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Author Topic: Bees & Horses near each other  (Read 4695 times)

Offline Bee-Bop

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Bees & Horses near each other
« on: December 17, 2007, 04:23:24 pm »
Reading a book " Beekeeping A Practical Guide " by Richard E. Bonney

On pg.# 61 it states;
 " It has long been known that bees and horses often have difficulty coexisting and should not be kept in close proximity. The odor of horses seems to offend bees and has been known to trigger stinging incidents. "

 Do any of You have any practical experience with bees & horses near each other ?
 If You have experienced this,what is your recommend minnium distance apart ?

Thanks
Bee-Bop

PS. I don't think a bee sting is as bad as a dam horse fly bite !
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Offline Jerrymac

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #1 on: December 17, 2007, 04:32:17 pm »
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Offline Bennettoid

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #2 on: December 17, 2007, 04:32:41 pm »
My hives are 10 feet outside of the pasture fence, lined up along the edge of the woods. I have seen bees checking out the horses, but never have I seen a problem.
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Offline Mici

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2007, 05:28:44 pm »
i've heard a few times a horse is very prone to all kinds of poisons, including bees.
5 stings maybe a few more are supposed to put him down.
but many members of this forum don't have any problems with bees and horses sharing pasture :-D
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Online Kathyp

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2007, 06:20:00 pm »
no problem with mine.  the bees are in the pasture next to the horses.  only a fence between.  i have seen the horses stand in the flight path and not be bothered.  i have one horse that seems fascinated by the bees.  my arena is about 25 feet from my hives.  no problems, although the arena is not in the flight path.
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Offline jimmyo

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2007, 09:00:59 pm »
I started with one hive my first year then 3 the next.  Now we have 11 hives. 
  Start with one and find a beekeeper that will give you advice and let you look into his hives with him. Read a couple beginners books and have fun with it!!!   
 we have a fence between our horses and the bees thare's no problems there.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2007, 09:02:33 pm »
>Do any of You have any practical experience with bees & horses near each other ?
 If You have experienced this,what is your recommend minnium distance apart ?

You need a fence in between that keeps the horses from toppling the hives.  Remember they have a long reach.  The horses have to be able to run away from the hives.  Mine graze as far as they can reach under the fence right in front of the hives.  My hives are about three feet from the fence.
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Offline Zoot

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #7 on: December 18, 2007, 01:31:30 am »
our bees and horses coexist fine. I have recently put a simple wire fence up as the horses will rub against the hives which can be an obvious problem especially when they have blankets on. I witnessed one of our older morgans (36 this winter) take at least 40 stings from yellow jackets a few years ago - was perfectly fine once he stopped running and bucking.
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Offline Michael Bush

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #8 on: December 18, 2007, 08:42:25 am »
Most of the horror stories of dead horses are from horses that were TIED or STABLED very near a hive.  Horses graze around hives fine if you fence them off as long as they can run away when stung.
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Offline BMAC

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #9 on: December 18, 2007, 08:54:15 am »
4 of my hives this past year were in a pasture with horses.  Of course like Micheal pointed out the 3 hourses have plenty of room to roam.

Another yard I had 2 years ago had 8 horses and 15 hives at it.

No prob.
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Offline Dick Allen

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #10 on: December 18, 2007, 02:47:01 pm »
Some years back, on a trip to upstate New York, I stopped in at Simon Fraser University in Burnaby, BC for a beekeeping class. One of the speakers was Dewey Caron from the University of Delaware. Dr. Caron gave a talk on honey bee pests and predators. One of his slides showed a toppled and smashed hive. When he asked the class what they thought had done the damage, those who responded all said: "bear". Dr. Caron then said the damage was done by horse that had been too close to the hive, gotten stung, and kicked over the hive.
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Offline Bennettoid

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #11 on: December 18, 2007, 04:06:35 pm »
We had a dinner for Dr. Caron at our December Beekeeper's meeting because he is retiring this year. The guy is an amazing source of info.
Once again, just make sure your hives are outside of the fence. Horses will try to rub on hives to scratch themselves, and thats when the trouble starts.
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Offline thomashton

