Hosting a honeybee hive

[Lobster11]

My wife has become worried about the decline of honeybee populations since planting all kinds of flowers on our two decks a week ago and having yet to see a single bee. A little online research led her to a local beekeeper organization that offers a service: If you want to host a hive on your property, a qualified beekeeper will come set it up and then "keep" it for you. Being an inveterate do-gooder, she sent an inquiry and request for someone to contact us about it. She seems very excited about the idea.

I'm sure that when they get back to her they will explain all the ins and outs and pros and cons and such, but in the meantime I thought I'd try to find out if it's even worth seriously considering. Has anybody ever done this, or know anything about such things? It seems like kind of a cool idea, but it also seems likely to have some downsides. If it isn't such a good idea I'd like to nip it in the bud, so to speak.

 

[hrodbert696]

My wife has become worried about the decline of honeybee populations since planting all kinds of flowers on our two decks a week ago and having yet to see a single bee. A little online research led her to a local beekeeper organization that offers a service: If you want to host a hive on your property, a qualified beekeeper will come set it up and then "keep" it for you. Being an inveterate do-gooder, she sent an inquiry and request for someone to contact us about it. She seems very excited about the idea.

I'm sure that when they get back to her they will explain all the ins and outs and pros and cons and such, but in the meantime I thought I'd try to find out if it's even worth seriously considering. Has anybody ever done this, or know anything about such things? It seems like kind of a cool idea, but it also seems likely to have some downsides. If it isn't such a good idea I'd like to nip it in the bud, so to speak.

Sounds like a cool idea. I have no idea about the ins and outs, but more bees is a good thing. My brother-in-law keeps bees in Vermont, makes his own honey. It's a side thing, he's a mechanic for a day job. I think it's a great thing to look into.

 

[basscooker]

The only thing I'm aware of is that it is recommended a fair distance from your active areas like deck or patio, as well as property lines. Just be sure they're using a real queen and not a pheromone. It's the pheromone substitutions IIRC that some experts claim to be one reason for the scary rate of decline. I think it was Netflix where I saw it, but there is a somewhat sobering doc called "Vanishing of the bees" made a few years ago. Frightening. I have only seen one honey bee so far this year, and it was floundering on the vround and obviously lost and dying.

My property is far too small or I'd have already contacted someone about hosting.

 

[TN WOODMAN]

Grew up with a neighbor with a single hive. Got stung about every time I visited the neighbors kid my age while playing in the yard.

 

[jchrisk1]

There's a local Mead place here that has had bee farms longer than they're been making wine. They have hives all over the county that people host for them. I don't know a lot about it, but I do know that you need enough property, and not be close to another hive site. I can't remember the numbers, but bees have a range (area) that they pollinate. If you're interested, I can find out whatever you would like to know. The owner of the bee farm is a musician i know (I also built his winery) and a guitarist I'm friends with works for him.

 

[hbarcat]

I used to have a hive so that I could make mead. I remember it being a lot of work. Then I moved to the north-woods and was told that keeping a beehive would mean that i'd need to build an indestructible barrier around it to keep the black bears from tearing apart. So I gave it up.

 

[craigie]

I once knew a guy who started a bee hive. He didn’t use equipment as they were docile. I stood there with him beside the hive as many bees swarmed around. A bit freaky.

Later they started to become more aggressive.....

 

[blastoff99]

Hmmm, you’ve given me an idea for intruder deterrence for my back yard......

 

[S-Bigbottom]

If you are in a neighbor hood then you can not do it. If you have land then it is a good thing.
Some make money by leasing their land to bee keepers, others that grow crops have an agreement that a Keeper has a free place for their hive in exchange that the bees pollinate their crops. It all depends.

 

[MJ5150]

Very cool!
This is something the wife and I would like to do as well. More for the benefit to the bees to help them out, but we'll benefit along the way with honey.

-Mike

 

[RadioactiveGuy4]

I have an irrational fear of bee's but if I had the amount of land needed I would be interested in hosting.

 

[Christine]

Grew up with a neighbor with a single hive. Got stung about every time I visited the neighbors kid my age while playing in the yard.

Just be grateful they didn't have a rifle range

I love bees and I love honey, if we had a bit more space I would have a hive too, my friends have one, it's about 30 yards from the house and no one has been stung yet even the 2 young boys who play in the garden

 

[danesdad]

There's someone close to where I live that has some hives. One year a bear (virtually unheard of on this area) came and messed up a couple of them. I'm not certain what the amount of work is that goes into them.

 

[craigie]

I lived in Gibson’s BC north of Vancouver beside a salmon spawning creek on 5 acres....

My friend went out on his back deck and there was a black bear in his Apple tree less than 10 feet from him.

I was out walking my dog and he jumped a berm and was barking like mad at a massive black bear about 15 feet from me sitting back on his haunches.

I was a tree planter and that same dog liked to chase bears. A girl walked up to her tent and a bear was still there after trashing it. My dog appeared out of nowhere and chased it away.

I came home in Gibsons and the front door knob had a fang puncture. There were claw marks down the glass door.

I was cutting brush near Sudbury Ontario and left my Jerry can at the block. Next morning it was empty and had punctures. Bear drank my gas.

I don’t think I want a bear magnet in my yard in bear county...

 

[fhm555]

One of my grandads kept bee hives when i was a wee lad. They sat off to the side of his yard about a hundred feet from the house along a fence row that marked a pasture where his plow mule and milk cows lived.
In the summer there would be a sea of grand kids and someone would get stung all along but it was never a bad thing and not often enough to be a problem. When someone got stung, my papaw would break open one of his unfiltered cigarettes and moisten a little bit of tobacco and put on the sting to “draw the fire” and it worked. In minutes the pain and swelling would be gone.

 

[Trouztrouz]

What could possibly go wrong?

 

[rendevouz]

I thought we were only allowed to hold jam

 

[fhm555]

Sorry, age related beain fart caused me to forget this.
High powered biz exec can’t sleep, his hair is falling out, job stress is taking it’s toll. He books time with a therapist to see if he can get some relief. Not long in to the first session it becomes apparent Mr. Exec is too immersed in his work, what he needs is a distraction, a hobby to take his mind off the daily grind. The therapist suggests this to Mr. Exec, but he balks, afraid it will become too much an intrusion into his time. “Nonsense”, says the therapst, “take me for instance, i lead a busy full life yet i have a bee keeping hobby.” “Impossible”, exclaimed Mr. Exec, “bee keeping requires daily attention and constant maintenance“. “Not so!” Exclaimed the therapist, “hold on, let me show you something.” Says the therapist as he gets up from his chair and goes to a closet, returning with a jar, which he hands to Mr. Exec. “What the heck is this?” Asks Mr. Exec. Beaming, the therapist says, “those are the bees i keep.” “But they are all dead, in a jar.” Replies Mr. Exec. “Screw it, it’s just a hobby.” Replies the therapist.

 

[the harp unstrung]

 

[Lobster11]

Resurrecting this old thread because....

First, it turns out that our property -- in a suburban neighborhood -- isn't an appropriate place to host a hive (which I was hoping to do, per my OP).

Second -- and the real reason I'm posting right now -- is that we haven't seen a honeybee for several years, despite putting out lots of assorted flowers on our decks and in our yard every year. Lots of bumblebees and hummingbirds, but no honeybees. Until today, that is, when we found dozens of them on some blooming boxwoods in our front yard. So happy to see the honeybees back!