Rearranging my Garden Apiary

[thewoodgatherer]

I have my hives in the garden and three quite close to one another. As said the main thing is you need to think about space for manipulating etc. Also I found that the close proximity help instigate robbing this year by my strongest colony. That said not many have the luxury of limitless space to be able to spread them about in an ideal way. One thing I haven’t noticed is drifting at least on any noticeable scale. Think bees are pretty good at finding and keeping to their own homes unless they have reason to be in another one that is

[Patrick]

There was often a theory quoted that end of row hives did “better” by gaining drifting returning foragers increasing yield and also workforce.

Can’t say I have observed a consistent positive correlation based solely on end of row location. Anybody else?

[AndrewLD]

There was often a theory quoted that end of row hives did “better” by gaining drifting returning foragers increasing yield and also workforce.

Can’t say I have observed a consistent positive correlation based solely on end of row location. Anybody else?

That's not a theory; I have read in the older books (1930's/1950's) that unscrupulous beekeepers would wait when hives went to a crop in order to make sure their hives were at the end of a line (for that very reason).

I am intrigued that so little importance is placed on distinguishing hives. Over in France hives tend to have colours and/or geometric shapes to give the bees something to home in on. it's even in their beginners' books. I always have shapes and colours on my hives and often see bees making a beeline (sorry!) for the marker and then dropping to the entrance. I think that beehaus - es wouldn't work as well if they didn't paint pretty pictures on the front.

Quite apart from anything else, you wouldn't want a returning queen drifting to the wrong hive.

[NigelP]

Abelo do a nice range of colours for their poly hives which are now my preferred hive type. My wive likes the yellow and blue ones. I try to mix colours up when sat in rows.
I also used to paint the shapes that bees could distinguish on the larger Paynes poly landing boards and below is how I've painted my apideas.
Hive art is literally a work of art in some countries.

[Japey Edge]

I like it Nigel! My wife has painted one of the nucs and is gutted we didn't get it populated before winter as it looks really nice. I'll dig out a pic and post it up here.

So my first pic didn't really put forward my actual plan, I apologise for that. I draughted up something more like my intentions - whilst incorporating some of the advice received on here. Let me know your thoughts guys





A few points:
The fence is to neighbour's garden - should I have some netting up so they don't dart straight through at the neighbour cutting the grass?
Pic 2 shows the hive facing the fence. The circles are bees, not bubbles
I have a sloping garden and would need to dig it level. I could get adjustable stands but I'd like it level anyway.

[NigelP]

We have a long way to go in the UK to match the traditional hive paintings of Slovenia.....
They really are works of art.
Jazz would suggest you want entrances a bit further away from the fence. Can't give you an exact distance but mine are approx 3 feet from the facing hedge. Bees come out and spiral upwards until they clear the hedge....I also have a willow behind which forces them even higher if they are flying off in a different direction.

[Patrick]

[quote=Patrick post_id=5350 time=<a href="tel:1576782963" data-original-title="" title="">1576782963</a> user_id=50]
There was often a theory quoted that end of row hives did “better” by gaining drifting returning foragers increasing yield and also workforce.

Can’t say I have observed a consistent positive correlation based solely on end of row location. Anybody else?

That's not a theory; I have read in the older books (1930's/1950's) that unscrupulous beekeepers would wait when hives went to a crop in order to make sure their hives were at the end of a line (for that very reason).
.[/quote]

We have obviously read books of similar vintage, hence the comment. Was particularly the subject of grumbling on communal heather stands as I remember.

If it was as significant as suggested, one would expect end of line hives to always be more populous for just that reason alone, which I have not personally observed. Maybe it is more of an issue with migratory hives and disorientated bees. Not saying it doesn’t happen, just wondered if others saw it in fixed apiaries.

On the subject of marking hives, can’t see any good reason not to. I wonder if we don’t have a culture of doing it as historically many older beekeepers were quite secretive about where and how many hives they kept. They may have been less trusting drawing attention to unattended boxes. When I started one of my older acquaintances would not wear overalls so passers by wouldn’t associate his presence with beehives nearby.

[AndrewLD]

OK, thoughts on the new plan:
1. I have the top of my hive stands at 450mm and with a 14 x 12 brood box on top that is ideal. If you go higher you need to consider what happens when you have 4 or even 5 supers on top (I have to get a milk crate to stand on to lift off the top super). We are now going get a trail of "only 5 supers, we get 8 on top of ours" but never mind.
2. I think you are way too close to the fence at only 140mm and I still maintain that with the sun directly behind the hives the bees will take the first opportunity to stop wasting energy to gain the height and will fly back into you. We tell our beginners that a metre distance to a barrier would be OK and garden wind screening mesh is ideal.. Plus you are not giving yourself space to see what is happening at the front of the hive, change over entrance blocks to reduce width etc especially if they propolis it in. I think at only 140mm that would be a huge mistake.
3. How about stepping the hives out to give yourself room behind then and screening in front of the hives if you think usage of the rest of the garden is too constrained with the bees flying out.... I plant buddlia etc in front of mine as well as let the grass grow but I guess I have more room.
4. Marking the front of the hive - one of my french books recommends yellow, blue-green, blue, violet combined with the shapes circle, square, triangle, diagonal bar, cross, diamond, vertical lines, or Y.

[MickBBKA]

I would say no matter how drunk you have been or how much time you have been away from your home you always find the door to your house. Why would your bees be any different ? I don't even use landing boards as the bees just fly pretty much straight into the entrance. These insects have evolved to fly into a hole in a tree. I keep many colonies feet apart, facing the same way and never have robbing. I have 6 colonies in my garden which is about 6m X 10m with no trouble ever.
We really do overthink bees a lot.

Cheers, Mick

[AndrewLD]

We really do overthink bees a lot.

I know what you mean but:

Bees don't live cheek by jowl in their natural state and beekeeping is an artificial environment that some (e.g. Seeley) would argue is very unhealthy for them.
Plus we humans expose them to increasing pesticide loads, pathogens, take away their forage, introduce pests that they wouldn't normally come across, change their climate and those who should know better don't always look after them very well.
Then we beekeepers interfere with their normal cycle and disrupt them when they should be left alone.

I am for making life easy for them ...........