Any keep bees in suburbs ?

[Animator]

By a show of hands, anyone keep bees in relatively crowded suburbs. I wouldn't mind keeping bees at my house, but worried about the neighbors and lawn people.  Any thoughts appreciated. Also, are you getting any noteworthy honey from "downtown" or crowded housing areas ?  Just curious.

[gardeningfireman]

My sister lives in Akron, OH. The lots are very small; 1/4 acre, maybe less. The people directly behind her have two hives. No problems at all.

[Koala John]

Yup, a mile from the dead centre of a large city, we have a small place without a yard to speak of. I have 4 hives, two on a balcony, and two on a very big stand I built that is in a light well. So far no problems with neighbors, though I've gone to great lengths to keep them secret. Four hives is probably too many given how close our neighbors are, 2 would be better, so I'll probably be moving two of them for a holiday in the country soon!
Good luck,
John.

[riverrat]

It will depend on your management of the hives and how well you get along with your neighbors. Make sure you have a tall shrub or fence around the hive to get the bees flight path above people. hives kept in town require a little more attention than hives in the out yard. If you manage them right you should be okay I keep hives in town and have had a couple of problems with neighbors but nothing that a jar of honey couldn't fix.   ;)   I wouldn't want a neighbor next door with a back yard full of dogs that are not taken care of being a nuisance. no more than my neighbors would want bee hives unmanaged in my back yard. I get a good flow some years in town but it is just like the out yard it depends on the year

[c10250]

Here's what I posted to another question:

I have a hive in my backyard.  My neighborhood allows no fences.  I have very gentle bees.  I can even mow around my hive with no disturbance whatsoever to the bees.  However, I will tell you that I have the entrance to the hive pointed in a direction where no one will walk, mow, . . . , etc. in front of the hive.

The front of your hive will be BOOMING with activity when the hive is fully established.  300 bees coming and going per minute.  Bees will fly low until they have to rise to get over an obstacle.  You do not want a tornado of bees streaming in and out of your hive, low, over your neighbors property (or yours).

The funny thing that I learned during my first year (this year) is that the bees want nothing to do with my yard.  Neighbor's, blocks away keep telling me of how many of my bees they see.  I see none!

Ken

[ziffabeek]

I have one hive in an intown neighborhood in the city of Atlanta.  Before I got the hive, I told all of my neighbors and anybody walking by with their dogs etc, that I was getting it, showing my enthusiasm and excitement.  No-one said anything negative, and in fact most were impressed and excited.  I do live in a pretty liberal neighborhood with a lot of old hippies and urban pioneers.  I also have very gentle bees and pointed my entrance away from the neighbors yard and against a hedge so they mostly have to fly up, but it is fairly close to the side walk.  Even after getting it, most people are excited and encouraging and very curious.  I think as long as you talk to people, explain what and why you are doing it, many people are totally fine with it.  I did ask all of my immediate neighbors if anyone was highly allergic.  I plan on giving out some honey next year when I harvest (didn't get any honey this year) and I hope to have at least one more hive in the future, if not several.

I say go for it!  Just be on top of it if your hive gets hot and like others have said, be careful of your positioning of the hive, and keep communication open.

Good luck!

love,
ziffa

[Animator]

Thanks everyone... I wanted to put my problem hives at the house for careful monitoring. (SHB problem). My others are fine and in a field. Appreciate the help.

[zzen01]

Bellevue, NE has an ordinace specifally forbidding Bees and/or stinging insects.

[Vibe]

Bellevue, NE has an ordinace specifally forbidding Bees and/or stinging insects.

I'd wager that the bees don't much care, and will go there to forage anyways. :D

[msully]

I had one hive at the start of this year and now have 3 hives in my backyard in suburbia.  The hives face away from my neighbors houses (and into my backyard) and I've had no trouble at all.  I mow right in front of the hive, and just slow down when I go by so nobody runs into me.  My original hive is the only one that produced and I got 137 pounds out of it.  All of the irrigation and flowers in suburbia make the girls happy!

[sarafina]

I live in a suburban neighborhood and have 2 hives in my backyard.  It is a nice-sized lot since it is on the curve of the street, so pie-shaped and very wide at the back.  I don't think my neighbors even know I have bees since you can't see over the fences.

