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Keeping bees in the backyard


Beekeeping Basics: How to Raise Honeybees in Your Backyard

1. Choose the location 

Bees need four things. First, they need sun, or afternoon shade if your weather is hot. Second, they must have access to fresh water near the hive. We used a large plant saucer with stones in the center for the bees to land on and refreshed the water every day. A shallow bubble fountain would work well, too. Third, the hive must be protected from wind, which can blow rain (or snow) into the hive, making it harder for the bees to keep the hive warm. Finally, bees need privacy. Don’t put the hives near high-traffic areas, play areas, swimming pools, or pet areas. Give each hive plenty of space— 50 feet from high-traffic areas is ideal, but if space is limited, position the hive so the entrance is near a tall fence or hedge. This will force their flight path overhead to minimize contact with people and pets. And screening them from view will keep bees and people happy.

2. Prepare the location 

Hives should face south, if possible, and they need to be kept off the ground to protect them from dampness and critters. After clearing the brush and leveling the ground, we poured a cement pad to make care easier.

3. Install the bees 

Spring, when blooming flowers furnish a food supply, is the time to put your bees in their hives. Once you’ve chosen how to buy them, the best bet is to rely on your source for installation instructions.

Here is what happened when we picked up our bees from Randy Oliver at his property in Grass Valley: He gave us an introductory class in beekeeping, showing us how to use the hive tool and the smoker, handle bees, and check for eggs, brood (larvae), and queen—all vital signs of a colony’s health. Randy loaded 5 frames of his gentle hybrid bees and a queen into each of our two brood boxes and sealed the openings by stuffing them with our beekeeping gloves. We used ratchet straps to secure the boxes in the back of our truck. When we got back to Sunset, we positioned the brood boxes in their designated locations and removed the gloves from the entrances. One hive we named Betty; the other, Veronica.

4. Feed the bees 

Young colonies have a lot of work to do—storing pollen and nectar, sealing all the cracks and seams in their new home, and taking care of the queen and new brood. To make their adjustment easier, we fed them a “nectar.” Here is how to make it: Dissolve equal parts granulated sugar and water and use to fill the quart jars. Top with the feeder lids and invert the jars into the holes. The lids should not drip; they should be barely moist. The bees will drink what they need from the lids.

In the beginning, our nucs drank about three-fourths of a quart jar per day. Over the next 3 weeks or so, it tapered off to the point where we realized sugar water was no longer necessary. The bees were finding their nutrition in flowers. Plus, sugar water makes for insipid honey and should not be continued if it is not needed.

5. Inspect the hives inside and out 

Much of beekeeping is simple observation and response. If you are a novice beekeeper, inspect the hive about once a week for a couple of months so that you can learn. Once you feel comfortable, adjust your routine to every two weeks. Make sure the outside of the hive is clean and free of bee poop, the landing board is free of litter, and there are no ants on the hive. Open the hives and check frames for larvae and eggs (on warm days only). If the queen is healthy, you will see plenty of larvae in various stages of development. 

If you don’t see evidence of a healthy queen, consult an expert. Your local beekeeping guild is a good source.

Ultimately, the less often you inspect the hive, the better for its health. Opening the hives and thoroughly checking them requires smoking to keep the bees calm. This stresses the bees and it takes them about a day to recover. As you learn more, you will find you won’t need to pull many frames to know what is going on inside. And you will figure out a lot simply by observing the bees as they come and go from the hive.

6. Check regularly for pests and diseases 

Varroa mites are the pest most typically found in hives. Left unchecked, they can cripple and eventually kill the hive (see Pest Control, below, for hints about checking for mites and mite control). Other pests you need to watch for include the small hive beetle and the wax moth. Diseases you need to be on the lookout for are American and European foulbrood. Early intervention can often mean the difference between a healthy hive and a dead hive.

7. Expand the hive when necessary 

Start with one deep hive body-brood box. When the bees have filled it with 7 or 8 frames of bees and brood, top it with a second brood box. Let the bees build up brood cells in the second brood box, too. When the second brood box is well filled (7 or 8 frames of bees), top it with a queen excluder, if you choose to use one, and, finally, the honey super (the box from which you will collect most of your honey).

