- Joined
- May 2, 2018
- Messages
- 644
- Reaction score
- 631
- Location
- Nr Maidstone, Kent, UK
- Hive Type
- National
- Number of Hives
- 4
OK, I've only been keeping bees for 3 years now, so I don't have a huge collection or anything, probably just a pretty ordinary hobby keeper setup, but here you go...
I'm lucky to have a very long terraced garden so that the bees positioned on the top terrace don't really interfere with our use of the garden and have flown well over everyone's head before they get a couple of feet from the hives. They also have an apple tree in front of them, a cherry tree behind, and an olive tree to one side, so they don't have much option but to get up and out of the way.
The hives are on the edge of a terrace so the entrances open out over the top of the ragstone wall. This gives me just enough space, shared with the mint and blackberry plants, to work the hives from behind.
The chicken garden is my overflow area. At the moment there's just one poly nuc housing a swarm, a spare hive which is just protecting my last drawn super at the moment, and a plywood nuc that's holding a few old brood frames that are marked for melting down, but being kept 'just in case' for a little bit longer. You never know when you'll need another brood frame!
What used to be the garden shed is rapidly becoming the bee shed! It's amazing how much stuff you 'need' for bees 
Luckily I can fit my extractor and buckets in, and managed to get a little bit more organised this year with a shelf for all those different types of boards. Haven't found a good spot for the new mini mating hives yet - queen rearing being my next beekeeping challenge!
I'm lucky to have a very long terraced garden so that the bees positioned on the top terrace don't really interfere with our use of the garden and have flown well over everyone's head before they get a couple of feet from the hives. They also have an apple tree in front of them, a cherry tree behind, and an olive tree to one side, so they don't have much option but to get up and out of the way.
The hives are on the edge of a terrace so the entrances open out over the top of the ragstone wall. This gives me just enough space, shared with the mint and blackberry plants, to work the hives from behind.
The chicken garden is my overflow area. At the moment there's just one poly nuc housing a swarm, a spare hive which is just protecting my last drawn super at the moment, and a plywood nuc that's holding a few old brood frames that are marked for melting down, but being kept 'just in case' for a little bit longer. You never know when you'll need another brood frame!
What used to be the garden shed is rapidly becoming the bee shed! It's amazing how much stuff you 'need' for bees Luckily I can fit my extractor and buckets in, and managed to get a little bit more organised this year with a shelf for all those different types of boards. Haven't found a good spot for the new mini mating hives yet - queen rearing being my next beekeeping challenge!
Still using my homemade clearer board at the moment so haven't got around to putting the rhombus clearers on a board yet - might have to be a job for this weekend 
