When the Master Gardeners at the Garden at Suncrest in Lapeer, Michigan were approached by a beekeeper about placing a hive in their garden they were a little apprehensive. The garden was used by many fragile older adults as well as children from a daycare center and the Master Gardeners were a little worried about someone getting stung. But the beehive was installed in an out of the way spot and proved a resounding success.
You may be thinking about placing a beehive in your own yard. You may have heard about the scarcity of pollinators in our world today and want to help restore them. Or you may want to produce some of your own food and like honey. Either way a beehive can be a fascinating hobby as well as providing food and pollinators. But not every area or everyone is suited to beekeeping and you should carefully think about your decision before jumping into getting a beehive.
The first thing to consider is whether you have the legal right to keep bees. Some municipalities have laws that don’t allow hives in residential areas. Check with your city, township or village authorities to see if a hive in your yard would be legal. If anyone in your family is allergic to bee stings then it may not be a good idea to put a hive on your property. Honey bees aren’t too aggressive but they can sting when alarmed. If you live in an area where neighbors are close then you may want to see if any neighbors have allergies to bee stings.
Unless you live in an area without close neighbors your beehive should be in a fenced area. In an urban area with the neighbors children and pets roaming around a beehive can be called an “attractive nuisance”. Children who are curious may get too close or even deliberately provoke the bees leading to numerous painful stings and a legal complaint against you.
Bee hives can be decorative and can be incorporated into the landscape with little trouble but they should be in an area where the bees are relatively undisturbed. Preferably there will be lots of flowering plants in the area for the bees to gather pollen and nectar. Inner city areas where there is more pavement than plants may not be ideal spots for a hive.
If you have the place to put up a hive safely there are some other things you need to consider. A beehive is a moderately expensive hobby; you will need to purchase a couple hundred dollars of equipment and the bees to get started. You don’t just put up a hive and wait for bees to occupy it. And you will need certain supplies and equipment to collect and process the honey and or wax the bees produce.
You will also need to be a person who is prepared to learn about beekeeping and carefully follow directions on beginning and maintaining a hive. It is strongly recommended that you join a beekeepers club; there are quite a few in Michigan. At least look up a successful local beekeeper and ask if he or she can be your mentor in starting a hive.
Bees are able to find most of their own food but there are times when you will need to provide water or supplemental food. And there are tasks that need to be done regularly in beekeeping you will need to attend to. Bees don’t really learn to recognize you as their owner like other pets and certainly aren’t cuddly. They are not a good substitute for a puppy if your child wants a pet.
If you are a person who uses a lot of pesticides on the garden and regularly has the lawn chemically treated and spraying done around your home’s perimeter for pests then keeping a beehive on your property may not be a wise choice. Bees are very sensitive to pesticides and you may never maintain a successful hive under these conditions.
Are you brave enough to handle the bees? With protective clothing and a calm, slow approach to working with the bees you will rarely get stung. But if you freak out when a bee lands on you beekeeping may not be right for you.
Producing honey, beeswax or other bee products is not a way to get rich quick either. Some people supplement their income with honey sales but it takes some time and experience and a lot of work to get to that point. Don’t go into beekeeping in too much depth until you see how you like caring for one small hive.
Bees swarm as a way of dividing the colony when it has reproduced itself to the point that it is getting crowded. A swarm is a close cluster of hundreds of bees around a new young queen. They leave the old hive and gather on a tree or other object while scouts look for a new home. They are pretty docile in this stage but the swarms scare people.
The beehive at the Garden at Suncrest was a small, decorative one but the bees were so happy and well fed that they swarmed just a few months after the hive was placed there. The Suncrest hive just happened to swarm on the day of the annual fundraising tea, when hundreds of people were visiting and having tea in the garden. But the Master Gardeners kept their cool and the beekeeper arrived to discretely remove the swarm to another hive. The guests who were aware of the swarm were fascinated and no one got upset. This goes to show that beehives can be successful in public areas with a little care.
Making the decision to keep bees is the first step. Next you need to do your homework and learn what supplies you need, how a hive is set up and how to care for bees and finally how to harvest honey. This site will publish a series of articles on beekeeping so check back often. You may want to subscribe to the site, (click on the link below), so you will receive email notices when country living articles are posted.
For an index of country articles by Kimberley Willis click on her name at the top of the page.
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