Where to site the hives, from a newbie

[waxymud]

the only down side of plot a is the road and the fact that the small paddock will be out of bounds for most animals whilst they are there.

The road is about 3m to 5m lower than the grass paddock at A. Does that make a difference? Since the photo was done, the grass paddock, North west of the Wood, between the wood and the plowed field, has been plowed. In short the site A is whats left of a larger grass paddock and now has no interest as a grazing paddock. It will probably get over grown with brambles if I dont use it now.

there is no real down side to plot b, except you have not built a shed to store all your bee keeping stuff in and there are brambles in the way,

If I go for his one I will get in there with a solid bladed strimmer / hedge cutter and level anything brambley looking. The turn soil and grass seed it. I can then hopefully just push a mower around the hives, all being well! As for the shed, I can probably commendeer another unused building. Possibly the stone and red tile roof building in the South east corner of the wood adjacent to site A.

personaly on your photo there is a field to the west on a sight line directly behind the main house and by the looks of it i would install a row of hives there with a dumby hedge infront to hide the hives and to offer wind protection,

Not sure where you mean or which house you are referencing from.. There are 3 houses on the farm and its not apparent where they all are, so I am confused where you are sighting from.....?

there also seems to be a white pile of some thing leading south of the copse, i that it it is some form of rubish hard core piles i would consider along them aswell, using them as a wind brace

If its the same thing I am thinking of, ie the piles of rubble and stone running south west from the wood / copse, 2 cm (ish) from the copse, then yes it was rubble. Its gone now as the field was plowed this autumn.


tomorrow morning I will do a bit of editing to the arial photo to try to show what is actually there now. And try to avoid the mushroom effect the last adjustment made!

 

[waxymud]

Wanted to edit the Original post but there seems to be no button to click to edit it so have to post these photos on page 3 instead....

Site A (northen site)

& Site B (the southern site)

Updated map tomorrow.

 

[waxymud]

Still unable to Edit the first post in the thread to be able to change the photo there, so having to post it on page 3...

Edited photo showing current layout, animal grazing, and used Pink rather than red in the hope everyone can see the colour!

The Arrows at the 2 sites show the direction in which the photo was taken an where from roughly.

Cheers,

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

To my unexpert eye both look quite suitable as long as "A" can be screened. If not, go for B though try and keep them as far away as possible to the tractor run, the vibration may cause some curiosity

 

[Polyanwood]

Bees and horses don't go together well. If they are fancy horses and since you are a beginner, I would put them on site B. You will get swarms. They may settle by the horses. The owners would not be happy.

 

[Liam C Ryan]

O, to have a little house!
To own the hearth and stool and all!
The heaped-up sods upon the fire,
The pile of turf against the wall
Site A looks very good and away from the horses and also nice and near the dwelling house ,bees would be quite happy on either site . Anyway when you get a hive the site might be the least of your problems, the best of luck what ever happens.
Regards Liam

 

[Storm™]

I am suprised no one has mentioned prevailing winds. In Cornwall ours is the south westerly. When I site mine I will try and put them behind something so that they are sheltered from those winds, but mainly from the bloomin horizontal rain we get due to the winds. Even the trees on the remoter areas grow downwind.

 

[oliver90owner]

Horses? Then site A. In agreement with Polyanwood (as long as the word 'not' is inserted, or B is changed into A) - I know exactly what was meant.

Prevailing winds should make little difference as long as some wind attenuation is carried out if/as necessary. Sunny, early, on the entrance side is good.

Ten hives - preferably not on the same site during foraging season!

Cold winds are the ones to beware of, not necessarily the prevailing direction.

If I were unsure, I would get an experienced local beek to assess the site (with no initial constraints) and all the relevant information (stock in which areas etc) and see what a purely unbiased appraisal comes up with for, say, 3 possible sites. If the first is site A, you need go no further, I think. There appears a marginal advantage in distance to the village although once the bees get to 'cruising' height they should be well above most of the stock. If unsure after the initial beek, you could always ask another as a second opinion.

Regards, RAB