Beekeeping and NIMBY

[kenny]

Bee keeping is on the rise.
Honey prices have gone up and people want more natural local foods these days.
Good thing since there has been an alarming die off of bees lately, and they are needed for pollination.
Lots of people in crowded cities are starting the hobby of bee keeping but their neighbors worry about their children getting stung.
Some cities have responding by zoning and classifying bees as "farm animals".

I can see both sides.
I think honeybees have become Africanized where I live so I would not be happy if my neighbors kept hives.
Africanized bees have been known to swarm and kill people operating lawn mowers.
Also, in California some dogs have been attacked and killed by them.

Would you be okay with beehives next door?
Do you by chance keep bees?
I have a friend in New England who does and it's a very very cool thing.

Here's an interesting article about it.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-hometown-columbia-20110123,0,1950043.story

 

[manderz]

I wouldn't mind, but my dad is allergic, so it would probably cut down on his visits if there were hives next door to me. That would make me a sad panda.

 

[Tuckins1]

I wouldn't mind if they were European.... Africanized honey bees scare me. I'm not allergic, and although I am afraid of bees, they really don't do any harm, just a little sting. They are great for the environment and we need more of them!

 

[JewelFreak]

We have a neighbor down the street who keeps bees. I think it's fascinating. No problem for me even if they were next door. I hear some of this guy's neighbors aren't too happy, but holy mackeral, how about living in the real world? Bees don't bother you if you don't bother them (not Africanized, which don't get mad easier but once they do, you're in the soup) & we do need more of them.

--- Laurie

 

[iLander]

We had a bee colony move into one of our birdhouses a few years back. They seemed to be honeybees and a guy about 1/2 mile away had honeybee hives. It was actually a huge birdhouse, owl-sized, so they were very happy there for a while.

Living with them was a little freaky, though. When I would go into "their" corner of the yard, there seemed to be an increased number of bees flying around. If I got with 6 feet of the hive, the buzzing would start to get very loud. So, I didn't get any closer, and walked away. No stings.

But one morning I got up right around sunrise, I think it was close to 5 am, and it was just starting to get light. The bees, hundreds and hundreds of them were covering the screen on my screened porch. They were peacefully going up to the top, turning around, and walking back down, buzzing quietly. It was bizarre.

I asked someone about it, and apparently, because we live in a high humidity area, they were drying their wings. And this was going on every morning, I just hadn't been awake to see it.

Then, one day, the buzzing got so loud that I could hear it inside my house. I went to look, and the bees were swarming, a huge mass of them, on the tree trunk (birdhouse was high in a tree). They stayed there about an hour, I guess to make sure the door was locked and the oven was off. Then they all flew off, en masse, to wherever their new home is.

So, yes, Kenny, bees can be cool.

 

[lliang_chi]

Honey bees, I think I'm OK with it. I don't keep bees, but my parents have an apiary on their property in FL. They have a farm, so it makes sense. It's not their bees, a beekeeper pays "rent" in honey to them.

 

[JewelFreak]

iLander, that's cool! It would definitely be weird at first to see your screen door covered with bees but once finding out what they were doing, I'd be fascinated. I like bees. We had carpenter bees in our wood fencing. A few big bumbly ones flew around me when I gardened there but I'm not afraid of them, so didn't move suddenly, etc., not to alarm them. They never hurt me.

I looked them up. The guard carpenter bees don't even have stingers! How can you hate fuzzy round things that can't do anything to you? In order to get them to move on I spread cedar mulch next to the fence -- they hated the smell & took their relatives to another residence. Easy & they remained healthy. Proud of myself.

Wonder what made yours decide to hit the road. Do they get tired of one place after a while?

--- Laurie

 

[cjusty]

My husband and I had two colonies two years ago (sadly they both died). Our neighbors never complained and we gave them some of the honey once we harvested it. We'll probably get a couple more colonies next year.

 

[Trekkie]

A good friend of mine owns a bee farm out near Hopefield, along the South African West Coast. Her honey is to die for and people order it from all over the world!

I was quite scared the first time I went to visit her farm but I soon became used to the bees and as long as I didn't go too close they ignored me.

Would I mind if a neighbour kept bees? Not at all, especially now that I've seen how harmless they are.

I think this is another example of how people tend to fear the unknown. If you've been exposed to bees and have had good experiences with them, you're far less likely to fear them than if your only experience was hearing exaggerated anecdotes shared for the sole purpose of encouraging fear..