PEST CONTROL

Bees are like flying balls of delicate spun sugar filled with honey. Everything wants to eat them. Here are three of the worst pests we battled, and the tactics we used.

Ants 

Argentine ants can kill a hive by robbing honey and eating the brood. We couldn’t spray to kill the ants, since that would also kill the bees. We tried Terro ant bait—little containers filled with boric acid mixed with a sweet substance ants like—with some success. In the end, we were most successful with a physical barrier. We placed each leg of the hive stands in plastic tubs filled with water that the ants could not cross.

Small hive beetles 

Hive beetle larvae will eat all parts of the hive, including the baby bees. We kill the beetles on site, and have been experimenting with traps like AJs Beetle Eater ($5.25) from Dadant.

Varroa mites 

The most damaging pests a beekeeper has to deal with are these mites, as they threaten the survival of a hive once they become established. They suck the blood of adult bees and lay their eggs in brood cells, where their larvae feed off bee babies, infecting them with viruses and weakening and even killing them. To save their bees, beekeepers use a variety of methods:

1. Monitoring 

A 24-hour count of a natural mite fall will give you a good idea of a hive’s infestation. Coat the bottom of your Country Rube board with petroleum jelly or cooking spray (to trap the mites), slide it into the lower part of the bottom board, wait for 24 hours, and then pull it out and count the mites. Anything more than 10 mites per brood box indicates you have a problem.

2. Sugar dusting 

The powdered sugar method lets you both count the mites and control them. Sift powdered sugar, 1 cup per brood box, over the tops of the frames and brush it into the hive. The powdered sugar makes the mites lose their grip on the bees and fall off; plus the bees groom the sugar off their bodies, dislodging more mites. Again, use the bottom board to capture the fallen mites. You should not see more than a few mites 10 minutes after dusting. If there are more, you have a problem.

3. Mite trapping 

Drone frames will also help trap varroa mites. These frames are designed to encourage bees to make drone comb cells, which are larger than worker comb cells. Since varroa mites prefer drone brood 10 to 1, the drone comb makes a great mite trap. Just before the drones hatch (24 days after the eggs were laid), destroy the drone comb (you can freeze it and return it to the hive, or simply cut it out), and replace the drone frame for the next cycle. (Since our queens have already mated and have a lifetime’s supply of sperm inside of them, they do not need the drones in order to reproduce.) 

4. Apiguard 

A gel infused with thymol, made from the oils of thyme plants. It works well, but it makes the honey stored during the treatment taste like mouthwash.

5. Formic acid 

More toxic than thymol, formic acid kills the mites by gassing them. It makes the honey inedible for humans, so it is applied in the fall and winter, when the nectar flow is slow or stopped. You need to wear a respirator when applying it.

For more information on mite control, see the sources listed under Helpful Information, opposite.

HONEY COLLECTiON

We were lucky to collect honey the first summer. Typically, during the first year the bees build up their hive, and if they overwinter well, you can begin harvesting in the late spring or early summer of the second year. Three months after bringing our bees home, we had 4 frames packed with honey, each weighing about 8 pounds. Lacking a professional extractor, we used the following low-tech method. 

1. Cut and crush Using the bench scraper, we cut the honey—wax and all—off the foundation into a bowl, balancing the frame on a wooden spoon set across the bowl like a bridge. Then we used a wooden spoon to crush the honey and wax in the bowl.

2. Straining and settling We poured this slurry of wax and honey through a double layer of cheesecloth and the stainless-steel strainer into our food-grade plastic bucket. Then we left it to drain and settle for a couple of days (bubbles and foam rose to the surface).

3. Bottling We covered the floor with newspapers and got our jars ready. Then we loosened the honey gate (the stopper at the bottom of the bucket) to release the honey into each jar. In went the honey, on went the lids. It was as simple as that. From 4 full frames of honeycomb, we reaped 12 pounds, 10 ounces of honey. We rinsed the leftover wax and froze it. Later, we rendered the wax in a solar wax melter and used it for craft projects like lip balm and hand salve. We had a second surprise harvest later in the summer, bringing our total to about 31 pounds of pure, fragrant honey. 

