Vertical take off?

[beeker]

Hives assembled ✔ painted on granddaughters instructions ✔ stand made.✔
Question is,. Going to try in the garden first, biggish garden, backing onto farm and field, neighbour is a beekeeper (though no bees at present at home)
I need them as close to the fence as I can really. Is this an acceptable distance for their take off area? Fence is 5ft'ish, with a drop in the other side.
Thanks in advance. Mark

 

[domino]

Love the black and yellow nuc Maybe worth seeing if someone can clip the queens for you.

 

[Boston Bees]

Hives assembled ✔ painted on granddaughters instructions ✔ stand made.✔
Question is,. Going to try in the garden first, biggish garden, backing onto farm and field, neighbour is a beekeeper (though no bees at present at home)
I need them as close to the fence as I can really. Is this an acceptable distance for their take off area? Fence is 5ft'ish, with a drop in the other side.
Thanks in advance. MarkView attachment 24724View attachment 24725

Perfectly acceptable distance

But I might add a 2 m high narrow width trellis on all sides personally, in a garden setting like that

 

[E&MBees]

Your stripy nuc is brilliant! Love the googley eyes

 

[Murox]

Looks fine. Love your creativity. If I had an ounce of artistic ability I think I would paint modern day folk scenes on my hives.

 

[StephenT]

Perfectly acceptable distance

But I might add a 2 m high narrow width trellis on all sides personally, in a garden setting like that

What trellis did you have in mind? I need to contain my bees in my garden better this year as I’ve now got 3 hives. Currently they are all facing into the garden with the neighbours fence behind them and all have a few metres between them.

 

[bazdmoore]

Hives assembled ✔ painted on granddaughters instructions ✔ stand made.✔
Question is,. Going to try in the garden first, biggish garden, backing onto farm and field, neighbour is a beekeeper (though no bees at present at home)
I need them as close to the fence as I can really. Is this an acceptable distance for their take off area? Fence is 5ft'ish, with a drop in the other side.
Thanks in advance. MarkView attachment 24724View attachment 24725

Looks fine in that they will go up if forced to - but unless you block the ends they will simply fly round the corners.

 

[Boston Bees]

What trellis did you have in mind? I need to contain my bees in my garden better this year as I’ve now got 3 hives. Currently they are all facing into the garden with the neighbours fence behind them and all have a few metres between them.

You can do all sorts I guess,

from something like these guys use:

to a narrower "privacy" type trellis 6x4 Elite Privacy Alderley Diamond Trellis 183x120 Garden Lattice Fence Topper | eBay

up to full fence panels

Depends on what kind of look you want to end up with, and how much privacy/concealment you want

Anything that forces them to fly up to 2+ metres immediately is a bonus is these situations I guess.

 

[pargyle]

My only worry would be that the entrance to the hives are going to be in almost perpetual shade .. my colonies tend to start flying when the sun gets towards lighting up the entrance. You might find that they are a bit sluggish to get going which, inevitably, will reduce your crop of honey. Personally, I woud have turned them round to face the other way or even sideways and erect a 6 or 7 foot screen of fine mesh (the sort you buy for growing peas up) aound them as that would be enough to get them up in the air and out of harms way.

If your thinking was that you don't want them flying straight out of the entrance and across the garden I'm afraid that's a bit flawed .. if what they are foraging on is in the direction of your garden and not over the fence they will simply come up to hive roof height and change direction. If there was a screen around them of mesh they would not start flying horizontally until they get above the height of the screen.

Also, you would be safer inspecting them with your back to the fence - you are going to be effectively stood in their flight path with the entrances pointing towards the fence - they will come up and head straight for you. Move the stand out a bit more from the fence to give yourself eough room to work between the fence and the hives, turn them around to face out from the fence and erect a mesh screen all the way round.

A mesh screen would also allow the sun to shine on the entrances.

If you are worried about having bees in the garden then best look for an out apiary before it becomes a problem ...

 

[Curly green finger's]

I tend to agree with Philip I would use some sort of treliss or green net to screen them and turn them around to face the other way and inspect from behind or left to right. Or turn the end hives to face outwards and nucs facing
Away from the fence.
I think you will find you are in there flight path otherwise.i hope you don't mind I had a doodle!
To my eyes the stand looks close to the fence also.

 

[pargyle]

I tend to agree with Philip I would use some sort of treliss or green net to screen them and turn them around to face the other way and inspect from behind or left to right. Or turn the end hives to face outwards and nucs facing
Away from the fence.
I think you will find you are in there flight path otherwise.View attachment 24731i hope you don't mind I had a doodle!

I didn't realise you could write in Mandarin ... it's a bit rude ! Hoo Flung Dung ...

 

[Curly green finger's]

I didn't realise you could write in Mandarin ... it's a bit rude ! Hoo Flung Dung ...

Ching chong chow!
I've been chewing over this thread all day
It's japanese

 

[andrew_r]

I had a similar set up last year in my garden with just two hives, I’ve have since moved them to an out apiary.

I found that the take off wasn’t a problem. They’d go off up vertically and do exactly what I wanted them to do, spiralling high in the air before deciding which direction to go. However it’s the coming back home to land which presented a bigger problem for them. Many, full of nectar and pollen would fly towards the hive at waist height, only to realise they still had a 6ft fence to scale. Some would need to take a rest on the fence or on the ground in front of the hive, but not all had the energy to make this last part of their journey and would succumb to exhaustion, particularly in poorer weather. It was sad to see fully laden foragers not being able to make the last part of their journey into the hive.

