In the far corner, away from everything, you can see where I've drawn a red bee box. This is where the hive will be located. The garden is on an old school ground behind a soccer field. The location is at the edge of a creek.
The 4-H members in Rabun County built a garden shed from start to finish. They cut a tree on my friends, Mary and Robin's, land and cut the boards and then built the building. Isn't 4-H amazing! These kids built a beautiful shed with two sky-lights in the roof.
The beehive will be sitting beside a creek as a water source. I plan to bring bees up, probably the weekend after Easter, to start a hive here. One thing I'll have to order is an electric fence - there are many honey-hungry bears in Rabun County!
Here's a view that shows how protected the hive will be. At it's back are trees and shrubs lining the creek. on the left side of the picture is a ditch. Nobody will be close to this hive. We plan to put up the electric fence as well as signs about respecting the bees' space.
I never would have thought of bears!
ReplyDeletemustafa yılmaz kastamonlu arici
ReplyDeleteDoes this area flood if you get a heavy rain (say 4"+ up stream). I looked at a map of the region and it looks like you could get some nice flow and overrun from that creek if it rains heavy enough.
ReplyDeleteJust curious. It may not be an issue.
I run 30 colonies and am setting up a second string of out yards. We run a mix and rural yards here in and out of Cincinnati.
We try to position colonies on higher ground away from runoff and flash flood areas.
Cheers and keep up the good work!
Hi Richard and thanks for caring. Many community gardens are in flood plains - this one is as well. I guess the land is available because of the risk! Thanks for taking the time to look at a map. I could move the hive closer to the parking lot but then there's the public "risk" factor of placing an attractive nuisance close to where it's more likely to be bothersome. I'll look more but the area is pretty much flat all around the garden and a soccer field is occupying much of the space on the other side of the garden.....
ReplyDeleteWhat about a concrete block and steel stand. Give it some height and a hefty base.
ReplyDeleteI just remember that one hive you pictured lost too water and thought you might try to avoid it somehow.
Good luck! :)
Swarming is an inevitable part of the reproductive cycle in honey bees. Although honey bees reproduce through mating and egg-laying, swarming is how they create new colonies.This means a new queen is needed for the colony expansion. One female will emerge to take the position of the queen and will stay in the original hive. The old queen and half of the entire population however, will go and find another suitable place to start anew.
ReplyDeleteWe are donating one of our hives to The La Grange Community Gardens (which is in town - La Grange, TX), and I can't help but be concerned about people who will disrupt the bees - some have suggested putting the bees up in a tree, or one a roof of one of the sheds. Have you had any problems with people messing with your hive at the community garden? Any liability concerns?
ReplyDeleteThanks in advance,
Erich
The community garden erected a sign to keep people aware of bees. Nobody messes with my hives there - they just like it that they are there. In terms of liability, I carry insurance for that. If I were conducting an inspection or a bee class, I would have people sign waivers as we do at the Blue Heron before participating in such an event.
ReplyDeleteHere's the post with the sign they put up:
http://beekeeperlinda.blogspot.com/2010/06/rabun-county-bees-are-hard-at-work.html