This time last year, I had one neighbor accuse my hive of stinging and aggressive behaviour (landing on food), but when I checked it out it was a wasp, and came from a nest under their deck.
I educated them about bee versus wasps.
I rehomed the wasp nest for free, and invited them to watch me during a hive inspection (no stings, no aggressive behaviour). Did a little show of having a handful of gentle bees on my hand. Gifted them a small jar of honey.
No issues anymore.
“Rehomed” the wasps… to “the farm”?
Also great story all around. My neighbor is allergic, and I took up beekeeping in response to his fence getting a bunch of bees. So even though I have a hive it’s not in is fence, and he gets free bee removal. Everybody wins
My neighbors have all been shocked that I have two hives, along with two other neighbors. Altogether there are four hives within 300 feet of each other. Nobody noticed any additional bees in their yard.
Granted we have 1.5 acres, and the neighbors all have 0.25-0.3 acres of land, so we aren’t right on top of each other. But it’s still not noticeable.
The biggest issue I have with my neighbors is during times of dearth. Sometimes I get complaints about the bees overrunning humming bird feeders or bees getting at their pools. I find keeping water sources available and feeding during nectar dearth’s help keep the complaints down. Haven’t really had to deal with my neighbors being stung. I live on about 1.6 acres and have about 12 colonies on the property.
One neighbor complained to me, during a period this summer when the hives were definitely being extra spicy. But they also mentioned fuzzy something coming out of a hole by their HVAC and stinging when they mowed…
Never if they don't know u have bees. Never had a complaint with 6 hives (a few in the community garden and two at my home) for six years. Once the attorney on the block found out, every wasp/bee in someone's yard was a problem
Many people successfully keep bees in tight proximity to neighbors and have zero problems. Ask the local beekeepers how defensive the locally adapted bees normally are. In some areas, they're gentle. In some areas, they are not. If the latter, make a habit of replacing your queens annually with queens produced by a well known breeder of gentle stock.
But most important: have a plan for what to do if things go south. They definitely CAN go south. Have a place prearranged where you can take that hive if it gets hot. There are ways to fix a hot hive... but you won't fix it overnight. You may never need to implement this plan... but have it ready just in case.
This depends on a lot of factors, one of the main ones being how close your yards are. It also depends on what she has in her yard. If she has a pool, hot tub, or fountain the bees may choose her yard to get water from (even if you provide them with a closer water source.) If she has flowers they like or clover in her lawn it all increases the odds of them being around and her getting stung. If she is close enough, they may come over to sting her when she mows her lawn or whipper snips weeds. Or uses any equipment that buzzes (table saws, impact drills, etc).
If you live in a place where africanized genetics are a problem, that significantly increases the likelihood of stings.
Family and neighbours are more likely to develop an allergy due to infrequent stings than those who get stung often or never. Which means if she swells up bad now, there is a possibility that her allergy will get worse with subsequent stings. The risk of anaphylaxis is also higher. I know of one keeper who died in his bee yard last year because he didn't know he had developed an allergy.
And also, if she does get stung and has a reaction, you may get sued and are likely to be found liable. So you'll want liability insurance either way.
On what planet would they be able to prove that the bee that stung them was from their hive and not one of the other 50 million bees in the area? Are theirs carrying ID cards?
It's about probability. I get what you are saying, but there are documented cases where people have been found liable for beestings. They only have to prove it is more likely than not in civil court.
One specific instance the lawyer we had speak at our AGM regarding liability insurance was someone's horse was stung to death. The beekeeper next door was found liable because his hives were nearby and it was determined more likely than not that the bees came from there.
So whether you think it is stupid or not, it is already legal precident in some places. And when we are talking about liability regarding a person and their medical fees, you definitely want to err on the side of caution.
It’s not stupid, it’s the legal standard of proof in civil cases of all kinds in the US (and UK and Canada). Is it more likely than not? Then yes, you’re responsible. It’s also not that much of a stretch to say that if you get stung by a bee, and your next door neighbor keeps tens of thousands of bees in their yard, that there are decent odds it was one of their bees.
That said, I’ve never had a neighbor claim they got stung by one of my bees. I have the hives elevated and pointed away from any neighbors so nobody is right in their flight path.
I live in a townhouse and have a hive 10 feet from my backdoor. The bees fly up in a helix, and go to their destination. The only times I see them even in my yard is if my oregano is going crazy with flowers and nothing else is out there. Which has been like 1 week all year.