WHERE TO GET BEES

Packaged bees and caged queen It takes time to build up the colony this way, but it’s the least-expensive choice. You can usually order packaged bees through your local beekeepers’ guild. Preorder as early as the fall and certainly no later than early spring, as bees are only available for a short time in spring. About $65.

Nuc (short for “nucleus”) A nuc is a young hive, usually covering no more than 5 frames of comb, with a newly laying queen. Starting this way helps you get a jump on honey production. Buy from a reputable beekeeper to avoid getting diseased equipment or sick bees. We ordered two nucs from master beekeeper Randy Oliver and drove to his location in Grass Valley, California, to pick them up. $90 for each nuc, queen included;scientificbeekeeping.com.

Well-established swarms or colonies Large colonies can be daunting if you’ve never kept bees before, and beginning beekeepers shouldn’t try to capture a swarm. Leave that to a more experienced beekeeper (contact your local beekeepers’ guild to find such a person), and perhaps he or she will help you start a hive with the captured swarm.

Check out The One Block Feast for more information on Sunset’s beekeeping experience.

Beekeeping for beginners: how to keep bees in your backyard

(Image credit: BBKA)

With many of us wanting to be more self sufficient, beekeeping for beginners has seen a surge in popularity over the last decade.

Many people also want to learn how to keep bees as they recognize the important part bees play in pollinating many of the plants in our gardens, and the foods that we eat.

With bee populations declining at an alarming rate, every gardener can do their bit to help, and keeping beehives in your back yard and providing a safe habitat for them can be added to your garden ideas, along with planting pollinator friendly flowers and other wildlife garden ideas.

Beekeeping for beginners – the benefits

(Image credit: Polly Eltes / Future)

Along with the environmental benefits of helping the survival of crucial pollinators, there are many personal benefits that beekeeping for beginners can provide, too.  Plus, adding flowers that attract bees to your backyard is an easy way to make your plot more environmentally friendly.

'It's a fascinating subject to study, it's relaxing and stress relieving, it improves the pollination of garden crops and flowers,' are among the many benefits listed by Anthony from Beekeeping Insider .

Other benefits of learning how to keep bees include 'exercise, social opportunities to meet with other beekeepers, and learning new skills and a fun hobby,’ explains Anne Rowberry, Chair of the British Beekeepers Association . 

‘Beekeepers gain more insight and knowledge of the environment, and what flowers to plant. Watching bees foraging on the flowers for pollen or nectar is fascinating,’ she adds. This can help inform your decisions as a gardener when thinking of flower bed ideas.

(Image credit: Shutterstock)

How do I start beekeeping for beginners?

Before starting down your road of beekeeping for beginners, it's important to do your research. Read up on the subject as much as you can, 'and connect with local beekeepers and beekeeping groups specific to your area to learn how others have found success,' advise the experts at Beebuilt .

The behavior of honeybees depends on the climate in which they live, so therefore the timing for beginning a hive will vary depending on your local climate and geography. 

In some areas it will be late March to early May; other is might be April to June. Reach out to the local bee-keeping community when you are learning how to keep bees. 'Beekeepers will be pleased to help, and many will act as a mentor for a new beekeeper,’ says Anne.

You need to plan in advance and order your beehives and equipment as soon as possible in the year, so that you are fully prepared by spring for the arrival of your bees, they advise at Beebuilt.

There are many people who try beekeeping as part of their backyard farming, and it is a rewarding and enjoyable addition to a more self-sufficient lifestyle.

(Image credit: BBKA)

Is it hard to start beekeeping?

It is not hard to start beekeeping, but it is important to do it properly.

'I'd strongly recommend joining the local beekeeping organization, a beekeeping for beginners course is essential, and having a mentor helps,' explains Professor Pete Barrar, Director of the National Beekeeping Centre Wales .

