[poultrygeist]

Greetings apiarists 

We've got a nice garden wich is full of flowers and weeds that never get sprayed with weedkiller or, tbh, removed very often.
Our lawn is not like a bowling green and is full of clover and daisies most of the time.
We have a nice hedgerow down one side.

Would it be practical for us to seek out a local, friendly beekeeper and offer a corner of our garden to position a hive in exchange for a couple of jars of honey ?

If it was in the front garden, they wouldn't even need to bother us.

Any thoughts ?
Is this ever done ?
Are we living in a fantasy world ?

Rob

[wighty]

For once I don't think you are Rob.  There was an advert in our local paper by an apiarist asking for sites for his hives a few weeks ago. Considered replying but Paul is such a wuss about any flying insect near him I didn't bother.

[dizzylizzie]

thats  a really good idea rob. i would love to keep bees, but i need my garden for runner ducks and a turkey oh and my chickens of course ...i would love to use someone elses garden...speaking of bees, have you seen the hives on the omlet website?...very nice

[poultrygeist]

I've not actually looked at them yet but my OH has and they're the usual omlet price but an excellent idea.

I hope people don't just treat it as a casual thing to do and go on courses first.

Rob

[dizzylizzie]

mmmm, usual price, but fab design. i agree with you, people should have to go on a course, been doing a bit of reading about bee's and they are quite complicated little things. i cant have bee's here, but maybe when we move. i read somewhere that if the bee population died out, the world would starve within 4 years...dont know if its true , but it makes you think about how reliant we are on them, and how important it is to get it right! 

[Lady Lottie]

I considerd this for my plot..........but decided probably too many people round about might object and that I didn't want the job of educating them otherwise.  The council sent me some info which explained all about swarming and the slight possibility of damage to cars from "bee poo" - which was something I hadn't considered!!  And I also contacted the (BBKA) British Beekeepers Association who said they often get requests like this and what usually happens is a keeper from a club local to you will visit, assess the site and decide whether or not it's a viable option.  Wish I'd kept all the info now but I deleted it!  Hope this helps anyway.

[8doubles]

An old beekeeper down the road had to give up most of his hives when he moved into town but he kept one hive in the garage and the bees went in and out of a piece of 1" overflow pipe through the back wall.
Nobody complained , out of sight is out of mind.

[poultrygeist]

I like his style 

I'll get in contact with our local bee man and put the suggestion to him. From some info LadyLottie has emailed me, it seems that there's not too much to worry about.

Rob