oddball hive

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peteinwilts

Drone Bee
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North Wilts
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Lots and lots
Hi Guys

Although I have a great deal of space to play with on my Father in Laws farm, I have thought I may like a hive in the garden to service the local area.

However, I have young children, the neighbours both sides also have young children and although bees in gardens is (used to be!) quite natural, I would need to be careful with how I do it for politics sake. :boxing_smiley:

Although I live in a small village and is quite ruralified, my garden is not very large. I have seen hives in smaller gardens but they have been without children.

So.. I have been having a few madcap ideas with design and am interested if anyone else has done anything like it before. I have been thinking of having a hive at or near ground level, but having a remote entrance well out of the way maybe on the roof of the house (bungalow!)

does anyone have any oddball hives and\or has anyone else tried remote entrances?

If it went horribly pearshaped I could easily just move them up to the farm! :svengo:

Cheers
Pete
 
Beewolf's observation hive (sysonbybeecam) is on the first floor and the pipe comes out at first floor level, so yes why not..........

Inspection time might cause potential problems though, have you thought about that one?

Frisbee
 
Pete, in all honesty,it does not sound like a good place to site a hive of bee's,children and neighabours,small garden,weekly inspections,bee's not in the best of moods.
 
I read somewhere the other day that someone had two hives in the attic, the bees gain access through a skylight.

For the most part people are not bothered about you having bees until they find out about them (I know that sounds a little obvious) my neighbour hates bees but still hasn't twigged that there is a hive in the garden, if I had asked her if she minded if I kept bees I would have had no bees, and if I had gone ahead and got them with her knowledge I would have had a council inspector knocking at my door the same day, for most people ignorance is bliss.
 
I agree with the ignorance is bliss,but only until they get badly stung.
 
My garden is not particularly large and I have neighbours on both sides. But there are 7 foot high hedges between my garden and theirs. So when the bees fly over their garden they are at cruising height whatever that is.
My bees are relatively gentle, they are Carniolans and a good bee to have in the garden. They can get upset if you fiddle with the brood box but concentrate on the beekeeper and stay close to the hive while they have an argument. But usually they are OK about inspections. I can walk around the back and sides of my hive anytime and my hammock is a few feet away.
I did have a colony of black bees that I was given. They were not as tolerent and they have gone to an out apiary. I insist on gardening etc without the need to suit up. One beekeeper I know suits up to mow his lawn. I cut the grass under my hives using a petrol mower wearing shorts and T shirt.
Mikethebee was sending out some yellow Australian bees as nurse bees this year and they were so gentle and laid back. They are worth having in the garden for their looks alone. It was lovely to have a host of golden bees flying in and they don't half work. When it is sunny they make quite a din with the loud hum they make and they really bring the garden alive.
I would like to know whether Mike is going to be selling nukes headed by Australian queens. He raves about them, saying how good they are at bringing in honey, but i have had only had them as nurse bees and I think I will miss them as they are replaced by the Carniolans that are hatching.
 
Today I was hanging out some washing, having to walk past the hive and some of the neighbours were on the path at the bottom of the garden commented how nice it was to see bees in a garden that obviously didn't cause any bother. They did seem very pro bees:)

In fact one of them was thinking of having a hive but wasn't sure if it could be done in a small garden. Maybe we are fortunate in having docile bees (Carniolans) who seem so focused on getting out and bringing back supplies.

I also think if when talking to neighbours if you ask them to let you know if they become a problem, people are more tolerant. (Even tho I forgot to mention this):eek:
 
I grafted from the yellow bees this morning. They are pretty but unfortunately as the flow has pretty much dried up for me I cannot judge the take.

I also have some from Mike that are near black.

PH
 
one neighbour is an exbeekeeper but has a small baby.

the other side are pro-bees but the wife is extremely scared of buzzy things, but would like to come and see the bees at the farm from within the safety of a suit.

In the garden I have a Willow that is about 30' tall. I 'could' put a hive at the bottom of the tree in a place where it will get sunlight in Winter and a remote enterance half way up or near the top?? ... if remote enterances work!

As I would be going in the hive only once a week I am sure I could easily time it when the neighbouring gardens are not busy and my limited exeperience appears that when I upset the bees, they don't seem cross with me for long!

If remote enterances work, I am sure some pretty and docile bees would have the project sold!
 
But if you position the hive so that the bees are directed upwards do you need to go to the hassle of a remote entrance? I use a hedge, some people use a screen of mesh to direct bees above people's heads. I have heard bees fly at about 15 feet above ground level and watching my foraging bees returning today i would have said that was about right. Just make sure the bees are up high before they leave your garden. A high remote entrance is only needed if you live next to giants. :)
 
Very possibly,the thing is Doc, can you 100% say they won't, ever.
 
Only to the same degree that you can say that they will be badly stung, I have taken every precaution to avoid this happening with the exception of not keeping bees, whom among us living in an urban setting can give a 100% guarantee that someone will not be stung by their bees?
 
If anyone gets stung its
a) wasp
b) other type of stinging insect
c) some other b********s bees
Also most people can't tell the difference between one stripey insect and another.
Unless your bees are pouring into their garden they wont be a nuisance , the council wont be concerned and it wouldn't stand up in court.
If you pointed your bees' flightpath across a low fence into neighbours' gardens then you would be causing a public nuisance and quite rightly would get a lot of bother.
All you have to do is ensure you don't have nasty bees and take a few simple precautions on flight paths. If your neighbours are lucky then they may get foraging bees on their flowers and vegetables but foraging bees are not aggressive and the vast majority of people feel there are not enough bees around gardens.
i seem to be regarded as the local expert on stripey insects and I am a newbie beek. " Should I be worried about a bumble bee nest?" and " what should I do about a wasp nest?"
I think next year i might get an article with pictures put in local rag so i don't have to keep telling people the same thing.
 
Other beekeeping associations could follow Kent's example.

I am not suprised to see that the Kent website is one of the better ones as its run by the same guy that runs the BBKA website the Beefarmers website and a few others,mr Turner is a man with fingers in many pies ;)
 

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