 

[Jennifer W]

I have kept bees, but I don't have any at the moment. They usually only swarm if they're looking for new premises.

My hive died off one winter, for no apparent reason though. Apparently this is happening more and more often now, with bad years happening more frequently . The local beekeepers' association had a lot of members who lost their hives that year.

One of my neighbours must have a hive, because there are always a lot of little honey bees in my lavander hedge over the summer months. Bees from a single hive like to use only one type of flower to make honey and will fly past other varieties to get to their flower of choice. Someone round here is enjoying lavander honey and I want to find it, see if they can spare a jar!

 

[mayachel]

I have a friend who keeps bees, and enjoyed it so much that they opened a supply store to share the joy with others. My limited understanding is that under the right circumstances, it's like planting a tree in terms of helping the environment by keeping the bee world going, and in turn all the plants they help pollinate. Plus honey!

 

[monarch64]

I think bee-keeping is great, just not next to me! I'm not allergic but I'm TERRIFIED of bees (kind of like the bee version of arachnophobia, I mean, I FLIP out when one gets near me no matter what kind it is or whether it has a stinger), and FI is allergic and keeps an epi-pen on hand at all times. I know my fear of bees is totally irrational but I can't seem to mind-over-matter this one. I grew up on a farm and was stung a few times as a child, and also witnessed my father get stung by hundreds of yellow-jackets and honey bees several times during his twice-yearly bush-hogging of some of the pastures. Not a pretty picture, but he's not allergic and recovers each time (even at 70 he's still out there!) I just don't like being stung--I have a pretty high tolerance for pain but in the case of bee stings I strangely have none--it hurts like hell!

I'll never do an outdoor wedding ceremony again...my first marriage was outdoors and my poor dad had to get up and shoo away the bees that were buzzing around me all through the ceremony. Probably a sign that I should've run fast and far from that marriage, haha!

 

[Pandora II]

Loads of people in central London keep bees - I would too if I didn't have a small child and a small terrace. In the immediate area there are a lot of hives and the farm at the bottom of the road runs bee-keeping courses.

The famous department store in Regent Street - Fortnum & Mason - make their own honey and keep their bees on the roof of the store!

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

I'm okay with people in rural areas keeping bees, but someone living in a McMansion on a half-acre plot in the middle of suburbia doesn't have any business keeping bees, in my opinion. My dad gets honey from bees on our ranch.

I visited a friend's family home out in the country once. They didn't live on a farm, but had several acres in an area where you can't see your neighbors and might keep a few cows or hens. They kept bees on their property, far from the house, but the water collecting bees came to the yard to get water from the waterbath. I had always had a HUGE fear of bees or anything else with a stinger due to a run-in with a wasps' nest as a child, but they promised I wouldn't get stung if I wanted to pet the bees. I walked right up to that water bath and touched the bees with my index finger. I'm not afraid of bees at all anymore! I just leave them alone and trust them to do the same! I still hate June bugs though...

 

[monarch64]

I'm okay with people in rural areas keeping bees, but someone living in a McMansion on a half-acre plot in the middle of suburbia doesn't have any business keeping bees, in my opinion. My dad gets honey from bees on our ranch.

I visited a friend's family home out in the country once. They didn't live on a farm, but had several acres in an area where you can't see your neighbors and might keep a few cows or hens. They kept bees on their property, far from the house, but the water collecting bees came to the yard to get water from the waterbath. I had always had a HUGE fear of bees or anything else with a stinger due to a run-in with a wasps' nest as a child, but they promised I wouldn't get stung if I wanted to pet the bees. I walked right up to that water bath and touched the bees with my index finger. I'm not afraid of bees at all anymore! I just leave them alone and trust them to do the same! I still hate June bugs though...

Maybe I need to visit an apiary where I can "pet" the bees! That sounds just amazing! I have read a couple of novels about bees and their natures...The Keeper of the Bees, and The Secret Life of Bees. (The former is SOOOOO WONDERFUL)! I would love to be able to respond more positively to bees, I really would. I think it's a fear that I will overcome in time! Reading about people's experiences here is certainly helping me.

Edit: Oh, and June bugs=not scary to me, but no fun, either! I really dislike the noise they make on screen windows in the early summer months, and obviously they make a nuisance of themselves about the porch lights! I've never killed one, but I can imagine they make sort of an obnoxious crunch underfoot which I hate even thinking about. They only "bug" us for about a month or so here.

So admirable that you got over your fear of bees. I'm totally jealous!

