moving bees close to other apiaries

[betterbee]

In our association we have 1 commercial beekeeper ,a whisper of a member getting a good yield from an area and he locates hives in the area close to the beekeepers apiary.What are the feelings about deliberately siting hives close to other apiaries

 

[drstitson]

don't tell him where your bees are kept.

 

[oliver90owner]

Hang on a minute. Let me think this one out, a moment or two, as to the ulterior motive for the thread.

There would be those that are for and those that are against.

Would a 'yes' vote give you leverage if any one complained about your bees, or give sanction to your possible intentions?

Would a 'no' vote be used as leverage against the other party?

Perhaps the other party is already a member of this forum, or you might hope the word gets back to him/her?

Whichever side we might come down on, other than the 'fence-sitters', it seems that we would be 'tarred with the same brush' as anyone who follows that practice, or possibly used in some already festering argument and would not be popular with one party or the other.

So not a 'fence-sitter', but not prepared to enter into a fight for or against you or the other party.

So, no comment from me other than you need to fight your own corner - and that may have pros and cons of which we are told nothing. There are usually two sides to any argument.

 

[Mammoth]

There are usually two sides to any argument.

Well! Don't sit on the fence then

 

[rolande]

In our association we have 1 commercial beekeeper ,a whisper of a member getting a good yield from an area and he locates hives in the area close to the beekeepers apiary.What are the feelings about deliberately siting hives close to other apiaries

Seems an inefficient way to run a business, open to all sorts of outside manipulation: a concerted effort to claim good forage in areas where it doesn't exist could tie up a lot of his colonies in unproductive 'site sitting' for at least part of the season.

Further, and perhaps more to the point, if he's working the local area and his livelihood depends on honey production he probably already knows the lie of the land so to speak.

 

[Teemore]

In Northern Ireland my experience is that most apiaries do not support large numbers of hives so beekeepers with bigger numbers of hives have more apiaries. Is the beekeeper you refer to actually moving hives in search of forage or is it simply that they have established apiaries in those areas? Before starting to work with bees I would have said no-one near me kept honey bees but within weeks of getting my first Nuc, I began to notice beehives in various places within a small radius of my home, all owned by different beekeepers. Sometimes apiaries go un-noticed for a long time....

Local to me, it would be very difficult for someone just to move bees onto the private land where I maintain apiaries but there is nothing to stop them going to other nearby landowners. It is also worth noting that farmers and growers will frequently invite beekeepers to bring hives onto land for pollination (and avoid pollination fees). There was a post last week referencing an invitation to bring bees to field beans.

PS - Rolande is right about the beekeeper probably already knowing the lay of the land.

 

[ratcatcher]

makes me think of the cowboy film I watched yesterday, where the ranchers were fighting over government owned grassland for herd munching, putting up barbed wire and fighting with their six shooters, so my answer would be, unless you own the land, theirs sweet FA you can do about it, you'll be telling us next, his bees are breathing your air

 

[betterbee]

not saying anything just an observation and looking for opinions,no motive other than seeking views ,this can cause annoyance among some beekeepers and was just wondering was there an unwritten code of practise

 

[Chris B]

Finding a new apiary and populating it in a targetted location in a short space of time is a bit of a tall order for anyone, let alone a commercial beekeeper who would have many other colonies to deal with. Doesn't sound practical to me.

 

[Hombre]

If he's truly busy and you think that he is moving in on your forage, close to your bees, then he won't mind if you put extra bait hives into your apiary, will he?

Life's too short . . .

Perhaps whilst occupying your attention with his hives, he is actually seeing your wife.

 

[masterBK]

This happened in one association and the two people involved almost came to fighting with one threatening to petrol the hives of the other. They now have a "rule" that one member cannot move more than 4 hives of bees within 500yds of someone elses without agreement of the other party and membership is withdrawn if they still go ahead despite the objections. Poaching sites can become a major bone of contention between beekeepers.

 

[betterbee]

That is the sort of response i was looking for,master beek.the person concerned has nothing to do with my bees just causing friction in association ,as for hombre contribution,my wife is recovering from an operation and cancer scare your comments are offensive and in poor taste
martin

 

[Tdf]

Whereabouts in Ireland are you? Don't know of any proper commercial beeks

 

[Travelator]

Post 8

not saying anything just an observation and looking for opinions,no motive other than seeking views ...

Post 12

That is the sort of response i was looking for,master beek. ...

So which is it? Are you asking a question or trolling for sympathy?

I'd say that placing bees within plain sight of someone else's apiary is a bit rude, but putting them in the general area after hearing that the forage is good seems fair enough.