Working Space Around Hives

[Swift Nick]

I have beekeeping lessons to start soon, but wanted to understand space required around hives. I understand you work from the back of a hive, if you lay out your hives in a grid, then whilst being at the back of one hive you may be in front of another. How far away do you need to be from the front of that other hive so that you don't annoy the bees?
I am planning a space & will only be getting two hives this year, but want to plan the space for more hives. If I put the hives in one big line it doesn't work well with the space I have.
Thank you!

 

[Plenty of honey]

I have beekeeping lessons to start soon, but wanted to understand space required around hives. I understand you work from the back of a hive, if you lay out your hives in a grid, then whilst being at the back of one hive you may be in front of another. How far away do you need to be from the front of that other hive so that you don't annoy the bees?
I am planning a space & will only be getting two hives this year, but want to plan the space for more hives. If I put the hives in one big line it doesn't work well with the space I have.
Thank you!

Hi Nick,There is no specific space needed between hives or nucs but logically and practically , its easier to work bees if their a meter or so between each individual hive. You can work very closely to another hive but it depends on what its sitting on. Meaning if your hives are single or individually placed, then there is hardly and vibrations transmitted through the ground to set them on the "alert mode" and you arrive at the next hive, as though it hasn't been touched at all.
Put your hive on supports , shared by say 6 hives, then the minute you touch the first hive, all the hives in that support will be getting every vibration to make in the first hive.

I get this a lot in my nuc yards but i expect it and generally its not a problem.
All my production hives are only in groups of two, so their on two tyres, then a third of a pallet, so they also get minimal vibration as the tyres seem to help absorb vibrations.

You can have all your hives in a line and providing you have some geographical nearby references, you shouldn't get much drifting. Ive found no difference in hives at all. However it is probably more logical to have your hives dotted around within an apiary. Other beekeepers have other ideas.
Working from behind is of course you main aim, you disturb bees less, as your not disrupting the flight path. With nice bees, you can come and go and bees dont alter their behaviour at all and no precious foraging time is lost, due to disruption in the hive.

At the start of your beekeeping life, make things as easy as you can, whilst your still getting to grips with careful hive inspections. Try not to knock the hive or drop the roof on to the side of the hive when you first get there. it will give you longer in the colony.
Best of luck with your apiary!

 

[drex]

What are the dimensions of the site you are thinking of.? Are there any obstacles ( trees, sheds, fences) around the boundary?
You can work from the back or the side, as you appear to intend to run nationals- depends on which way you run the frames.
Totally straight lines are not a good idea anyway. The hives need to be pointing in different directions to help the bees distinguish between them, so they return to the right one. The minimum spacing you need is to give you room to stand, and to stack the boxes etc you take off the hive you are inspecting.
For comfort I suggest you space them at least double this or even to use as much of the available space as possible, and when you get more hives you "fill in" the gaps.
Most beginners books will have a chapter on siting and laying out an apiary. You usually have to end up with a compromise. In a small space some will keep hives in blocks of four, one facing east, another north etc.
When you make various manipulation you end up moving hives anyway.
Enjoy your new hobby.

 

[B+.]

How far away do you need to be from the front of that other hive so that you don't annoy the bees?

Some bees are more responsive to activity around their hive than others so this can be a "how long is a piece of string" sort of question. Also hives can be pointed in different directions (perpendicular to their neighbour) so you should not be in the direct flight patch of returning foragers.
As a guestimate, I would suggest that you need a minimum of 2m between groups of hives (a group being 4 with entrances facing perpendicular to each other).

 

[JWF]

If you have a hedge, give loads of room between the hedge and hives as it's difficult to cut them back in the summer (plus you'll have more productive things to do in the apiary)

 

[Swift Nick]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I will be putting the hives on individual stands, the space I want to use is in a paddock at the back of my veg garden, about 18' x 12', no hedges nearby, just some post & rail fencing.
I will have the option of extending back, so later on I could go for 18' x 18' or 18' x 24'.
I just want to have a good go at getting it right first time for a potential of 8 hives max in years to come - but let's not get too carried away.
Thanks Nick

