Apiary Layout
Apiary Layout
Your bees can be located in your garden, a local field or in a town on a rooftop. Consideration is needed for your neighbours or people out walking past the site and protection from damage by livestock if in a field. It is worth considering having high fences or hedges to make the bees fly upwards out of people’s way and also procuring docile bees that will not upset the neighbours. The site needs good sunshine on it but also shade for the middle of the day and preferably a water supply nearby. Each hive is less than 0.6m square but you need around 1.4m all round it to work properly with good access by foot. The corner of a garden is ideal for one or two hives and the hives are best situated to give some sunshine on the entrance sides at some point in the day. It is also advisable to consider your site with regards to the total number of hives you are likely to keep in the future before setting the apiary up as the area needs to increase proportionally with the number of hives you decide to keep. On this the best ways to determine the maximum number of hives in one place is with the assistance and knowledge of a local beekeeper as there will be a saturation point due to the limit of the forage through the season and due consideration needs to be made regarding any other apiaries in the area.Should you decide to expand, more apiary sites can be obtained as out apiaries and it is usual to give the land owner some honey as rent. Wherever the apiary is always remember that you need good accessibility to carry equipment in and that you will also need to gain access as and when the bees need looking after which could be morning noon or late evening.
Your bees can be located in your garden, a local field or in a town on a rooftop. Consideration is needed for your neighbours or people out walking past the site and protection from damage by livestock if in a field. It is worth considering having high fences or hedges to make the bees fly upwards out of people’s way and also procuring docile bees that will not upset the neighbours. The site needs good sunshine on it but also shade for the middle of the day and preferably a water supply nearby. Each hive is less than 0.6m square but you need around 1.4m all round it to work properly with good access by foot. The corner of a garden is ideal for one or two hives and the hives are best situated to give some sunshine on the entrance sides at some point in the day. It is also advisable to consider your site with regards to the total number of hives you are likely to keep in the future before setting the apiary up as the area needs to increase proportionally with the number of hives you decide to keep. On this the best ways to determine the maximum number of hives in one place is with the assistance and knowledge of a local beekeeper as there will be a saturation point due to the limit of the forage through the season and due consideration needs to be made regarding any other apiaries in the area.Should you decide to expand, more apiary sites can be obtained as out apiaries and it is usual to give the land owner some honey as rent. Wherever the apiary is always remember that you need good accessibility to carry equipment in and that you will also need to gain access as and when the bees need looking after which could be morning noon or late evening.
