Choosing the best site for your hives

How can we give our bees the best chance of doing well ?

The dictionary defines an apiary as ‘a place where bees are kept for their honey’. Apiaries can vary from the commercial to the just plain daft but how can we get the place closer to perfect from the bees’ point of view?

The ideal site

Ideally bees should not be put near places close to people – especially the family or the neighbours if you want to keep them sweet. Sites should be sheltered from the wind and the hottest sun but open to air movements. Thick hedges or shrubs give good wind shelter and also encourage bees to quickly fly upward and over the heads of passers by. Hives should not be put in places that flood, or fill with snow or are frost pockets. The bees need water and good nectar producing forage close by. The beekeeper needs to have relatively easy access to the apiary site – because honey supers are heavy and if you have a good site you will have lots of honey.

Arranging hives

Not too many stocks should be kept in one place. Bees may be confused or annoyed by the proximity of other hives. Try placing the bees in curvy lines or circles or squares with the entrances facing either outwards or inwards. In a sheltered site it is not a problem in entrances don’t face south.

Fortunately bees lend themselves to being kept in all sorts of places – so don’t despair if your garden is small. Look out for a suitable place elsewhere and negotiate the rent in pots of honey

More about curious apiary sites in the original article by Dronus Beecraft Oct 06