Topic: bees on allotment,any rules?

[elvis2003]

hi folks,one of our plotholders has approached us asking if he is allowed to keep bees onsite,in our constitution it says he will need permission from the council (who have passed the buck back to me)AND the committee ( im one of them) cant find much online,i guess it is down to each individual site,but can anyone expand on this a little,what rules are in place on your sites?
thanks in advance
rach
x

[ugly gourd]

We were asked the same I spoke to the council and we came up with the idea of asking plot holders I asked the first twenty I saw and it was against 18 and 2 for and worringly out of the 20 I asked 3 suffered ap.......tic Shock (sp!!) the council decided against but also our allotment are very open lots of young families general public walking through with dogs etc. If you had allotments where you had your own little hedged of plot and could prevent access would be better

[saddad]

Anaphylactic... ish very nasty, why do they have a lottie then?You are no more likely to be stung by kept bees than wild ones... unless you go round and poke the hive!!

[elvis2003]

thats a good idea ugly gourd,thanks! OH raised a point,what if vandals disturbed the hive,would the bees go mad and start stinging people,im trying to find out as much info as i can to pass back

[saddad]

what if vandals disturbed the hive,

We can live in hope...
 ;D

[triffid]

In general, councils seem to be happier than they were in the past about bees on allotments (environmental/pollination benefits), but naturally they do want to see all precautions taken.
So sites such as Ugly Gourd mentions (near public paths, schools etc) and perimeters by domestic gardens are not appropriate. The ideal (if you have one on your site!) is a scruffy corner a little way from plots in cultivation and out of the general view.

Bees will fly straight from their hive entrances (typically at leg or waist height, depending on individual hive-stand heights) and take a "beeline" to wherever they're foraging. To avoid having bees zooming past your ears every daylight hour from spring to autumn, it's an excellent idea to put a 2 metre high screen in front of the hives (doesn't need to be solid: mesh, fence, hedge etc). This means that the bees will be well above head height as they fly to and fro.
Bees away from their hive and foraging on plants are no bother at all; they're quiet and busy and absolutely focused on getting around as many flowers as poss in as quick a time as poss.

One strong recommendation that I'd make would be to insist that all beekeepers on your site carry public liability insurance. If they are members of the British Beekeepers' Association (BBKA) this comes as an automatic membership benefit. You can check that their membership is up to date by asking for their card. Make a note of their membership number somewhere.
(BTW, I got my lottie plot after I started keeping bees on allotment sites).  ;D

You should also make basic rules very clear before you start. How many beekeepers? How many hives? What about access? Do you mind beekeepers bringing cars on to the site? Are there particular days (public open days etc) when you wouldn't want beekeepers opening up hives? Beekeepers are generally very sensible folk but many aren't lottie owners and I've seen some 'us and them' situations brew up which could easily be avoided. I'd also ask all beekeepers to become members of your allotment assoc (not least because you then have their contact details in case of emergency, but also you get some really nice relationships that way).

Elvis's point is a good one. Yes, a kicked-over hive is a desperate thing to see and is not a thing I'd ever approach without gloves, veil etc. Sadly, it doesn't stop vandals: just heightens the "dare". I've even known hives set alight.  >:( :'( Hence my feelings about keeping hives well out of sight where possible.

I've kept bees on allotments for years, and only once had problems. That wasn't with lottie owners but with a nearby house owner. He had a pond and didn't like my bees coming to drink at its edge. I'd provided them with a mini-pond filled with gungy old water-soaked compost (yummy to bees...  ::) ) but they rather liked the pond on sunny mornings. So I moved the bees. It's never, ever worth upsetting people.
So I'd also get some arrangement in place that says the beekeeper(s) will remove any colony that's causing a problem.
The comments I mostly hear are happy ones when I've moved bees to a site where there haven't been any before: everyone notices huge increases in harvests of peas, beans, soft fruit and top fruit. 
 
Ok, hope that helps.

 

[tonybloke]

very well put, triffid!! ;)

[elvis2003]

triffid,thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long and comprehensive reply! i think ill stew on this one for a while,i cant think where onsite we could have them,as anywhere away from plots is against the perimeter wall,backing onto public ground and a park,but ill have a chat with the plotholder and see where he had in mind.thanks again,youve really helped
rach
x

[ceres]

There are 2 sets of hives on my site.  They're in adjacent corners of the site, both back on to open railings with a busy public footpath the other side, and both have the perimeter wall on their other side with a park behind it in one corner and a road in the other.  My plot is approx. equidistant between both hives (maybe 150 feet away) and until relatively recently, I had no idea they were there (apart from my comfrey always being smothered in bees for which I am very grateful!).  As far as I know, there are no specific rules on our site about keeping bees and I'm not aware of any problems or incidents.  I'm just glad we have them.

[Deb P]

My plots are quite near a plotholder who now has two hives......I have always grown plants such as borage on my plot specifically to encourage bees, and have fun trying to spot 'her' bees! We rely so much on bees for pollination of our crops, I think they should be actively encouraged.

Our committee just asks that they are asked for permission before establishing a hive on site,  and have a contact number in case of an unexpected emergency like a swarm.

[triffid]

triffid,thank you so much for taking the time to write such a long and comprehensive reply!

 ;)  Glad it was helpful... I was rather alarmed when I saw how much I'd written, but it's hard to stop beekeepers talking about bees once they've started...  ;D

A link here just for info/amusement to one of the many fascinating little corners of the BBKA's site... http://www.britishbee.org.uk/bees4kids/index.php

[ugly gourd]

Sorry Ive only just caught up with this the worry was vandals disturbing the hives and we all have some of those kids on the allotments who instead of watching from a distance would go and poke with a stick etc And the people who suffer with aphla (sp again) shock have allotments because they are just as likely to be stung in there daily life as on the allotment so why not have a plot but I said it as a point of interest not a negative against bees do you know if your neighbour would react this way forewarned is fore armed
    I forgot to say I was tempted after watching the Victorian farm on telly establishing a hive but I hate honey!! and my garden is in the corner of the allotments so it would be a bit rubbing there nose in it!!