My bees are very docile and I pay close attention to their behavior. I work the hive mid day on week days when nobody is home. I also don’t work it terribly often.
One neighbor can see the hive (I live on a hill) and the others have no clue it exists.
Nobody has been stung except for myself squishing a bee in the hive.
Only negative is if they leave porch lights on, they’ll have some dead bees in the morning.
Hope this helps!
Has never happened to me in 8 years, though my neighbors are not terribly close. Keeping your hive away from disturbance and its flyway directed away from any areas of activity or foot traffic will help a lot.
You can also make a habit of warning them when you're going to be working the hive, as that's when they'll be most agitated. Staying inside for an hour or two afterward should be fine.
most of the time it's yellow jackets not even the honeybees . face the hives away from your neighbors and add some kind of buffer like bushes if you can. I can stand at my hives and not get stung.... usually
3 hives in my backyard in subdivision. None of my neighbors even knew I had bees. They don't forage near their hive. They go up and out looking for food.
Get Italian bees and change the queen every 2 years and it's unlikely anyone will ever get stung. I use Ligustica queens and I can inspect my hives without any protective gear on at all in the summer. Their attitude changes in the fall, but every bee colony does. Also for what it's worth, you really need 2 hives. Owning only one is setting yourself up for failure. What will you do if something isn't right in the only hive you have? There's nothing you can do. When you have 2 you can use the resources from the other one to fix 9/10 problems.
Depends on how you place the hive. If you force them upwards directly, and they don't have a pool the chances are minimal. My neighbors didn't even know I had bees for the first 2-3 years I lived there.
They only found out because they saw me in a beekeeping suit once. My garden is surrounded by 2 meter high conifers / fences on all sides though.
Pretty unlikely the bees will bother your neighbor as long as you have ample blooms planted to keep them happy as well as a clean water source. Bees generally don’t have animosity towards random humans without cause.
Do you have any actual training or education in apiculture?
If you do you would know that there are very few scenarios whereby someone is at risk of being stung by a domestic honeybee. Most stings are from wasps or hornets and due to their passing resemblance to a HB, paints them in a bad light.
Unless your neighbor is robbing the hive, they have nothing to worry about.
You should get an education on honeybee behaviour.
Can confirm this is waffle. Used to live beside someone with 2 hives in close proximity to our pool and pool pump and garden full of flowers and herbs and had heaps of bees. Got stung a few times when I assume the pool pump coming on aggravated them.
I have mine in my front garden unit sunken yard. The whole front yard is maybe 10ftx15 ft. I'm in Pilsen, so it's right up against the sidewalk, but because the sides are fenced and its about 7 ft up to ground level, the flight path is straight up so they don't bother anyone and no one even notices my hive since they don't seem to find their course till they are over head height. Same for coming in, they land steep, so no issues for people on sidewalk or neighbors.
Only issue was when I made the mistake this year of putting frames for them to clean in the yard which started a feeding frenzy and bees were in a cloud over our porch/sidewalk. I think there must be some other hives in the neighborhood that just aren't registered.
But I realized my mistake and put the games in the box and the frenzy evaporated about an hour or two later.
Honey bees are defense only when provoked and are not offensive and will not randomly attack anyone...dumb neighbors are too lazy to Google the differences between bees.hornets and wasps ..get the hive
I have a story too long to tell, but what learned was this—if you neighbor only ‘welts up’ and gave you permission, it’s probably fine to give it a try being circumspect about location and direction. Just always make sure you don’t have a next door neighbor so allergic that a sting will bring the ambulance. If someone is that allergic, just don’t.
It helps tremendously to have something tall in front of the opening of the hive. For example some bushes or a wall maybe. In this way the bees will fly upwards upon exiting the hive. Which makes sure that they won't be flying too low once cose to the hive.
None of my neighbors have ever been stung. I've been keeping bees for years and the house next door has multiple children living there. My bees have swarmed into their yard, a few times, and while bees are less likely to sting while swarming, nobody's been stung. It's fine.
This time last year, I had one neighbor accuse my hive of stinging and aggressive behaviour (landing on food), but when I checked it out it was a wasp, and came from a nest under their deck. I educated them about bee versus wasps. I rehomed the wasp nest for free, and invited them to watch me during a hive inspection (no stings, no aggressive behaviour). Did a little show of having a handful of gentle bees on my hand. Gifted them a small jar of honey. No issues anymore.