As mentioned by others, I also found that my bees would come from all different directions when returning to the hive, particularly from the side and at waiste height, most likely straight across the garden. At peak traffic times, e.g at 3-5pm on a warm sunny evening, there’ll be a lot of bees in the air waiting to land, so keeping them away from the rest of your garden and your neighbours isn’t going to be possible.

By all means give the set up a try, but I’d advise having an out apiary site as a back up should it become a problem for you.

Andrew.

 

[E&MBees]

I also agree with the suggestions above. I had to move a colony from my garden last year. I had erected a 7-8ft screen around them, but it wasn’t sufficient to stop the bees flying across the garden at various heights if there was a particular forage they wanted. Our shadows falling on the hive when hanging out the washing or working in the garden irritated the guard bees. We and the dog were stung numerous times. I think our constant presence in the garden never gave them peace and quiet between inspections. I have now moved them to an out apiary. I sat next to the hive over the weekend watching the foragers returning and they completely ignored me. They are a pleasure to work with now.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I lvertically and do exactly what I wanted them to do, spiralling high in the air before deciding which direction to go. However it’s the coming back home to land which presented a bigger problem for them. Many, full of nectar and pollen would fly towards the hive at waist height, only to realise they still had a 6ft fence to scale. Some would need to take a rest on the fence or on the ground in front of the hive, but not all had the energy to make this last part of their journey and would succumb to exhaustion, particularly in poorer weather. It was sad to see fully laden foragers not being able to make the last part of their journey into the hive.

As mentioned by others, I also found that my bees would come from all different directions when returning to the hive, particularly from the side and at waiste height, most likely straight across the garden. At peak traffic times, e.g at 3-5pm on a warm sunny evening, there’ll be a lot of bees in the air waiting to land, so keeping them away from the rest of your garden and your neighbours isn’t going to be possible.

By all means give the set up a try, but I’d advise having an out apiary site as a back up should it become a problem for you.

Andrew.

You've given me a mental image of a cloud of bees circling above the hive in a holding pattern. Some skilled air traffic control required

 

[Fiona in South View]

As someone who a few years ago reconfigured their garden so that they could move their out apiary in, try to keep it where you can see it daily. There is nothing to match the combining of your daily life with theirs! Non beekeeper husband started getting up in the morning, drawing the curtains and saying “the girls are all out this morning”. We also started a regular 5-6pm bench sit with tea/wine, cake/nibbles to watch them. Best thing I ever did. However, if you don’t have the space, you don’t have the space

 

[madasafish]

I always find when sizing thing as to where to put hives, it helps if you take an empty brood box and imagine you are lifting it off the stand and placing it on the ground . It looks like the fence behind would make that very difficult. And then think of having 4-5 supers on. Can you access them easily?
Standing in front of the entrance on the top of a small ladder with a full super in your arms is a nogo. You need space between stand and fence to turn, have ladders/floors and spare boxes. Anuthing less than 1.5 meters is too small.

(A single hive on its own is easier : you can work from the sides.)

 

[pargyle]

As someone who a few years ago reconfigured their garden so that they could move their out apiary in, try to keep it where you can see it daily. There is nothing to match the combining of your daily life with theirs! Non beekeeper husband started getting up in the morning, drawing the curtains and saying “the girls are all out this morning”. We also started a regular 5-6pm bench sit with tea/wine, cake/nibbles to watch them. Best thing I ever did. However, if you don’t have the space, you don’t have the space

A garden apiary is fabulous ... mine are in my garden but I am fortunate that they are located in an area that is enclosed on all four sides .. greenhouse on one, workshop on another, 6 foot wall and a 6 foot fence on the other two. The hives all face South(ish). The bees are well away from our house and any neighbours ... and I love wandering down at all times of the day and night to have a look at what is going on .. The bees almost inevitably fly North - up the close in which I live and the only thing in their flight path is my wife's car .. which is inevitably peppered with bee poo ! They collect water from my pond which is near the rear of the house and we regularly see lots of bees flying to and fro although they don't seem to bother us. My wife is a 'bee flapper' and she won't go anywhere near them and woe betide if one accidentally lands on her ..

But .. bees are unpredictable and if a colony does become a nuisance you really do need an out apiary to get them away from your garden and the possibility of people getting stung.

Lots to consider if you have bees in your garden.

 

[BugsInABox]

I had one of my huves facing a wall at a similar distance last year - didn't seem to be an issue for them - they would fly over the wall then come down at about 10 degrees to the vertical. I've read it's more.of an issue for them to not make headway when it's windy , don't know how true that is.
Agree with others, that you need a screen garden side to get, and keep, them up. I'm trying to grow a willow fedge for the purpose just now.

 

[beeker]

Thank you all. I'm obviously way out here, so will have a rethink, I've got a while yet till 'bee-time'. I'll take a couple of wider pics, and annotate curly style with sun, direction, etc.
Would like to try the garden first, from a purely selfish voyueristic viewpoint. Fortunately I am 99% certain of a choice of out apiary areas near to me if this doesn't work. No doubt I'll be picking your fine brains nearer the time over those too.
mark