'In the UK, support can come from the local Seasonal Bee Inspectors whose services are free. They operate under the National Bee Unit. Also by joining your local beekeeping organization will give you access to help and advice from experienced beekeepers, who may also be able to supply a nucleus of bees to get you started, or help out dealing with swarms, aggressive bees and many other issues,' he adds.

(Image credit: Unsplash)

Do I need permission to keep bees?

Whether you need permission to keep bees will depend on where you live.

In the United States, it will vary from state to state whether you need permission to keep bees. Beekeeping laws will also vary from city to city.  'It's best to check with your local laws and authorities in the area where you live,' advises Anthony. 

For instance, in Florida you can only keep bees on non-agricultural private land only if you have written permission, whereas in Minneapolis you need to attend a beekeeping course and get written consent from most neighbors living within a hundred feet of your property.

In some residential areas, if you are allowed to keep bees, there may be requirements limiting the number of hives or swarms you can keep, dictating if garden fence ideas are required or the maximum distance between hives and boundaries to name a few.

In the UK, on the other hand, there are surprisingly few restrictions regarding beekeeping for beginners. But while no permission is needed, you should ensure that the hives and the bees’ flight path would cause minimal nuisance to neighbors and the general public. 

'Proper training in beekeeping skills is vital to be able to assess the suitability of apiary sites and to manage colonies to minimize swarming, especially in summer.  

Don’t keep hives next to a through path, or where bees may easily go into neighbors’ buildings or down chimneys. Enclose the hives with a fence if you have young children or animals.’ explains Anne.

(Image credit: Future / Mark Bolton )

Can I keep bees in my backyard?

You can keep bees in your backyard – subject to the laws in the area where you live – but you need to make sure they have a clear flight path in and out of the hive.

'Orienting the hive so that bees fly across a path, patio area or part of the garden which is used regularly is not a good idea,' explains Pete.

In a more restricted area, such as an urban back yard, it is often a good idea to put fences or fast growing hedges with 3 feet or so or of the hive entrance. 'This will encourage the bees to fly upwards and get above head height,' Pete explains.

'I know people with hives in the garden of their urban property who never have problems. It’s always important to discuss what is going on with your neighbors and to make sure your bees remain gentle. If they start to get aggressive, then people can be stung. So, don’t go into the hive in wet or windy weather or particularly if a thunder storm is on the way – the bees don’t like it. It’s also a good idea to alert your neighbors to the possibility of swarming,' he adds.

If you don't think your neighbors will take kindly to the idea of hives next door, you might be able to find an 'out-apiary' where a landowner agrees for bees to be kept there. 

As well as the space, 'assess if there is plenty of forage and flowering plants from January until October for the bees to feast on,' adds Anne.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

How much land do you need to keep bees?

You do not need a lot of land if you are considering how to keep bees. 'About 54 square foot is enough for a couple of hives,' explains Pete.

If there is livestock adjacent to the bees then the hives must be fenced off. If you are also considering keeping chickens, it is best to keep them separate. Sheep can scratch themselves on the hives and can knock them over; cattle or horses will kick them over. 

‘I would not site hives closer than 10 feet to a boundary unless there is a 6 to 10 foot hedge or fence. If other beekeepers already have hives close by you may need to look to keep yours elsewhere and your local beekeeping organization can help,’ explains Anne.

'It is better to plan the apiary to have at least two hives, and each will need a minimum of 5 feet of space around it,' she adds.

Beehives are a great addition to kitchen garden ideas, as if you include some companion plants among your crops the bees can help to pollinate the plants and increase your homegrown yields.

(Image credit: Diane Helentjaris/Unsplash)

What do beginner beekeepers need?

A beginner beekeeper will need certain minimum equipment. This includes:

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Is beekeeping an expensive hobby?

Beekeeping is not a particularly expensive hobby, but you will have more expenses in the first year when starting out, learning how to keep bees and buying the various pieces of equipment that you need. After that, the yearly cost will be a lot less.