I dug out a pretty good hole and put down the some pond liner material and made a nice pond with a small rock waterfall for my girls to drink from.  When people want to see my bees but don't want to get too close to my hives, I take them to the pond because there are always a dozen or so there tanking up.

I don't plan on having more than 2 hives but so far no problems with the neighbors.  I took a one-day course on backyard beekeeping in the city and the biggest recommendation was to have plenty of water in your own backyard for the to drink - otherwise, they will visit the neighbors pools since they don't mind the chlorinated water.  I also checked out local ordinances and there was no mention of bees so I am good there.

[giant pumpkin peep]

I live near here.

http://maps.google.com/maps?ie=UTF-8&hl=en&tab=wl

Hope the link works. Click on satilite and see how many people are here. My neighbor don't know I have bees.

[tillie]

I live 1 mile outside the city of Atlanta, inside the big perimeter highway that runs all around Atlanta.  I keep my bees on my deck.  My neighbors didn't know I had bees for the first two years.  Now they do and the biggest response is to ask me if I'll come talk to their boy scout troop/garden club/children's school class about bees. 

I love having them right outside my door - I can keep a close eye on what's going on and they provide dinner time entertainment when I sit on my sun porch and watch them.

Linda T in Atlanta

[JP]

I believe it should be law that everyone should have at least two hives in their yard or roof top, the world would be a nicer place!

City bees do absolutely wonderfully. A big part of this is due to the diverse foliage your neighbor's have growing in their yards.

Take proper precautions to keep animals and people out of harm's way, and observe ordinances, but, with that said, you may be just fine with a few hives, as long as things are kept respectfully.


...JP

[Scadsobees]

I'm in the 'burbs too...
Large lot (approaching 1/2 acre) lots of big trees.  I have 8 hives back there.  The neighbors all know about them.  I try to keep something as far as water goes for them, but there are a lot of big blue chlorinated pools around and I haven't heard any complaints.  Maybe the neighbors are just too scared too get to close to my yard... :roll:  :-D

I am working on setting up a neighbor a block over set up a hive in his yard, he doesn't have as nice as a yard for it, though.

My #1 concern is limiting swarming.

There are not any beekeeping specific ordinances in my area, but they did pass something about dangerous animals.  Even if there are not any ordinances, they can interpret about anything to ban bees if they get nuisance complaints.

Rick

[bigbearomaha]

Bellevue, NE has an ordinace specifally forbidding Bees and/or stinging insects.

Actually, no it doesn't.

I spoke with the mayors office and the city Attorney's office just this Monday. They have no ordinance on the books at all that even mention beekeeping.  However, they do appreciate if beekeepers in city limits let them know bees are being kept  So if neighbors call and complain, they ( the city) have a heads up on the situation.


Omaha, on the other hand, has an ordinance stating beekeepers must have a permit from the county. in order to get a permit, your proposed beekeeping yard must be inspected prior to permit being issued and you must have at least 25 ft from each bordr of your yard and away from neighbors bldgs as location for the beehives.  Also, beehives cannot be within 100 feet of a park or playground..

I live in South Omaha and expect to have bees in areas in Bellevue, Omaha and surrounding parts of the Metro area so  I have made a point to contact city/county officials to verify permits, processes and ordinances as I look at prospective places to place hives.

I am posting the rules and ordinances for all the areas I contact on my website bbe-tech dot com.

Big Bear

[wildbeekeeper]

The city of Pittsburgh allows bees in fact there is a group called 'Burgh Bees ( www.burghbees.com ) that is promoting beekeeping in the city...I have a couple myself and I know several other that have hives right in the city neighborhoods...on rooftops, in yards etc etc....its a great thing!  education is the key though...you educate your neighbors and offer some honey and they take a liking to you and your bees real quick!

[Vibe]

I believe it should be law that everyone should have at least two hives in their yard or roof top, the world would be a nicer place!

City bees do absolutely wonderfully. a big part of this is due to the diverse foliage your neighbor's have growing in their yards.

...JP

Nice sentiment. Bit I'm not sure that suburbia would support quite that large a bee population. :D
I have 3 hives in suburban Little Rock. They actually produced far better this year than the 5 my FIL has outside the city limits.
I just noticed your Metarie location. Back in '68-70 I lived in Walnut Bend across the river from Chalmette (sp) and went to Edna Karr (Jr High at that time).