits from my out apiary but I am keenly aware that it may well be a problem at some stage.

At the moment they are fine . . . . . .

Did you notice the problem building up during inspections or was it more sudden?

 

[CB008]

It usually starts to show when you inspect - you get buzzed and get followers. They can than turn quite out of the blue. You open up one day and you have twenty on your legs all in attack mode

 

[CB008]

I should also have said that it can also depend on where in eth season that you are. Now they have honey to protect so do tend to be different from the early season colony build up.

 

[Obee1]

I have had problems with garden bees too. I'm thinking to reduce mine to one colony here - I suspect that the close proximity of the other hives adds to defensive behaviour - especially as the forage here is so good that the hives are stuffed with honey.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

However, I can now state categorically that you will have problems.

anyone within 50 metres of their hive or more.

when you are 6 meters up a tower painting your house at least 50 meters from your hives and you get stung repeatedly trust me you have a problem.

A couple of comments

6 hives plus other colonies in a garden is a lot. The usual rule of thumb to avoid statutory nuisance is two or three. (Your profile says 4 by the way)

It looks as though you are reacting to a recent incident (140-odd posts in six years) and that that incident was with the paint 6m in the air.

Paint and other similar smells (solvents etc) are known bee irritants, and you may have been pretty close to one of their flightpaths.

This is a very irritable time of the year and colonies are large (agree; have to plan for this stage)

Buying in some good genes every so often makes sense for the backyard beekeeper. We all know @Hivemaker. on here and his Buckies are a good start.

Staying right on top of the gene pool is essential, I agree.

 

[CB008]

Actually I am not reacting to the current situation - it tends to happen at some stage every year. It just made me think back to the warnings on here when I first decided to keep the bees at home and how I ignored them so it prompted me to post for the frist time in years as you so rightly say. I have 6 hives, three of which are Snelgroved plus a NUC which makes ten colonies which is a lot. It is a large garden with only one neighbour and surrounded by farmland.

 

[pjb1972]

I have 2 hives down the garden and 1 nuc on my shed roof had no probs with aggression as yet I can stand within 2 ft with no probs at all at the mo lol

 

[nantmoel]

I think the simple answer is to keep nice gentle bees, and perhaps no more that two hive if you only have a smallish garden.

 

[Matt77]

I used to keep a couple of colonies in a garden. The bees themselves never really caused a problem apart from a swarm that ended up next door. The main problem was a psychological one, once the neighbours were aware bees were there every possible insect bite, sting etc was attributed to my bees & unfortunately there was no reasoning with said neighbours. I totally understand people can find a large colony intimidating & to be fair the neighbours are entitled to enjoy their garden with out fear of real or imagined threats from bees. I'd never do it again while I have a house with neighbours. I spent more time managing neighbours than the bees. Mine are in field away from people now.

 

[madasafish]

At present I have 10 hives in my garden. My maximum was 12 3 years ago.

Only one is nasty - the first that has ever been really horrible.
We have only one set of next door neighbours - they are ex farmers so tolerant. The cows in the fields don't mind and our across the road neighbours appear to have never had any issues - at least none i am aware of.

I realise this is not a typical urban setting.

 

[MartinL]

2 hives on flat roof, 12ft above everything else no problems at all.

 

[Tom Jay]

This is my third season with hives in the garden. So far, no problem. I was given a nuc of Caucasian by an experienced beekeeper friend who suggested those to start me off, for their gentle reputation. I now have six queens, one daughter and five granddaughters of hers, and await the emergence of her first great granddaughter as a result of an AS I did this week. Some of these will no doubt be mated with the local stock which tends to be very dark - I'm in an area which claims the residue of the supposed extinct native black bee. Yet their remarkable gentleness in all hives thus far has remained constant.

A large garden with thick boundary hedges, fronting onto a busy main road. The neighbours on one side have clear sight of the hives and love it so. They've consulted about planting bee friendly plants. I can't ask better than that! Other neighbours don't see the hives but know about them as I did a note through all the doors when I first had a potential swarm issue and little experience. Some of them have commented on improved fruit crops.

My first hives - three there currently - are in the space of a dismantled Victorian conservatory, with a mesh around the two 'low' sides so as to raise the bee flight path to above head height; it's right alongside my drive, and the neighbours' drive parallel. Then I have three more parked alongside trees with a 10 metre lawn in front of them before the path to my front door. Mostly this prompts real interest from callers, but just occasionally a delivery guy or such is nervous.

I have a flat roof at first floor level, sheltered from prevailing wind by the main part of the two storey house. I have the seventh hive up there as an experiment to see how convenient it is to beekeep with need of ladder access. It's proved fine, though I have yet to harvest from there. If I find I can do that safely and simply, I'll move another couple hives up there in the winter.

In light of the original poster's experience, I think I'll seek out a friend with land who would be willing to take a colony which might turn nasty, at short notice, and I'd re-queen them there. So, thanks for getting me to think it through.

 

[pargyle]

I have 7 at present and have never had a problem - even now when they have honey stores they are just a bit buzzy but never aggressive. The garden is fairly large and the bees in an area where they are surrounded by 6 foot high walls, fences, workshop and greenhouse so the only way is up and I think this helps. The neighbours know about them but I've never had a complaint.

The best advice is not to be afraid to try and see how you get on but always have Plan B in place - just in case. Make sure their obvious flight path is not in the line of anywhere you or your neighbours are likely to be regularly.

Mine tolerate machinery well - lawnmower, strimmer etc. and I can walk around them without them taking a lot of notice of me. It's very much a case of getting to know your bees and only expanding with colonies that are garden friendly - if they turn, be ready to get them away - fast !

 

[Motobiman]

Understand Matt77

As I said I guess they are on borrowed time and will have to be moved when they go from just a Nuc size to a full hive colony.

At the moment they seem to be refusing to inhabit the super. . . . . . . . . .despite getting crowded down below (sounds like a nasty condition)

 

[Motobiman]

The best advice is not to be afraid to try and see how you get on but always have Plan B in place - just in case. Make sure their obvious flight path is not in the line of anywhere you or your neighbours are likely to be regularly.

It's very much a case of getting to know your bees and only expanding with colonies that are garden friendly - if they turn, be ready to get them away - fast !

Methinks that's good advice.

 

[CB008]

I have no idea why the occasional hive of mine turns nasty.I have taken in nice calm Queens from elsewhere and re-queened but my point is sooner or later one hive will simply turn. In my first year I used to sit shirtless in a pair of shorts about two foot from my hive watching the behaviour of the guard bees etc.

My point is that anyone who does keep bees in their garden should be prepared that this is likely to happen at some point. The more colonies then the more likely

 

[bpmurray]

You mentioned Snelgrove - I believe these can turn a nice hive into demon mode when they think they're Q-, not always but definitely not unusual.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I've always wanted bees in the garden but husband has little grandchildren so I have resigned myself to never having any.
Till now.......I have it sorted. He's going to make me an insulated bee box that's going 20 feet up into fir tree at the bottom of the garden where the hens live.
It will be an interesting experiment

 

[maddydog]

I've always wanted bees in the garden but husband has little grandchildren so I have resigned myself to never having any.
Till now.......I have it sorted. He's going to make me an insulated bee box that's going 20 feet up into fir tree at the bottom of the garden where the hens live.
It will be an interesting experiment

Inspections on stilts?