Be prepared to spend about $500 - $700 /£350 – £500 initially on equipment, a training course, and the bees themselves.

The cost of bees starts at around $150/£110; a hive might cost from $150/£110, but also you need the protective clothing, the smoker and hive tool – from $160/£115 – and payment for beginner beekeeper courses and possibly permits, depending on where you live.

Where can you source bees?

‘It is best to source bees locally – ask a local club or beekeeper for advice – and start with a small colony nucleus; it will grow quickly if you buy it in late spring,’ advises Anne.

Bees will be better adapted to your local conditions if you buy from a local source.

There are three options when buying bees:

(Image credit: By Mera Nazaria on Unsplash)

How time consuming is beekeeping?

Beekeeping is seasonal, so the amount of time you need to commit to it will vary throughout the year. Beekeeping for beginners may take more time as you learn the ropes, but once you have got into a routine it will take up less of your time.

‘You will need to spend about an hour each week from late March to September inspecting the hive to ensure the bees don’t swarm, and a little longer at times if you want to feed, treat or remove honey,’ advises Anne.  

In fall and winter this reduces to a quick check every week to ensure they don’t need feeding, and time spent on maintaining, cleaning and repairing equipment.

'There are a few key things that the beekeeper must do. This includes: checking for disease or mite infestation regularly; treating for varroa; ensuring sufficient stores for the bees throughout the year; making sure the queen is in residence and she is laying; checking the bees have sufficient space in the hive; manage the swarming instincts of the bees. Also, make sure the hives are watertight and the bees are dry,' explains Pete.

Honey getting can be time consuming and very sticky, 'but your own honey is the best thing and it will taste like nothing else you’ve tried,' says Pete. Often your local beekeeping organization or association will lend out honey extractors to those in the association without them.

(Image credit: Getty Images)

Should beehives be in sun or shade?

The answer is beehives should ideally enjoy some sun and some shade. According to the experts at beebuilt, if you have a spot that has early morning sun and some shade in the afternoon, that is perfect. 

'If you live in a very warm climate, you will probably want more afternoon shade,' they add.

Bees are very adaptable creatures and can usually make almost any location work as long as there is food and water in the surrounding area.

Is beekeeping worth the money?

Ask any beekeeper if beekeeping is worth the money and the answer will be a resounding 'yes'.

In addition to the environmental and personal benefits mentioned above, you get a wonderful insight into the world of these fascinating pollinators.

'The social organization of bees is fascinating,' says Pete. '50,000 bees in a colony takes a lot of organization with the workers having a range of different jobs, not just collecting nectar and pollen. The queen spends most of her life laying up to 2,000 eggs a day. The female workers do all the work and comprise over 85 per cent of the, while the male bees, or drones, hang around in drone congregation areas in the sky hoping to mate with young virgin queens and don’t do much else actually!'

The rewards of beekeeping for beginners are immense – much more than the honey the bees share with us.

Rachel is senior content editor, and writes and commissions gardening content for homesandgardens.com, Homes & Gardens magazine, and its sister titles Period Living Magazine and Country Homes & Interiors. She has written for lifestyle magazines for many years, with a particular focus on gardening, historic houses and arts and crafts, but started out her journalism career in BBC radio, where she enjoyed reporting on and writing programme scripts for all manner of stories. Rachel then moved into regional lifestyle magazines, where the topics she wrote about, and people she interviewed, were as varied and eclectic as they were on radio. Always harboring a passion for homes and gardens, she jumped at the opportunity to work on The English Home and The English Garden magazines for a number of years, before joining the Period Living team, then the wider Homes & Gardens team, specializing in gardens.

Stings, but also treats. Is it possible to have bees in the country and not quarrel with the neighbors?

Which product can be stored for thousands of years without spoiling? The correct answer is honey. Confirmed fact: archaeologists found amphorae with honey in the pyramids, and it could be eaten. The benefits and taste are hard to dispute, and to get it you just need to get bees. “I retired, I want to organize a small apiary in the country. Is it allowed? - Ilya Nikitin asks us from Ochakovo-Matveevsky.

