Beeyard and wild hives

MarkR · March 24, 2007, 05:11:21 PM

Hokay, I'm a total newbee, so I figure there are no stupid questions, right? :-\

I was out setting up my beeyard in a spot I thought was pretty close to perfect. Just as I was finishing up I noticed some bees flying through my area. I followed them, not to far, to their hive. . . about 15 feet away in a dead locust tree! So, here's my question. . . my bees are coming next Saturday so if I need to move my yard I kind of need to know ASAP. . . should I keep things the way they are, or is the wild hive going to rob my bees blind just as they're setting up my brand new hives? My guess is they will, but I figured I'd ask before I put in another days work on this, perhaps unnecessarily.

I have almost two acres to play with so I can move, but I'd rather not if I don't have to. Also, my second choice of sites is pretty close to a neighbors yard. The neighbor's house in unoccupied at the moment but I don't know whether anyone that moves in there is going to be bee-friendly or not. I'm tempted to move it there and put up a bambood screen on the property line for about 15 feet and just block their view.

Any advice is much appreciated.

Mark

MrILoveTheAnts · March 24, 2007, 05:23:30 PM

It's alright to place hives right next to each other, wild or not. Robbing isn't a main method of foraging but does occur. So long as your bees have guards out protecting the entrance they should be fine.

With neighboring yards the polite thing to do (and regulated in some states) is to have at least a 6 foot fence up separating the hive and their property. This way they can do whatever even if you have the hive open, not that I'd trust this.

Kathyp · March 24, 2007, 06:00:34 PM

maybe that wild hive will throw a swarm your way! just in case, do you have extra stuff to set up? you could end up with a bonus!

buzzbee · March 24, 2007, 06:16:21 PM

Just be sure to keep an entrance reducer in place until your bees are well established and try not to get any feed spilled around the outside to trigger a robbing event!

MarkR · March 24, 2007, 08:33:49 PM

Ah cool! I'd hate to move everything. I do have an extra deep and frames I can use if the wild hive splits. I hadn't thought of that. That would be an excellent occurance. And perhaps it wouldn't violate the bosses orders to not have more hives than children (three :'( ) . Thanks so much for the help.

Mark

Michael Bush · March 25, 2007, 03:07:51 AM

You can have 20 hives or so in most locations. I wouldn't worry.

MarkR · March 25, 2007, 12:48:30 PM

I don't think my better half has any intention of letting me have anywhere close to 20 hives. But, I can dream. :)

Mark

Mici · March 25, 2007, 01:57:52 PM

Quote from: MarkR on March 25, 2007, 12:48:30 PM
I don't think my better half has any intention of letting me have anywhere close to 20 hives. But, I can dream. :)

Mark

you can do splits and tell her that although they are in seperate boxes, it's still just one hive, now isn't it :-D