Or even peak ha ha. Brain failure today lol
A
On 14/09/2019 20:58, Oxnatbees wrote:
Karen, here's a bit of a late reply. There was a meeting today (more on that in a blog post). It went on much longer than anyone expected!
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/> I’ve been given the go ahead for up to 3 hives on my allotment! (I’m starting with 1 next spring!)/
Congratulations!!!
/> I am hoping to tap into your expanse of knowledge regarding facing position and best location to benefit the bees./
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/> I have a corner plot with a large hedge along one side and a barb wire fence between my plot and a horse paddock on the other. To complicate things there is a children’s park about 100m (the opposite direction to the paddock) away which I have been asked to mitigate against bees heading for (not sure that’s possible?!) /
Most people in the northern hemisphere point their hive entrances East or South East_if feasble_. I suspect it doesn't really matter and you see them pointing in all directions. The idea is that the morning light comes in and wakes them up early, then they go out and get more nectar. Now, they definitely get up earlier. I rotated my hives 45 degrees to test this and the bees immediately began flying half an hour earlier. Whether this means they get more nectar is questionable though! If you watch honeybees they are very scent-driven and they do not land on flowers in shade, the flowers must be sun warmed before honeybees feed from them. (Whereas bumblebees are not put off by cold.)
What is usually more important is the flight path. So for example Ann Poulter had some hives in a side passage next to her house. It was shady, and the bee entrance could only face one way, but the bees were fine.
So, most important is whether the flight path of the bees crosses a path / area used by humans. Almost as important though is whether it is near horses. That's because unlike most animals, if a horse is stung it does not run away. Its instinct is to kick out, This could knock over the hive. So you want the hive at least a few feet from the horses.
One trick people often use is to put a head height barrier in front of the hive entrance. For example a fence or hedge. This forces emerging bees to climb above head height before flying on. They tend to cruise at that height - presumably it takes more energy to move up/down than fly horizontally.
Of course a barrier like this can shade the entrance. But as discussed above that is probably not too important. I was going to use a bean fence in front of one (plans changed) - I reckoned this would let some light through but discourage the bees from barging straight out. It's the last few feet before the entrance that are where stings happen, partly because the traffic is concentrated there, but also because the bees zoom straight in / out and don't expect to find a mobile object (you) in front of them.
As it is an allotment you will be near the bees, and sweating. You can expect the bees to find you are a delicious salty drink. You don't want their entrance to face a bed you will work a lot. Helen pointed out a while ago, don't grow plants with pungent saps neat the hive because if you crush them it alarms the bees.
Here is a factor you may not have thought of: ideally the entrance should be a good distance above the ground, for example 12 to 18 inches. If it is down near the ground, it will be in the zone where damp and mist accumulate overnight. Also if you have a stand with legs, you can wrap copper tape round the legs to stop slugs creeping up.
Also in our climate, you ideally want the hive to be in shade from noon on. Do you have any trees on your plot or next to it?
Can you tell us -
- what type of hive you will be using
- which directions (north etc) the sides are on (send a sketch?)
- how big the plot is - if it is small it may constrain you
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/> The final point raised by our council was regarding competition for food with “wild” bees (yes I explained that all bees are wild!!) and whether I can do some planting to mitigate the honey bees effect on other bees food sources. I have to be honest this is not something I’ve given much thought to but any thoughts on this and any planting suggestions would be welcome./
Hmm well some plants are no use to honeybees with their little short tongues, but fine for bumblebees and butterflies. Red clover? I'm hoping someone else can answer this query as it's not my area of expertise.
Paul