Is it so easy to breed bees in a summer cottage, and what a novice beekeeper needs to know, we decided to find out with the help of Alexander Bagrov, a long-time beekeeper, a member of the "Bee" club. Members of this club periodically gather in the SMART-library No. 197 named after. A. A. Akhmatova on the street. Krylatskie Holmy, 34. In connection with the pandemic, meetings of beekeepers are held via Skype conferences. To get an answer to a reader's question, we joined one of the online meetings. And here's what we found out.

WHERE TO KEEP PEACEFUL BEES?

– Beekeeping is regulated by Federal Law No. 490 of December 30, 2020 and Order of the Ministry of Agriculture No. 194 of May 19, 2016. According to these documents, any private person can start an apiary,” Alexander Viktorovich told us. “But for this you need to follow certain rules.

  1. First of all, you need to issue a veterinary and sanitary passport. It is issued by the veterinary station of the district where the dacha is located.
  2. Apiaries should be located at least 100 m from various institutions and roads.
  3. On the plot itself, hives with bees must be placed at a distance of at least 3 m from the borders of neighboring plots. If there is a blank fence with a height of at least 2 m, you can put it next to it.
  4. It is important to know that only peaceful breeds of bees are allowed to populate hives in settlements.

- If your dacha meets all these conditions, you can safely become a beekeeper, - Alexander Bagrov smiles. And he gives advice to his future novice colleagues.

NEIGHBORHOOD RELATIONS

- The law does not mention the need to obtain consent from neighbors to place an apiary on your summer cottage, - says Alexander Viktorovich. – But to prevent possible conflicts, experienced beekeepers recommend:

ANTS, HORNETS, MICE

Although bees can stand up for themselves, they have enemies that they cannot cope with without human help. According to Alexander Viktorovich, first of all, these are ants:

- These are well-known sweet tooth, stealing a lot of honey. To prevent their "raids", usually the legs of the hives are placed in containers with water and lubricated with technical oils.

- There is still such an enemy, - Alexander Viktorovich jokes, - like a wax moth. She lays larvae in the hives that feed on the wax of the honeycombs. To combat them, the hives must be kept clean, periodically manually destroy the caterpillars. In the same unfriendly group, wasps and hornets. They hunt bees, feed their offspring with bees. Salvation, advises the beekeeper, is only in the destruction of their nests.

– And separately about mice, – our interlocutor continues. “They are dangerous for hibernating hives. Therefore, for the winter it is necessary to strengthen their bottoms and cover the notch with a limiter so that the mouse cannot climb into the hive.

About ticks. These are unpleasant enemies of bees that cause diseases. In this case, the entire apiary should be quarantined and treated. Every year, the beekeeper must check his wards at the veterinarians.

Birds. Natural enemies of bees. It is not recommended to kill them or destroy nests. Experienced beekeepers use special bird scarers that imitate the cries of feathered predators.

RESIDENTS ARE INTERESTED

“Which breed of bees is better for a beginner beekeeper?” - asks Andrey Svetlyakov from Krylatskoe.

– In the order of the Ministry of Agriculture for settlements, as mentioned above, there is a requirement to start peaceful breeds. There is also a list of them: Bashkir, Carpathian, gray mountain Caucasian, Central Russian and their breed types. These are all the breeds that live in our country. But in practice, not all of them can be classified as peaceful. For the first work experience, it is better to take a Central Russian or Carpathian bee.

“Why are beekeepers advised to feed their bees with sugar in the fall? ”- Sergey Panchenko, Ramenki is interested.

- These are the recommendations of the Ministry of Agriculture: in late August - early September, after the main collection of honey, fodder reserves for the winter for one bee colony are replenished with artificial food. Sugar syrup is prepared in the following proportion: at least 25 kg of sugar and 2 kg of flower honey or bee bread.

“How many bee colonies is better for a beginner beekeeper?” - such a question is in our mail from Vyacheslav Skolkin from Filevsky Park.