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I will be putting the hives on individual stands, the space I want to use is in a paddock at the back of my veg garden, about 18' x 12', no hedges nearby, just some post & rail fencing.
I will have the option of extending back, so later on I could go for 18' x 18' or 18' x 24'.
I just want to have a good go at getting it right first time for a potential of 8 hives max in years to come - but let's not get too carried away.
Thanks Nick

My hives stand on a concrete yard which used to be the muck stand of a commercial pig fattening shed. Behind and to the sides are post and rail fences separating the apiary from a horse paddock with approximately a metre of walk space between the backs of the hives and the fence. The hives are mostly on individual breeze block stands, two blocks high to save bending. I extended the posts upwards to about two metres and fitted mesh fencing to send bee traffic up and over the horses heads.
I have a lightweight stand which fits in the walkway and I move it along to place supers on during brood box inspection. One day I might provide it with wheels.
The plan view of the hives would resemble a half of a threepenny bit for those who recall them. I have sufficient gap between hives to pass if necessary or to put a roof or hive cosy down on edge so as to make for easy inspection. When harvesting supers I pull my small trailer in front of the hives which is about the only time working from the front is really required.
Oh and when allowed out from the shed chickens pass around the hives where they eat hive detritus.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Thanks for the helpful replies. I will be putting the hives on individual stands, the space I want to use is in a paddock at the back of my veg garden, about 18' x 12', no hedges nearby, just some post & rail fencing.
I will have the option of extending back, so later on I could go for 18' x 18' or 18' x 24'.
I just want to have a good go at getting it right first time for a potential of 8 hives max in years to come - but let's not get too carried away.
Thanks Nick

Ha, Very famous last words!!!!

 

[For want of a better word]

2 off 10 foot long 4x4 inch posts laid on concrete blocks... posts about 15 inches apart to take OMfs of 18 x 18 ( for Nationals)

Level the blocks.. 2 to three on top of each other will give a reasonable working height.
Orientate the hive stands so it faces South by South West... preferably on a dowsed line.

Leave a gap to place boxes between each colony... better than putting stuff on floor...
and if your bees get so upset by vibrations when you work from behind ( ie on the North side) think about requeening with something a bit more pleasant!

Yeghes da

 

[Little John]

You can have all your hives in a line and providing you have some geographical nearby references, you shouldn't get much drifting. Ive found no difference in hives at all. However it is probably more logical to have your hives dotted around within an apiary. Other beekeepers have other ideas.

That's pretty-much my experience - providing the hives are separated by around two feet or more, then drifting shouldn't be a problem. And - it's always possible to Zig-Zag a line of hives - they don't always have to be straight lines.

I set-up an experiment two years ago with eight nuc entrances just 14" apart, and drifting towards the ends of the line did occur - indicating that spacing is an important factor.

I have a mix of hive settings, some in lines, some randomly dotted around - all spaced so that their entrances are at least two feet apart - can't say I've noticed any difference between hives. I'm sure landmarks do help.
LJ

 

[user 6228]

for the human access 1m all round. Flying clearance. From an open entrance without obstacles it can be at least 6m- 10m before the bees gain height enough to clear a human.
Between the hives? as far apart as you can manage.

 

[Swift Nick]

Thanks!

Thanks again for all the great replies, I wasn't aware of drifting & wasn't thinking along about space for stacking the boxes. I noted all the comments & can now plan it out.

 

[ugcheleuce]

From an open entrance without obstacles it can be at least 6m-10m before the bees gain height enough to clear a human.

That is true, but bees do tend to fly upwards (or downwards on the return leg) much steeper if there is a tall permanent obstacle. So I wonder if one way to reduce the space between hives would not be to erect 2 meter tall screens between the hives.

The beekeeper were I buy queens has about 20 large hives into a very small space of approximately 4 m x 6 m. It's two rows of hives facing each other, with a 1-1.5 m path between the two rows of hives. At the back of the one row is the fence (2-2.5 meters tall), and at the back of the other row is an open shed (i.e. just a roof). The bees all fly upwards and out. When I visit him, we stand under the roof and the bees don't come at us, even though we're right behind the one row of hives and less than 3 meters "in front of" the other row of hives. This does mean that inspections are done while standing in front of the hives, but if you're suited up (and you're experienced and do only what's necessary), it works.