Why not set up a couple hives? Some hive designs recreate the natural nooks bees make their homes in. They will provide you with a little organic honey and will increase pollination for your fruits and vegetables.
Before getting started, check with your local town hall for local zoning issues.
Usually, hives must be placed with a setback of several dozens of feet from public walkways, and several hundred feet from public buildings like schools, hospitals, etc. A buffer must also surround the hive up to the limits of your property and neighboring houses. These requirements are often specific to each locality. When they’re met, hives can even be set up in an urban setting. Of course, best is to have a sliver of forest, prairie or a large orchard treated only with organic products. For any given flower-rich area, there shouldn’t be more than 30 hives to a square mile (about 2 km²).
Too many hives makes it harder for other pollinator insects to forage.
Before building anything, check what your locality allows: setbacks, buffers and hive numbers all decide whether a garden can host bees at all. The figures below are the ones given in this article.
| Siting factor | What to allow for | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Distance from public walkways | A setback of several dozens of feet (usually required) | Confirm the figure with your local town hall |
| Distance from public buildings | Several hundred feet from schools, hospitals and the like | Applies to buildings open to the public |
| Buffer on your own plot | A buffer running to the limits of your property and neighbouring houses | Keeps flight paths away from neighbours |
| Number of hives per area | No more than 30 hives to a square mile (about 2 km²) of flower-rich land | Too many hives crowds out other pollinators |
| Local rules | Vary from one locality to the next; once met, even a town garden works | A sliver of forest, prairie or organic orchard is best |
Meet these conditions and the rest is a matter of building the hive itself.
Most hives sold on the market are square. In nature, wild bees and pollinators tend to cluster in cylindrical shapes; consequently, best is to provide them with a roundish shape. Get your hands on a mold to make smaller cylindrical hives with hewn straw and plaster or clay.
In every tiny hive, the bees will build 7 or 8 combs on wooden rods lodged in notches. As the honey is produced and stored by the bee colony, you can stack them (3 to 8 per hive maximum). Make sure to open the lower hive at the tip.
It is also possible to replace the plaster with lime or clay (must be protected from rain), and straw can be replaced by cattail stems, nettles, sunflower stems or even conifer wood sawdust (untreated).
This eco-friendly hive design endeavors to be more respectful of the bees than conventional beekeeping methods. Bees living in these hives have less trouble regulating temperature and moisture and don’t fall sick as often. Since they’re less stressed, they don’t tend to swarm. The hive isn’t disturbed as often for hive maintenance (raising, smoking, treating against varroa mite, etc), bees stay calmer and won’t sting as often. Lastly, you can’t use a centrifugal extractor to collect the honey – slow-drip filtering will actually enhance the honey’s quality.
Pierrick Le Louarn
Shelter the hives from rain to make the last several seasons.