- For starters - 5-7 bee colonies. By the way, according to veterinary rules, when keeping bees in settlements for every 100 sq. m plot can accommodate no more than two beehives.

-- Pavel Pavlovich Photo: pexels.com

News | Q&A

"The neighbors have 12 hives on five acres." Is it legal to keep bees in the garden?

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The bees from the neighboring plot have been preventing spouses Maria and Valentin Kupriyanov from working and resting at their summer cottage in the Konstruktor cooperative for more than a year. At first, the elderly spouses tried to negotiate with their neighbors, but after Valentina Kupriyanov was stung by a bee, and the victim's blood pressure rose, a conflict brewed, where long-term good neighborly relations no longer help.

“We have a suburban area of ​​5 acres. Neighbors in the same area have 12 hives with bees. They are three meters from our fence. The fence is just a low picket fence. Is it possible? These bees fly, it is impossible to be on the site. They said not to use any soap, scented shampoo, so as not to attract bees. And I am a disabled person of the 2nd group in terms of heart, once a bee stung me - my blood pressure jumped terribly, tachycardia. Is it legal to keep bees in such conditions? And where can we turn to stop this? Valentin Kupriyanov wrote in WB.

Neighbor: “I put up an additional fence”

Evgeny Zemsky, a neighbor of the Kupriyanovs, has been keeping bees on his hundred square meters for 20 years. Previously, the man had 15 hives, today, according to him, nine.

– With age, it becomes more difficult to keep an apiary, so I gradually reduce the number of beehives, – explains the pensioner.

Distributes honey to relatives, treats neighbors, does not sell it, says that his pension is enough. For all the time that the man keeps bees, according to him, he had no conflicts with neighbors, including Valentin Kupriyanov, and a misunderstanding began after a bee sting.

- I apologized, offered to give me a lift to the city, - Evgeny Ivanovich recalls. - And a few weeks ago, an additional fence 2.5 meters high was put up to one two-meter fence that was already on the site.

According to the beekeeper, he hopes that the situation will be resolved peacefully, otherwise something will have to be done with the remaining hives.

Chairman of the cooperative: "People are good in themselves"

Chairman of the dacha cooperative "Konstruktor" Roman Shukalin knows about the "bee" conflict between neighbors. The chairman said that, it seems, all the parameters for placing hives by the neighbors of the Kupriyanovs are met, but perhaps such a number cannot be kept on a plot of five acres.

“People themselves are good, non-confrontational, but there is this nuance with bees,” he says. - Insects do not bring much trouble, but if a bee stings me, then I walk around with a swollen face for four days.

According to the chairman of the cooperative, he cannot influence the neighbors of the Kupriyanovs, because the land is in their ownership. If the beekeepers were engaged in some kind of illegal activity (fired fires, brewed moonshine), then in order to solve the situation, Roman could call the police, but in this case everything is as if legal.

Lawyer: beekeepers are required to comply with the law

Anastasia Kravtsova, lawyer of the Bobruisk city legal advice office, commented on the situation:
– According to the Technical Code, hives with bee colonies are allowed to be placed on a personal plot no closer than 20 meters to the boundary of the site from the side of the street and no closer than 10 meters – to the border of the adjacent area. (As you can see, in the situation in question, this requirement is not met). These distances can be reduced: to the border of the site from the side of the street - no closer than 15 meters and to the border of the adjacent site - no closer than four meters, only if there is an obstacle at least two meters high in the way of the bees' flight (wall of a building or structure, blank fence, mesh with cell sizes no more than 15 millimeters, dense shrub).

If hives with bee colonies are located on homestead plots bordering on the territories of institutions: children's, cultural, medical and others, where a large number of people can be, the distance to the border of the site increases to 100 meters.

It should be clarified: are these conditions for keeping bees included in the internal regulations or the charter of the dacha cooperative? Only after that it is possible to give a legal assessment of what is happening.
In any case, if the conflict cannot be resolved peacefully, then a citizen, in order to protect his interests, can apply to the court with a lawsuit that will oblige the owners to take out the hives with bees from their summer cottage.

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