Beehive placement question

[tjschelhaas]

Hello, I keep questioning myself on the placement that I'm planning for my hives. Attached is a google maps of my acreage. They must have taken it in early spring and looks like half the trees are dead but that's besides the point. I was thinking of putting the bees in the circle to the very east end of my property. There are just a few trees that would block north winds there. It would also be right next to farm land and I keep worrying about the farmer spraying. Would it work to block their entrance for the day during spraying or should I not have them so close to corn/ soy beans? My other thought was in the ? area as that would have more wind block and farther from the crops. It would have more shade but I could remove some branches strategically. This is closer to the red box area that will be a flower garden that my wife would want to be able to stroll through without disturbing the bees. I'm thinking they would be far enough from that, probably hard to tell from the image. Any thoughts from some more seasoned beekeepers would be helpful.

Thank you!

[The15thMember]

I don't live near any significantly sized agriculture, so I don't have firsthand experience with dealing with pesticide applications, thank goodness, but if I were you, I'd be more concerned about that than about shade/sun or wind.  Now you are a good bit farther north than me, so your weather and wind is probably harsher than mine and may be more of a factor than at my location, which is pretty sheltered from the weather, but keep in mind that the bees can adjust pretty well to the variability of a hive location.  If it's a little too shady or a little too windy, they'll adapt to that just fine in most situations.  They can't adjust to a poison.  Like I said though, I don't have experience dealing with living close to agriculture, so hopefully someone who does will chime in. 

As far as the distance from the garden goes, the bees will have no trouble finding any flowers on your property, and as long as their flight path into and out of their hive isn't directly crossing a walkway, the foraging bees will be no disturbance to anyone.  Either placement location is PLENTY far away.  A distance of a yard or so would be good enough, as the bees are really only territorial directly in front of a hive.       

[BeeMaster2]

Bees normally travel 2-3 miles for food, even further if there is nothing within that rang. Place the bees in a location that is easy for access especially so that your vehicle can get to them. My first five years, I kept them in my back yore , close enough to bee able to see them day and night. Now I keep them in my back yard here at my farm so that the bears will not mess with them.
Jim Altmiller

[Acebird]

Tough location.  I agree with Jim.  Locate for convenience.

[Bob Wilson]

There's nothing wrong with chatting with the farmer about the bee location. He may be very sympathetic, and thinking about keeping bees himself. He might be willing to call you before he sprays, and/or avoid that area.
After all, your bee's pollination will be a free benefit to his crop, depending on what he plants, especially when followed by a jar of honey placed in his hands.
If he has employees doing the spraying, perhaps an easy to read sign..."Bees. No spraying" would remind them.

[TheHoneyPump]

Hive location principles I tell my folks are:
- Bees are solar powered. Placement that maximizes solar day hours will result in the healthiest and most productive colonies. This principle needs to be tempered with afternoon shade if your area has high daytime temperatures regularly above 30 degC.  Otherwise full sun all day is best. The earlier they wake up and the longer they stay out the better all will bee.
- A hive consumes alot of water. The bees will get it off of morning dew and right after rains. Ideally there would be a water source within a 1/2 mile.  Being a creek, a ditch, a slough, a bog, swimming pool, whatever.
- Bees can easily protect the broodnest from cold but will struggle to protect it from wind.  Look for placement that provides natural features (trees/shrubs) or buildings as windbreaks on the side(s) of the predominant wind directions for you area. Place so entrances are faced away from wind. 
- Bees need flyway and runway space.  Placement needs to have clear unobstructed ground and airspace for a minimum of 10 feet out the front of the hive
- Bees prefer main high flyways to-from forage area that are 6 to 10 feet above the ground. Avoid placements that have tall dense vegetation between the hives and the target forage areas.
- In nature, in the wild, bees nest up high. Placement at the higher grounds of the area is best. Avoid low spots; gully, vally, cooly, swale, etc. 
- Both the bees needs and the available forage changes over the season. They will find what they want. Placement proximity to forage is not relevant, so long as is within 1/2 to 1 mile flying distance. You can concentrate your preferred honey source by being closer, but rest assured there will be times that they will fly right over what you want and go a longer ways to get what they need.
- Bees and bears do not ever coexist. If the area for a 7 mile radius around the hive site has bear habitat features, you will need to protect the hives with electrified fencing or heavy mesh bear-proof enclosure such as 8x8x8x1/8 wire fencing that also extends a foot underground.

By going for a walk around the areas of the property while armed with these principles and making careful consideration of these at each potential spot; you will select the best possible placement for the hives.

Hope that helps!

[tjschelhaas]

Lots of good points here. Thankfully no bears near me in good old SD as I'm not in the Black Hills. I'm still interested to hear somebodies point of view on the spraying. The farmer has let us know in the past since we have some young kids so I'm sure he would continue. My thought was to block them in for the day, but thinking in either location I should probably do that so the spray can dry and not get on them as I'm sure they would be out there regardless of the location.

[NigelP]

Depends what he is spraying and for what.
I run hives on OSR crops that get sprayed with a fungicide....so no need to confine bees.
Also if they are spraying a non flowering crop again no need to confine.