The Accidental Smallholder Forum
Livestock => Bees & Beekeeping => Topic started by: macgro7 on December 07, 2016, 10:03:05 pm
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I'm considering putting a beehive on the kitchen flat roof. What do you think?
Would that be too close to us humans? Or would they predominantly fly above and away from us and other people passing by?
Alternatively I cap put in the wood at the back but I'm afraid it my not be sunny enough for the bees.
Can someone advice me please???
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I think the flat kitchen roof would work well if you point the opening away from your own access points so that their flight path doesn't cross with yours.
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If you have got neighbours living next door I certainly would not put the hive on your nearby roof! Mention it to them before you do it. You might be able to tolerate bee stings but they are unlikely to be so understanding.
If you have space further down the garden that would be better, provided the hive is placed in a light and airy place away from the canopy of the trees.
If necessary prune back the trees/bushes..
Remember that it will all go surprisingly well until you get to the swarming season and then you will have to start doing seven day inspections.
How will the neighbours react then?
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Yes you are right.
At the back I have really large trees with some smaller shrubs which I'm trying to get rid off this winter.
I was, however, going to put goats at the back. Would they be alright near the hive? Obviously the hive would be fenced away from the goats but they would still be near each other.
Do you know anyone experienced in beekeeping who lives near Leicester who could just come and have a look where the most suitable place would be?
If I place it at the back it would be quite far from the neighbours, separated from the allotment by a hedge.
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My concern on the roof would be weight bearing capability, a hive with a couple of full supers are very heavy and how would you get them down? It is messy enough on ground level :)
I used to have hives in my back garden that was surrounded by trellis and that made the bees fly straight up rather than forward, we could walk past the front on the other side with no issues so I don't think goats would be an issue as long as there is strong fencing to keep them separate.
Whilst it is good to have a sunny spot as it warms the hive and makes them more active, having a sheltered spot isn't a big issue as actually it provides better wind protection for them. It also means a swarm will land on something locally so you have a better chance of catching.
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I was concerned about the weight on the roof too.
How much of an area you think I should fence for the apiary?
Assuming one hive will expand into 2-3 in the future.
Several square metres?
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I'm considering putting a beehive on the kitchen flat roof. What do you think?
Would that be too close to us humans? Or would they predominantly fly above and away from us and other people passing by?
Alternatively I cap put in the wood at the back but I'm afraid it my not be sunny enough for the bees.
Can someone advice me please???
You could do worse than read back through all the bee thread posts during this winter weather. It's going to be much better than any fancy book & will cost you very very little .
I & others have put up a lot of info in the thread over the last five or so years .
You will find what you want therein as well as learning a lot of useful other things related to bees .
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I was concerned about the weight on the roof too.
How much of an area you think I should fence for the apiary?
Assuming one hive will expand into 2-3 in the future.
Several square metres?
Allow one 2 m x 2m area per hive . I'd use six foot high panels slid dowwn H section posts ..concrete ones if you can afford it . The rear side would be the point of access ,big enough to get a fully loaded wheel barrow in & out , so perhaps best to put a hard standing down inside & leading up to it .
You don't need to make a fancy gate a treated roofing baton glued into one of the channels of the H section post with a quality external grab adhesive out of a caulking gun & clamped in place till it is set solid ( a week or so ).
This allows you to then coach bolt on a thicker upright to hinge a half panel on , use three hinges per panel .
I had to drill my own holes through the post and use extra long 150 mm long heavy duty Phillips screws to fix the upright hinge post part .
Do the same for the other side .. remember you'll need to calculate the spacing , for it will be slightly different to a standard spacing .
The reason for six foot high panels is to get the bees flying high up so ensure that you use a treated 6 or 9 inch wide gravel board at the botton of the panels . That way the flying bees will be 2 mtrs high . If you put them on the side of a wood coppice etc .they will tend to fly low where it is less windy till they reach the site.
Having them close to woods on in the edges of woods can lead to breaking off branches smashing your hives & fencing . ( guess how I know ? )
Say you have four hives in a 4 x 4 mtr. square enclosure . Perhaps site the hives in pairs on opposite sides of the square on some thing like a stand made of concrete blocks four or five high when laid on their sides . then placed two 4"x4" x 9 foot long treated fence posts between the ends of the posts I placed the first hive base board . laying old scrapped double drainer stainless steel sinks on the laid flat posts , then put the second base board on .
This gives a great working height in a permanent static apairy & you always have the center space to place a hive you are taking apart as well as th flat roof of the other hive on th stand to place tools & the smoker etc .
Another thing you can do is place a few blocks of untreated wood in the sinks & put the plugs in . When it rains or if you pour water in to the bowl of the sinks, the bees then have access to plenty of water on their doorstep , so no wasted honey making energy & flight time spent searching for it .
Tip..
Never every use a powered or electric strimmer round the hives to keep the grass down if the bees are flying . They don't like the noise and the magnetic pulse of the electrics drives them crazy .. It's not uncommon to find a dozen or more bee stings stuck in the HT cable to the spark plug or suddenly find that when using an electric strimmer you have a mass of angry bee trying to get at you .
I used to use a hand sickle in the early days but resorted to Round Up three or four times a year , till one year I used Path Clear on all my whole apairy areas .
Some folks get the vapours at such an idea but it's a lot safer shuffling about in a grass free apiary than it is in an over grown one with two thirty pound full supers in your arms or trying to push an adapted ( platformed brickies wheel barrows stacked with seven full ones
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I have some heras fencing panels (I think that's what they are called?). They are about 3-4 metres wide and 2 metres high. Might use those to fence the apiary off and perhaps plant a hedge around it so the bees fly above? Would only trim it in winter.
Or maybe put a wooden fence panel I nthe side of hive entrance to force them up?
Before I do it I will clear all my little forest of small trees, dry branches etc, prune big and really big trees so there's more sunshine and less potential branches falling down
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Really big panels suffer from wind damage a lot , that's why a 6 x6 foot between concrete "H2 section 3 mtr long posts work so well
If your determined to put a hedge round thoings yes do it onthe outside of the panels perhaps use privet as that's about the fastest growing evergreen I know of . You can simply take 15 to 18 inch long cuttings off any privet hedge mid to the end of February . If you can make sure there is a heel on them when you pull them off. If no heel , carefully cut a cross in the bottom of a seceteur ( SP? ) cut off cutting .
Dip them in a hormone powder , push them down a small bore 9 inch holeyou've made & water them in well .
Planting the cuttings a foot apart in a double row of six inches wide will give you a decent hedge with lots of bottom . Letting it tun to flowers in Autumn will give your bees lots of pollen too .
If you face a hives entrance on to a panel the bees will tend to fly round the sides at about waist high .
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Oh brilliant! I have a massive privet hedge to cut at work in near future!
Do you happen to know if privet is edible (or at least not toxic) to goats?
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Ask that in the goat section perhaps .