Will a streetlight bother my hive?

[tperk9784]

Thank you for taking time to read this.

I do not have a hive yet I am doing research and will be getting my hive next season. There is a street light about 50 feet or so from where the wife and I want to place the hive in our side yard. I am wondering if this will bother the hive or if it will not bother it at all.

Tim

[Steel Tiger]

 Unless it's humming loud enough to vibrate the hive, or you're using some sort of transparent hive and the light is shining directly at them, it'll probably not bother them.

[Nature Coast Beek]

You can even use the streetlight to see if you have zombees or not.

[tperk9784]

thanks for the replies :)

[beek1951]

In my experience lights attract Wax Moths and they will infiltrate every hive in the lighted area.
I had a photocell light in my shop and feral cats ran through all night turning it off and on and
I had terrible trouble with moths in the hives behind it, lost 5 completely.

[AllenF]

I have kept a hive or two (or three or four) on my back porch for years now.  Swarms that moved into traps and I just left them there to look at.   Never much had any problems with the lights through the door or the window bothering them.  Sometimes the flood lights would attract a few, but not that many. 

[BlueBee]

I raise silk moths and it is debatable the effect lights have on moths.  Yes, night lights attract moths, but it also confuses them to the point they fly around in circles all night and do nothing. 

As Allen says, the lights will attract a few curious bees at night, but not enough to be a problem.

[KD4MOJ]

I have a "streetlight" in my back yard for security reasons. When the hives were behind the pole, there was no issue. But then I moved all the hives to put them in full sun which was to the side of the light about 30 feet away, then they were attracted to the light during the night. Ended up shutting it off.

...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[tillie]

In my experience after dark in the summer, bees will fly to the street light, the security light, the backporch light, the lighted window.  I used to keep my bees on my deck and had to keep the backyard lights off in the summer to keep there from being nightly bee suicide.  Now my bees are in my backyard and I keep the security light off to protect the bees from their inclination to fly to the light.  As it is, they do fly into my den window (on the back of the house) if I am in the den at night as I often am.

Bees are very attracted to the light and if I were you, I'd consider putting the bees on the opposite side of the house from the streetlight.

Linda T in Atlanta

[BlueBee]

Do bees fly toward the moon?  It gets pretty bright on a cloudless night.

I have mercury vapor and I've had bees 30 feet from it without a noticeable problem.  Maybe my cooler night time temps help discourage them from flying at night?  I don't know, but it hasn't been a problem for me. 

How far away are we talking here?  10 feet or 100 feet?  At 100 feet, the light the bees will see is probably about the same magnitude as the moon!

[hardwood]

I've got a street lamp maybe 40' from my "pet" hives at the house and never seen a bee on it. I've got a 500w security light directly over the hives that only draws the bees if it's on around dusk (I guess it confuses late returning bees). If I turn it on after everyone is home for the night no problem.

Scott

[tillie]

I don't know if it's Atlanta or our warm nights, but while my bees are certainly not flying toward the moon, they definitely fly toward any light after dark that is within 30 feet of the hive.  That's been true when my hives were 10 feet from my house and now when they are 30 feet from the house.  If I go into the basement to do laundry and come upstairs without turning off the basement light, I dont' know how the bees get in but at 11 PM they will be head butting the flourescent light above my washing machine.

I wonder how it is that the rest of you don't have this issue with your bees?

[hardwood]

Linda, I think the most important thing is to read them a bed time story so they go to sleep  :-D

Scott