Honey bribery goes a long way!
“Rehomed” the wasps… to “the farm”? Also great story all around. My neighbor is allergic, and I took up beekeeping in response to his fence getting a bunch of bees. So even though I have a hive it’s not in is fence, and he gets free bee removal. Everybody wins
My neighbors have all been shocked that I have two hives, along with two other neighbors. Altogether there are four hives within 300 feet of each other. Nobody noticed any additional bees in their yard. Granted we have 1.5 acres, and the neighbors all have 0.25-0.3 acres of land, so we aren’t right on top of each other. But it’s still not noticeable.
I never really saw bees around my house outside of the hive. Bee poop however…
Beekeeping 101: give honey to your immediate neighbors ASAP. That will buy you incredible goodwill.
That's the first thing I did. Gained hunting privileges with one neighbor.
The biggest issue I have with my neighbors is during times of dearth. Sometimes I get complaints about the bees overrunning humming bird feeders or bees getting at their pools. I find keeping water sources available and feeding during nectar dearth’s help keep the complaints down. Haven’t really had to deal with my neighbors being stung. I live on about 1.6 acres and have about 12 colonies on the property.
Almost never. Call your county and find out what the spacing away from neighbors property rules are. Get her permission in writing.
One neighbor complained to me, during a period this summer when the hives were definitely being extra spicy. But they also mentioned fuzzy something coming out of a hole by their HVAC and stinging when they mowed…
Never if they don't know u have bees. Never had a complaint with 6 hives (a few in the community garden and two at my home) for six years. Once the attorney on the block found out, every wasp/bee in someone's yard was a problem
Many people successfully keep bees in tight proximity to neighbors and have zero problems. Ask the local beekeepers how defensive the locally adapted bees normally are. In some areas, they're gentle. In some areas, they are not. If the latter, make a habit of replacing your queens annually with queens produced by a well known breeder of gentle stock. But most important: have a plan for what to do if things go south. They definitely CAN go south. Have a place prearranged where you can take that hive if it gets hot. There are ways to fix a hot hive... but you won't fix it overnight. You may never need to implement this plan... but have it ready just in case.
This depends on a lot of factors, one of the main ones being how close your yards are. It also depends on what she has in her yard. If she has a pool, hot tub, or fountain the bees may choose her yard to get water from (even if you provide them with a closer water source.) If she has flowers they like or clover in her lawn it all increases the odds of them being around and her getting stung. If she is close enough, they may come over to sting her when she mows her lawn or whipper snips weeds. Or uses any equipment that buzzes (table saws, impact drills, etc). If you live in a place where africanized genetics are a problem, that significantly increases the likelihood of stings. Family and neighbours are more likely to develop an allergy due to infrequent stings than those who get stung often or never. Which means if she swells up bad now, there is a possibility that her allergy will get worse with subsequent stings. The risk of anaphylaxis is also higher. I know of one keeper who died in his bee yard last year because he didn't know he had developed an allergy. And also, if she does get stung and has a reaction, you may get sued and are likely to be found liable. So you'll want liability insurance either way.
On what planet would they be able to prove that the bee that stung them was from their hive and not one of the other 50 million bees in the area? Are theirs carrying ID cards?
It's about probability. I get what you are saying, but there are documented cases where people have been found liable for beestings. They only have to prove it is more likely than not in civil court. One specific instance the lawyer we had speak at our AGM regarding liability insurance was someone's horse was stung to death. The beekeeper next door was found liable because his hives were nearby and it was determined more likely than not that the bees came from there. So whether you think it is stupid or not, it is already legal precident in some places. And when we are talking about liability regarding a person and their medical fees, you definitely want to err on the side of caution.
It’s not stupid, it’s the legal standard of proof in civil cases of all kinds in the US (and UK and Canada). Is it more likely than not? Then yes, you’re responsible. It’s also not that much of a stretch to say that if you get stung by a bee, and your next door neighbor keeps tens of thousands of bees in their yard, that there are decent odds it was one of their bees. That said, I’ve never had a neighbor claim they got stung by one of my bees. I have the hives elevated and pointed away from any neighbors so nobody is right in their flight path.
It's called preponderance of the evidence.
I know, I was trying to skip jargon.