[Good Gourd 2]

I agree with you Ugly Gourd.  You cannot be to carefull in these times of Health and Safety.(a bit like if you clear the snow from in front of your house and someone slips on it you can be sued) That's another matter. 
Anyway whats sadad saying that if you have some sort of disability you should`NT have an allotment.  Thanks my husband is registered blind and we have one, he manages with help to do more than his share of the work.  OK he could fall over a rake etc but we make sure that there is nothing  laying about (the point the other lady was trying to make) Give everyone some consideration and it should all work fine.  Not make everywhere a no go area for a lot of people, because lets face it we all have something wrong with us at one time or another in our lives.

[saddad]

It wasn't meant that way Good Gourd2, although going back and re-reading it I can see it reads that way. Sorry if I caused offence to you or anyone else. We are trying very hard to expand the community use of allotments, we have flushing toilets with disabled access on our site, a profoundly deaf tenant and would do our best to accommodate anyone who wanted a plot...  :-[

[hopalong]

There are no bee hives on our site but one couple at the far end, near some woods, have devoted their plot to developing habitats and growing plants which are specifically intended to attract bees and other pollinating insects. They and we hope that the bees will spread around the site, for the benefit of us all.  This has the full support of the committee and members.

Our allotment rules say "No poultry, pigs, pigeons or other animals or birds shall be kept on the allotment". There is no specific mention of bees but I am sure that permission would have to be sought before anyone installed beehives.

[Mrs Ava]

Eeek is all I can say.  There were hives on my previous allotment  which I had with my dad.  They were on the plot next to mine.  We weren't asked, they just arrived one day.  All was well to start with until I was on the plot with my mum one sunny afternoon and for some bizarre reason, they decided my hair and face was a beautiful flower, well of course, it is, but I wasn't thrilled and got stung.  More and more bees came to investigate and I ended up locking in the car.  A week later the hives were gone...not my doing, but there were other people on the site and they helped out and reported the incident to the council.  There wasn't a barrier to encourage them to fly up, and the allotment site had a lot of derilect plots away from the main used lotties, so they would have been a lot better positioned there.  Bees and wasps no longer bother me, being a jobbing gardener, I have been stung plenty of times, I would just say be careful where they are postioned.

[Barnowl]

Our plot is next to the hives, up at the far end of the allotments.

The Beekeeper told me that some bees are guard / sentry bees and the likelihood is that if a bee is behaving aggressively it is one of these and the best thing to do is kill it before it goes back and gets its mates. It won't be missed. I keep one of those electrified tennis rackets just in case, but it hasn't really been an issue - I've only killed two in two years.

Another possibility is that some swarms get aggressive as a reflection of the queen's personality and the queen needs to be swapped for a new one.

What did occur was that an apprentice bee keeper used to come round at times when the allotments were quite busy and disturbed the bees by checking them and/or taking the honey combs. Some bees tend to be a bit stroppy after this (as rapidly became obvious and OH, who's a tad allergic, had to abandon the plot) so with the full support of the Beekeeper, we insisted the bees were only disturbed out of normal hours, with which she agreed.

Bees are crucial, so they and their keepers should be encouraged. Just make sure they know what they are doing.

[Bjerreby]

Maybe things are a bit different here in Denmark, but I heard that about 90% of our  bees are wild, and most of them are solitary, not communal. They mostly nest in the ground.

Well, I decided that part of my garden would be a wildlife sanctuary, and I planted grasses and a wild flower mix, which turned out to contain a disproportionate amount of Fiddleneck (Phacelia tanacetifolia). That is a marvellous plant for attracting bees, and I am convinced at the hight of summer we had at least 2000 wild bees just outside the house.

Our wild bees are very civil, even docile, so it is worth sowing a fiddleneck patch anywhere near your veg.

[triffid]

Barnowl, wherever two or more beekeepers are gathered, lo, then shall ye have three or four opinions at the least.  ;D

About the advice you had, to kill a bee if she's behaving aggressively towards you...
 
Yes, sometimes that's the only thing to do (though as you say, that kind of experience is rare). Getting onto the radar of a sentry bee only happens if you're seen as a threat to the colony. That's why I just don't think hives should be next to worked plots... as you are and poor EJ was (I hope the beekeeper also said sorry, EJ...)

Anyway, here's my note of caution re killing honeybees.
A crushed honeybee's body gives off the same pheromone (isoamyl acetate) that bee-sting venom contains. This sends other bees the message "we are under attack; sting here". The smell carries pretty well; certainly a few metres.
As you're using that electrified tennis racquet you probably wouldn't have that problem, but anyone else reading and remembering should know that if they end up with bits of bee on hands, clothes etc, it's best to go wash it off well and not to stay near the hives. 

By the way, sentry duty is just one job a worker bee does during her busy life (after an apprenticeship on housework and before becoming a foraging pollinator).  :) Generally they lurk around or inside the hive entrance, challenging incoming bees. They'll only be flying about if a colony has already been disturbed. Even then, they stay pretty close to the hive: their job is to protect the colony. So if you have hives at the far end of your site, this shouldn't be a worry at all.

Bjerreby: phacelia is loved by many bumblebees, honeybees and hoverflies, so I'm not surprised you had a field full of insect life. It's also a brilliant green manure. What a wonderful plant to have a 'disproportionate amount' of.  :)
 

[Barnowl]

Very clear advice Triffid, thanks.  :)