Wheres best to put my hives. Pics of my area

[irishguy]

Have been out looking at wheres best to put my hives when they arrive but thought id post a few pics to show my site so can be advised of where would be the best location. Sorry for the poor quailty pics, was using my phone.


Was thinking this hill out teh back of my house. I will be cutting the grass a few times a year so maybe this isnt such a great idea. What you think, will this be ok. I wont be cutting teh grass on the hill, just beside it but im thinking will it effect the bees me being so close there with a lawn mower. This will be south-west facing

Maybe tucked away into this small hill which is south west facing aswell. I wont be as close with the mower if tucked away at the bottom of this hill.

Here is another angle of the same hill

Here is the very corner of same hill. This is my percolation area but i was thinking maybe tucked away in that slope where it will get the sun most of the day.

Here is the bottom low level of my land, its abit dampish in there but was maybe going to fill the land in in a few months with hardcore for other uses but maybe this would be a nice place to put them seeing as it isnt so close to the house or road. (mobile home will be getting moved away from site in march, was using that when building my house)

Here is another field that i was thinking. It doesnt really get used apart from letting our neigoubour use it for his livestock. More so to keep the grass down for us when it gets overgrown. Looking at this straight on, this is north(ish)facing, however when you turn around, there is nothing in the way so should get sunlight all day. the hill is good dry ground apart from the very bottom of it.

Another place that i was thinking is tucked in near these trees where the long grass is(behind the eletric pole). This field gets really wet in winter but here around the trees where the long grass is, doesnt get damp as much. It will have the sun most of the day and right beside it is a wee stream which will have water in it year round.

The young lad who cant wait for the bee's to arrive. He's more excited than i am TBH lol.

 

[irishguy]

Heres the area in summer time just to give you a perspective what it looks like because the pics above look really bad with it being winter time and really damp and depressing

 

[VEG]

Are you a member of some sort of gang?

 

[irishguy]

Are you a member of some sort of gang?

LOL, no, that is 2 friends of mine and they wouldnt be happy with me putting their faces over the internet so covered their faces. I hope its ok

 

[whoosling]

God what a beautiful place, my bees are tucked away just under blackthorn s/westish facing, I don't think i'd like anywhere to damp just because of getting to them esp in the winter, and it's good not to catch to much wind. Best of luck.

 

[irishguy]

God what a beautiful place, my bees are tucked away just under blackthorn s/westish facing, I don't think i'd like anywhere to damp just because of getting to them esp in the winter, and it's good not to catch to much wind. Best of luck.

Thanks, worked hard to have a place like this. Feel like retiring i worked that hard and im only 33.Might just send the misses out to work the rest of our days since i done the hardest part of finding the land and building the house lol

As for not being to windy, it can get really windy here in all places in winter time. Maybe the biggest hill seeing as it will be protected by the bushes behind them.

 

[Amari]

Heres the area in summer time just to give you a perspective what it looks like because the pics above look really bad with it being winter time and really damp and depressing

Is that poteen in the bottle?
You're spoilt for choice! I think your first pic shows children's toys. Best to arrange flight paths away from play area.
An important consideration is ease of access. Come the summer you may have a dozen supers full of honey for extraction (here's hoping anyway) each weighing 15kg - important to be able to bring up large wheelbarrow or vehicle/trailer.
Doesn't look like oil seed rape country - what is the main bee forage?

 

[irishguy]

Is that poteen in the bottle?


You're spoilt for choice! I think your first pic shows children's toys. Best to arrange flight paths away from play area.
An important consideration is ease of access. Come the summer you may have a dozen supers full of honey for extraction (here's hoping anyway) each weighing 15kg - important to be able to bring up large wheelbarrow or vehicle/trailer.
Doesn't look like oil seed rape country - what is the main bee forage?

Is that poteen in the bottle, no comment your honor lol

YEah thats a kids eletric quad. The kids play here some times. So would you say its best to not to put the hives there. That would probably be the best place to seeing as it would get the least wind. But probably to close for comfort.

I can drive on the large hill or worst case, use the wheel barrow. I wouldnt be able to use it on the smaller hill thou there wouldnt be much carrying because it aint that big. If i were to set the hives half way up the hill i wouldnt have no problem carrying that much up into a wheel barrow.

 

[irishguy]

Doesn't look like oil seed rape country - what is the main bee forage?

Ive only seen 1 rapeseed field near me, maybe 1 mile away but it wasnt even that big. Maybe 1 or 2 acres. Apart from that, i havent seen anywhere in the west growing it. Its all livestock around these parts. As for foraging, it will probably only forage on wild flowers and bushs/trees because all the land is used for cows/sheep near me.

 

[Amari]

Ive only seen 1 rapeseed field near me, maybe 1 mile away but it wasnt even that big. Maybe 1 or 2 acres. Apart from that, i havent seen anywhere in the west growing it. Its all livestock around these parts. As for foraging, it will probably only forage on wild flowers and bushs/trees because all the land is used for cows/sheep near me.

Any heather?

 

[irishguy]

Any heather?

TBH, i dont know. When you say heather. Is that wild heather or someone growing fields of the stuff.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Or the lady in the cottage next door?

If you are going to hardcore the area with the caravan, that looks alright - lane nearby for vehicular access and the likes

 

[sharonh]

As you have a hilly site, you need to make sure that you don't put the hive in a frost pocket.
Also consider the wind. On top of hills can be very exposed.
Winter time is a good time to check all this. After a frosty night, look at the spots you were thinking about,
Also important is access to and from the hive. You don't want problems when retrieving supers after the honey flow.
Regards
Sharon

 

[REDWOOD]

Or the lady in the cottage next door?

If you are going to hardcore the area with the caravan, that looks alright - lane nearby for vehicular access and the likes

and turn the caravan into a storage shed

 

[dpearce4]

and turn the caravan into a storage shed

Sounds good to me. would make a great honey house.

 

[user 6228]

Build a wind break. You can get 4c difference by building sun trap about your hives. Earth bank, bricks, shrubbery all will do.

 

[Amari]

TBH, i dont know. When you say heather. Is that wild heather or someone growing fields of the stuff.

Wild heather which grows on many moors in Wales, Scotland, N. England and even coastal Suffolk (my county). Needs squeezing, not spinning, from the combs, tastes different and can command a premium price.

 

[pargyle]

Build a wind break. You can get 4c difference by building sun trap about your hives. Earth bank, bricks, shrubbery all will do.

This is good advice ... my hive is sheltered on all four sides by either fences, wall or shed - there was 4 degrees of frost last night in the rest of the garden (and possibly more at the front of the house which is more exposed) but the minimum temp on the side of the hive only got down to 1.1 degrees.

I'm sure it helps the bees .... they were out again this morning and only 4 degrees.

 

[irishguy]

Build a wind break. You can get 4c difference by building sun trap about your hives. Earth bank, bricks, shrubbery all will do.

But if I do that, it will block the sunlight

 

[irishguy]

Wild heather which grows on many moors in Wales, Scotland, N. England and even coastal Suffolk (my county). Needs squeezing, not spinning, from the combs, tastes different and can command a premium price.

There's is some waste land where wild flowers grows near me but no moors. Would I still get decent amounts of honey without rape seed or Heather near me.