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #12 on: December 18, 2007, 05:58:29 pm »
I don't have horses (more of a goat guy), but my neighbors do and they are pastured about 6 feet from my hives. The horses are by the hives all the time becuase the hives are close to the chicken coop and the horses like the shade from the coop. That means there is a lot of horse poop around which would create that offending smell. Never have I seen a problem with this situation and I am out there at least twice each day.
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #13 on: December 19, 2007, 10:35:14 am »
Dick, the class that you took at SFU, was it the Beemasters Short Course?  I took the course last February at SFU (I live about 45 minutes northeast of Burnaby).  The course was 5 days long, and it held speakers from Canadian and American universities.  It was enlightening and a very worthwhile course to have participated in.  Hee, hee. I got a Beemasters Certificate.  Hardly not so though, I am no where even close to even thinking I am a beemaster, hee, hee. 

One of the most interesting of the speakers was Adony Melathopoulos.  He performs lots of bee research up in Beaverlodge in Alberta, Canada.  He was the most intriguing and funny young man, we got such a kick out of him.  Another great speaker was Jeff Pettis, USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboroatory in Beltsville, MD, he was awesome too.  And also Dr. Tanya Pankiw, Texas A&M University, College Station, TEXAS, great woman.  Many other great speakers as well.  Have a beautiful and wonderful day.  Cindi
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Offline Dick Allen

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #14 on: December 19, 2007, 02:54:31 pm »
Hi Cindi, yep that was the class. Dewey showed MAAREC slides on honey bee pests and diseases. As I previously mentioned one looked as though a bear had gotten intimate with the hive, but in actuality it was a horse. I took it in February/March 2000 after going to Apimondia ‘99 in Vancouver the previous September. We had Mark Winston, Dewey Caron, Adony Melathopoulos, Paul Van Westendorp, Don Dixon, and a couple of Mark Winston’s graduate students for speakers. It was a great class and I’d recommend it to anyone. It has an optional (real) exam at the end if you want the certificate.

Being the cheap guy I am, I stayed at the YWCA in Vancouver and took the bus back and forth to SFU (about 40 minutes each way) every day.

(  Incidentally, I just checked out the MAAREC site and saw this:

Honey Bee Parasites, Pests and Predators and Diseases - This presentation will soon be available on a CD for $50.  )
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #15 on: December 21, 2007, 10:09:54 am »
Dick, cool.  Paul headed the class, great guy.  These were the keynote speakers at ours:

Daniela Bates, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands
Jacquie Bunse, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Bee Inspector
John Gates
Ed Nowek, Planet Bee Honey Farm
Heather Higo, SFU, Biological Sciences
Adony Melanthopoulus, Agiculture and Agri-Food Canada, Apiculture
Dr. Tanya Pankiw, Texas A & M University, Dept. of Entomology, Faculty of Neuro-science
Dr. Stephen F. Pernal, Agriculture and Agri-Foods Canada, Apiculture
Jeff Pettis, USDA-ARS Bee Research Laboratory
Paul van Westendorp, BC Ministry of Agriculture and Lands, Apiculture

Yes, the course was great.  I was disgusted with my test score at the end.  72%.  Terrible.  Where I fell down terribly was the marketing of honey and the laws governing honey sales, I did really well on all the rest, weird, goes to show what was more important in my studies, needs some revamping for sure.

You were on quite a but trip from the YMCA.  I drove each day to and from, it was over an hours drive, but it was worth it, very burned out the by end of the week too.  But yes, would not change a minute of it.  There were 45 of us that took the course, I met some nice people from all over Canada.  Haven't kept touch, but it was fun.

The Apiculture Department of SFU has since closed down, shame, they did some great research.  I wish that Mark Winston would have been a speaker at this course, but he had since retired from the department and went on to other things.   I have Mark Winston's book, The Biology of the Honeybee, and have read it several times.  Each time I understand just a little bit more of the indepthness of the honeybee.  Excellent book, and will probably re-read many more times in my lifetime.  Excellent author.

Oops, off topic, sorry.  Have a wonderful and greatest of days. Cindi

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There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Koala John

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Re: Bees & Horses near each other
« Reply #16 on: December 27, 2007, 03:56:50 am »
I have one hive in a roughly 20 acre space with four horses. No fencing around the hive. There are plenty of trees and fence posts for them to rub against. So far (for two to three months) they have left the hive alone.
John.
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