# How far from the house and garden?



## Sandi (Oct 4, 2011)

My husband is allergic to bee stings--not deathly, but gets big painful hive reactions. I've also heard that honey bees should not be located in a place where there will be constant foot traffic. We have kids as well, but our property isn't enormous (an acre, with the house smack in the middle). How far would be safe to keep the bees from the house and garden? Can they be in the woods? Does the type of hive make any difference? Thanks in advance!


----------



## indypartridge (Oct 26, 2004)

Sandi said:


> My husband is allergic to bee stings--not deathly, but gets big painful hive reactions.


A "normal" reaction to bee stings can range from minor annoyance to painful swelling. An allergic reaction is systemic, that is, it's not localized to the sting site and may cause life-threatening anaphylactic shock. If someone is allergic, they should carry an epi-pen (and know how to use it).

Also, some people react differently to honey bee stings versus wasp stings versus hornet stings, etc.



> I've also heard that honey bees should not be located in a place where there will be constant foot traffic. How far would be safe to keep the bees from the house and garden?


There's no set distance, but you want to arrange it so that they are somewhat out of the way and you won't be walking in their flight path each time you're in the yard. 



> We have kids as well, but our property isn't enormous (an acre, with the house smack in the middle).


Remember there is a bee hive on the White House lawn and they just had 13,000 folks there for the Easter Egg hunt.



> Can they be in the woods?


Where are you? The reason I ask is because it can make a difference. Because of Small Hive Beetle, full sun is recommended. But, SHB is a much bigger problem in the south than in the north. I live in the woods, my colonies are in the woods and I haven't had issues with SHB (I'm in Indiana). We have a member of our local club from Memphis TN, and she said that full sun was an absolute requirement there.



> Does the type of hive make any difference?


It's not going to make a difference with respect to where in your yard you locate it, or whether it's in the shade or not. It's still just a box of bees.


----------



## Sandi (Oct 4, 2011)

this is very helpful! and i didn't know the white house kept bees, how cool  i think he probably doesn't actually have an allergy, but just a strong reaction. we are in NC, so it sounds like they do need to be in the sun, but I think we can find some spots after reading some more and seeing your post. if it's not a big deal to be relatively close to the garden and living space, as long as we aren't all up in their business, then i think it would be fine in several places i can think of.


----------



## scrapiron (Jul 23, 2011)

Just watch the direction in which you face the hive. Bees will come out the front door and up toward the sun. They dont stop at the front door and look both ways before they take flight. So, point the hive away from sidewalks, pathways, garden, ect.


----------



## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

There are things you can do to sort of derect the traffic flow out of the hive. Set up a row of hedge or make a short privicy fence a couple of feet in front of the hive so the bees come up and rise above peoples heads as they travel to and from their foraging sourse.
I suggest a out of the way spot in your yard and being away from the garden is sort of agood thing since they tend to most times not forage with in feet of the hive. Just feet of the hive is where they do their cleanising flights. It is also where they have the dead droped.
Speaking of cleaninzing flights best to keep the clothes line behind the hive and that doesn't garentee spot free sheets.

 Al


----------



## Elsbet (Apr 2, 2009)

If he is reacting now, even though it is just a local reaction, he could be developing a full allergy to stings. I'd get the epi-pen to have on hand. Better safe than sorry. No one in our family has current bee sting allergies, and we have epi-pens. The whole family spent part of yesterday practicing with the test pen they give you in a package.

As far as your situation, it sounds similar to ours. Our house is on a 1 acre lot, completely fenced in. We have a lot more to use than that, but for practical purposes, our domain is on the 1 acre- anything outside the fence is fair game for neighborhood dogs and kids. Our hive is about 15 feet off the side of our garage, between a peach tree and the mock orange, facing out toward the back field. We could have put it closer to the field, but we had several issues in mind- 1 was ease of access from the garage. All of Andrew's equipment is in the garage. The mock orange blocks the view from the house, and on visits to other bee farms we found that if there was a particularly aggressive bee after us, stepping behind a tree/bush to get out of line of sight of the hive would usually shake them. Usually. It is working for us so far, but we are just getting started. We also like keeping the hive where it is because it is visible and... er... there are a few people we know who are pathologically afraid of nature, bees in particular, and, well.... it just makes for no visits, lol. But at the same time, it draws interested people. 

I've had to mow the lawn twice since we put our hive in, and our girls don't seem to care a bit when I run the mower near them. But that might just be our girls. someone else's bees might react differently.


----------



## sevenmmm (Mar 1, 2011)

Last year when I first received a few packages of bees, they were quite docile as they built up the hive. But I noticed a change late last fall. There were more bees and more defenders - with something to lose. They are just as defensive this year as late last year. 

If I get lazy and not put on the veil when I, say work near in the garden they are in, they get me every time. So keep a veil on your husband when he goes near just in case. One other thing, sometimes they just head butt you without stinging. But if you don't move away they call for re-enforcements!


----------