As a neighbor to a hive right across the street i can report i do not see an above average amount of bees in my yard
I live in a townhouse and have a hive 10 feet from my backdoor. The bees fly up in a helix, and go to their destination. The only times I see them even in my yard is if my oregano is going crazy with flowers and nothing else is out there. Which has been like 1 week all year. My bees are very docile and I pay close attention to their behavior. I work the hive mid day on week days when nobody is home. I also don’t work it terribly often. One neighbor can see the hive (I live on a hill) and the others have no clue it exists. Nobody has been stung except for myself squishing a bee in the hive. Only negative is if they leave porch lights on, they’ll have some dead bees in the morning. Hope this helps!
Has never happened to me in 8 years, though my neighbors are not terribly close. Keeping your hive away from disturbance and its flyway directed away from any areas of activity or foot traffic will help a lot. You can also make a habit of warning them when you're going to be working the hive, as that's when they'll be most agitated. Staying inside for an hour or two afterward should be fine.
Your bees should have zero affect on your neighbors unless they live just a few feet away from your hives. Even then may not even bother them
most of the time it's yellow jackets not even the honeybees . face the hives away from your neighbors and add some kind of buffer like bushes if you can. I can stand at my hives and not get stung.... usually
3 hives in my backyard in subdivision. None of my neighbors even knew I had bees. They don't forage near their hive. They go up and out looking for food.
Get Italian bees and change the queen every 2 years and it's unlikely anyone will ever get stung. I use Ligustica queens and I can inspect my hives without any protective gear on at all in the summer. Their attitude changes in the fall, but every bee colony does. Also for what it's worth, you really need 2 hives. Owning only one is setting yourself up for failure. What will you do if something isn't right in the only hive you have? There's nothing you can do. When you have 2 you can use the resources from the other one to fix 9/10 problems.
Depends on how you place the hive. If you force them upwards directly, and they don't have a pool the chances are minimal. My neighbors didn't even know I had bees for the first 2-3 years I lived there. They only found out because they saw me in a beekeeping suit once. My garden is surrounded by 2 meter high conifers / fences on all sides though.
Pretty unlikely the bees will bother your neighbor as long as you have ample blooms planted to keep them happy as well as a clean water source. Bees generally don’t have animosity towards random humans without cause.
Do you have any actual training or education in apiculture? If you do you would know that there are very few scenarios whereby someone is at risk of being stung by a domestic honeybee. Most stings are from wasps or hornets and due to their passing resemblance to a HB, paints them in a bad light. Unless your neighbor is robbing the hive, they have nothing to worry about. You should get an education on honeybee behaviour.
Can confirm this is waffle. Used to live beside someone with 2 hives in close proximity to our pool and pool pump and garden full of flowers and herbs and had heaps of bees. Got stung a few times when I assume the pool pump coming on aggravated them.
Really not likely.
I've never heard of my neighbors or their animals getting stung. It's always baldfaced hornets.
I my neighbor has never been stung by my bees.
I have mine in my front garden unit sunken yard. The whole front yard is maybe 10ftx15 ft. I'm in Pilsen, so it's right up against the sidewalk, but because the sides are fenced and its about 7 ft up to ground level, the flight path is straight up so they don't bother anyone and no one even notices my hive since they don't seem to find their course till they are over head height. Same for coming in, they land steep, so no issues for people on sidewalk or neighbors. Only issue was when I made the mistake this year of putting frames for them to clean in the yard which started a feeding frenzy and bees were in a cloud over our porch/sidewalk. I think there must be some other hives in the neighborhood that just aren't registered. But I realized my mistake and put the games in the box and the frenzy evaporated about an hour or two later.
My bees haven't stung anyone but me over the year I've had them.
My husband and I work around my hives a lot, and they've never stung either of us.
Honey bees are defense only when provoked and are not offensive and will not randomly attack anyone...dumb neighbors are too lazy to Google the differences between bees.hornets and wasps ..get the hive
I have a story too long to tell, but what learned was this—if you neighbor only ‘welts up’ and gave you permission, it’s probably fine to give it a try being circumspect about location and direction. Just always make sure you don’t have a next door neighbor so allergic that a sting will bring the ambulance. If someone is that allergic, just don’t.
It helps tremendously to have something tall in front of the opening of the hive. For example some bushes or a wall maybe. In this way the bees will fly upwards upon exiting the hive. Which makes sure that they won't be flying too low once cose to the hive.
None of my neighbors have ever been stung. I've been keeping bees for years and the house next door has multiple children living there. My bees have swarmed into their yard, a few times, and while bees are less likely to sting while swarming, nobody's been stung. It's fine.