A colony bought ready to go counts anywhere from 7,000 to 40,000 bees, and asks for barely five square yards of sheltered, sunny ground. Keeping a hive at home is one of the practical answers to the decline of bees — get the south-east exposure and the nearby forage right, and the honey follows.
Here’s a quick review of current legal requirements to set a hive up, and what the best practices are.
You are allowed to have a beehive in your garden as long as you meet the current legal requirements. These are related to minimum or buffer distances between hive, neighboring houses, public walkways and public buildings.
This is always defined and voted at the local government level, or by the municipality itself.
Check with your local town hall for such zoning issues.
Nothing at national or federal level, either for the UK or for the USA, prohibits individuals from having a beehive in the garden, but local ordinances may restrict this.
If your production is only for family consumption, usually all you have to do is register your hive with a local risk management bureau.
In the UK, the Bees Act of 1980 does include obligations related to bee health. For example, if a disease is killing bees off in your hive, you must report it to local authorities to prevent its spread.
However, if you plan to sell your honey, you’ll need to process papers to register as a formal business. You’ll have to meet food safety requirements. All owners of hives must register every hive yearly, renewing it and always providing a floor plan of where the hive is located. This is sometimes possible over the internet.
Before anything else, work out which situation you are in: keeping a few frames for the family is not the same as selling jars of honey. The table below sums up what the article says about each case.
| Your situation | What you must do | Who you deal with |
|---|---|---|
| Honey for family consumption only | Register your hive — usually the only formality | A local risk management bureau |
| Selling your honey | Register as a formal business and meet food safety requirements | Business registration and food safety authorities |
| Every hive, every year | Renew the registration and provide a floor plan showing where the hive stands | The registering body, sometimes online |
| Disease in the hive (UK) | Report it so that it does not spread further | Local authorities, under the Bees Act of 1980 |
| Siting the hive near neighbours | Respect the buffer distances, or enclose the hive as allowed locally | Your local town hall or municipality |
Whatever your case, the detail is set locally, so a call to the town hall settles it.
Apart from legal requirements, setting up a hive means matching the needs and habits of honey bees.
A worker bee prefers to forage at distances not further than half a mile (about one kilometer), so better have plants, shrubs and flowers ready to serve nectar and pollen nearby.
Bees often forage up to 3 to 4 miles (4-6 km) from their hives! If there’s a dearth, they can fly even further afield.
– Joanna
The space itself ? Usually, 5 sq. yards (5 sq. meters) is enough for one hive. It must be sheltered from wind and moisture while basking in the sun, especially in the morning. South-East exposure is recommended.
To start, ask other beekeepers in your area if internships, trainings or similar opportunities are organized that will help you learn the trade and tricks: care, hive management, feeding, harvest.
Working with other people is crucial to avoid costly (or stingy!) mistakes.
Sometimes dedicated “training hives” teach how to care for a hive naturally, which is easier because there are less interventions. At the end of winter or at the beginning of spring, you can usually purchase a hive with its colony (counting from 7,000 to 40,000 individual bees).
The hive is moved at night. There are also any number of specialized stores on the Internet that help you find the appropriate equipment: entire hives, frames, smokers, protective clothing…
Fabienne Lisse