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

lol, I trust bees to have some sense and leave me alone, but June bugs are CRAZY, and they will fly right into your face with no warning! I hated them as a child because I was terrified of bees, and with the buzzing and flying around, I thought the June bugs might be bees but wouldn't get close enough to tell. After conquering my fear of bees, I'm still weary of June bugs because they seem senseless! I had one fly into my shirt once just after I rang a doorbell to go into a party. Some guy opened the front door to see me digging into my cleavage in a panic as the June bug's scratchy feet pinched me while it was trapped in my bra.

 

[monarch64]

lol, I trust bees to have some sense and leave me alone, but June bugs are CRAZY, and they will fly right into your face with no warning! I hated them as a child because I was terrified of bees, and with the buzzing and flying around, I thought the June bugs might be bees but wouldn't get close enough to tell. After conquering my fear of bees, I'm still weary of June bugs because they seem senseless! I had one fly into my shirt once just after I rang a doorbell to go into a party. Some guy opened the front door to see me digging into my cleavage in a panic as the June bug's scratchy feet pinched me while it was trapped in my bra.

Aww! That story made me cringe! No fair for bugs ruining your entrance!!!

So...while we're on this flying insect note (or somewhat hatred of them), I LOATHE locusts, specifically the 17 year cicadas. I posted a few times about those little horrors back in 2006, I believe, right here on PS. They fly, they congregate, they seemingly conspire, they ARE AWFUL. And they sing. And did I mention that THEY ARE AWFUL AND HIDEOUS??? Once when I was bringing in groceries (4 years ago) one stuck itself to my shirt--back shoulder-- and I JUST. ABOUT. DIED. I can't handle them. I love nature, but these things are the exception to my rule. Like, I will shoot them or stomp on them or squash them with any means possible in a heartbeat. OMG I'm getting all heated just typing this. Hate you, cicadas!

 

[Guilty Pleasure]

Monarch, look on the bright side - at least you won't have to deal with that again for another 13 years

 

[jas]

lol, I trust bees to have some sense and leave me alone, but June bugs are CRAZY, and they will fly right into your face with no warning! I hated them as a child because I was terrified of bees, and with the buzzing and flying around, I thought the June bugs might be bees but wouldn't get close enough to tell. After conquering my fear of bees, I'm still weary of June bugs because they seem senseless! I had one fly into my shirt once just after I rang a doorbell to go into a party. Some guy opened the front door to see me digging into my cleavage in a panic as the June bug's scratchy feet pinched me while it was trapped in my bra.

Aww! That story made me cringe! No fair for bugs ruining your entrance!!!

So...while we're on this flying insect note (or somewhat hatred of them), I LOATHE locusts, specifically the 17 year cicadas. I posted a few times about those little horrors back in 2006, I believe, right here on PS. They fly, they congregate, they seemingly conspire, they ARE AWFUL. And they sing. And did I mention that THEY ARE AWFUL AND HIDEOUS??? Once when I was bringing in groceries (4 years ago) one stuck itself to my shirt--back shoulder-- and I JUST. ABOUT. DIED. I can't handle them. I love nature, but these things are the exception to my rule. Like, I will shoot them or stomp on them or squash them with any means possible in a heartbeat. OMG I'm getting all heated just typing this. Hate you, cicadas!

Oh, girl, I'm right with you. They seemed to swarm on the types of trees that lined the street where I worked. And parked my car. There were just swarms of them...and then when they died...ohhh, the crunching. I was just a wreck about them for their entire (admittedly short) lifespan. Seriously. I was in a cold sweat every time I had to go outside. I assume this is how some people feel about spiders or open spaces or closed spaces or Ashton Kutcher.

ETA (sorta on topic) that I have a ridiculous phobia of bees and wasps (I don't get close enough to tell the difference) because when I was a young girl I was outside playing while my Dad was painting the house. He was on one of those high ladders when a bee bit him. It obviously surprised/hurt him so much that he fell off the ladder. He was a bloody mess (no long-term effects)...so I may catastophize bees a little.

That being said, in theory I would actually be ok with my neighbors down the street having bees. That's how I roll.

 

[Fly Girl]

I think I would prefer that the neighbors kept bees rather than the 3 dogs that live on each side of me that bark and growl whenever I leave my house. I have never minded bees. The honey exhibit at the State Fair is at the top of my must-see list every year. They bring in a beehive with clear sides and I can watch the bees hum around for hours.