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Author Topic: Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)  (Read 4215 times)

Offline beemaster

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« on: April 16, 2004, 08:45:19 pm »
Dear John,
 
     I enjoyed your website. Lots of info, but one thing I did not see unless I just missed it, was Placement of a hive, and I need your advice on this.
I live in a rural area, on a dead end  street. houses lined down the street on both sides, but the houses are not awful close to each other.
I have a one acre lot. Actually, I should say my property is about 1/2 an acre wide, and one acre long.
Now I have two other places I can put my bees, at my dads house or my sisters house. They have huge yards and plenty of land.
I would rather keep them here, but my delimma I caused for myslf is this: Would it be ok to keep a hive towards the back of my property? Its wooded, and there is a clearing where I keep my garden, I have been planning on putting my bees on one end of my garden.
Will my neighbors cause any problems?? they neighbor on one side of me mows about every other weekend, and thats the extent of his noise. The neighbor on the other side of me has a young boy who rides a dirt bike often. Now would I be pushing it on trying to keep my bees close to me??????
I need your advice as soon as you can help me, my bees are getting here tomorrow.
 
ALSO, I was planning on building a 3 foot high table of some sort to set the hive on. Any problem you can see with this???
 
I appreciate your time, and help.
 
Chris

------------------------
Chris:

The amount of property sounds great - I keep mine right on the property line 10ft from the neighbors cars, they mow weekly right up to the rear of the hive and I have a deal, they give me a days notice and I close the entrace at the end of the previous evenings flight. When they are done, I remove the block at the door and all is as normal.

Make sure your table is durable - a 2 story hive hive can weigh over 300 pounds.

Try to keep them out of the total shaded areas if possible, they need sun in the entrance to get them out early in the morning, and mildew issues can also be a problem as well as an increase of ant invasions.

The bees leave the hive - fly up to 30ft and go about their business - I don't see a problem with mowing or dirtbikes more than 50 feet way under any case. I don't have a clue off hand WHERE you live, but honeybees are interested in foraging not neighbor assult.

Make sure they know WHERE the hives are and explain even give them a tour of the setup once done - you will be much better off if they are fully involved, never try to hide beehives from the neighbors - it makes you look like the bad guy and that's a nasty way to start a beeyard.

I'm going to post this in the beekeeping forum click this link to get other members from around the worlds imput:  http://www.beemaster.com/beebbs/viewtopic.php?p=1325#1325 - check ack several days, this has been a hot topic lately and PLEASE NOT - you can ask questions and make replies at that location. 70 members from around the world might give you additional ideas

John


Members THIS HAS BEEN A HOT TOPIC, please add some additional imput.
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Offline Robo

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #1 on: April 16, 2004, 10:36:45 pm »
Chris,

I agree with John, be upfront with your neighbors, but don't make it look like you are looking for their permission.  Explain to them the bees really have no interest in people, but unfortunately our paths do cross.  Since your bees know no bounds, they will be visiting your nieghbors.  Explain to them the benefits of YOUR bees pollinating their yard.  Also teach them if they do encounter a bee to just stand still.  The bee will buzz around and check them out for a few seconds and then leave.  If they start swatting and making a lot of motions, the bee will become threatened and then will defend itself.  I would suggest inviting your neighbors over to see the hive.  Let them get as close as they are comfortable with, but you should walk right up to the hive,  maybe lift the cover and look inside or something.  Just so the neighbors get the point that they are not aggressive.  A promise of a sample of the bounty helps too :lol:

As long as your nieghbor is not mowing right in front of the hive or pelting it with debris from his mower,  the bees could care less.

Try to place your hive so it gets the early morning sun on the front of the hive.  This will warm the hive and get the bees flying earlier. Afternoon shade will help keep the hive from overheating. The morning sun really makes a difference.

I'm not quite sure what you have in mind for a 3 foot table,  but remember not only do the supers get heavy, but a strong hive could get to be 5-6 feet high as well.  I would recommend keeping it as close to the ground as possible.


Rob......
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beeware184

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #2 on: April 17, 2004, 12:44:57 pm »
Hi,
I live in Washington state and the rule of thumb here seems to bee to have the hive(s) facing southwest if possible.  That way they start to work early and stay up late as the sun goes down, but without totally direct sun light.  We get alot of wind too, from the west, so a hive will have a little buffer for that also. 8)

Offline Bee Boy

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #3 on: June 04, 2004, 11:33:26 pm »
I have almost the exact set up and pretty much the same situation that you have and I have had no problems so far 8)
Bee Boy

Offline wingmaster

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #4 on: June 10, 2005, 09:49:48 am »
Check your local laws some counties want hives to be 20 feet
from propriety lines. Also look around at night and make sure you
point the hive entrance so that it is not facing any porch lights or you
will have them buzzing a neighbors porch light. They don’t like
that. People are very nerves when the girls come buzzing around
them. Another thing you can do is get there flight path up by fencing them
or putting them up on your roof if its not to hot.

Offline JP

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #5 on: June 10, 2005, 10:38:34 am »
Chris, I made sure to inform all of my neighbors I was setting up some hives, & informed them that they were beneficial & really don't want to sting unless severely threatened, I live in close proximity to some of my neighbors & they appreciated that I told them of my beekeeping intentions. In fact, two of my neighbors have relatives that are beekeepers!! I find most people I talk to actually have an agreeable outlook regarding honeybees, but most hate wasps. JP
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Offline beefree

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #6 on: June 15, 2005, 09:30:10 pm »
My bees were 40 miles away last year, but i gave some honey to the neighbors anyway just because we got a lot.  This year i have two hives in the backyard (we have about 1/2 acre).  No one has complained.  One neighbor said he noticed the increase in honeybees on his flowers, and thought that was great.  One of the hives is on the back stoop directly in front of the door into the garage.  It sounds goofy, but the bees apparently like the location...good sun early and late, no wind.  Open door, pop lid, work hive.  The other hive is way in the backyard partially shaded by a tree (too much shade if you ask me, those are much lazier bees, and the ants  are annoying out there, but that could also be the styrofoam hive and plasticell frames compared to the wood and wax).  I will be giving honey to all the neighbors again this year, too.  And i have an extra suit if anyone wants a tour...
Beefree
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Offline amymcg

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #7 on: June 15, 2005, 10:32:42 pm »
I live on just shy of 1/2 acre with neighbors on two sides. My hives are closer to their houses than mine. They fly up about 20 feet and then take off to where they are going. I mow right up to mine every week without any issues at all.

Anonymous

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Bees and Neighbors on a 1 acre yard (sound familiar?)
« Reply #8 on: June 16, 2005, 03:56:25 pm »
I think beeware above meant to say face your hives southEAST.  Or east.  Prevailing winds in the U.S. are from the west.  Facing your hives east or southeast keeps the wind from blowing in the entrance and chilling the brood.

Also, your three foot high table is probably going to make it difficult to work your bees.  A stand made of 2x10 lumber (10 inches high) or cement blocks (one row) is plenty.

Lastly, if you must face your hives in the direction of your neighbors and there is no obstructions in their flight path, you may want to put a section of fence or plant some shrubs within about 10 feet of the front of the hives.  When your bees leave the hives, they will encounter the obstruction, fly up to get over and generally cruise to forage at that height or better.  This will keep them from flying directly into your neighbors faces...   :roll:

 

anything