Distance from other Apiaries and Orchards

[jjallday]

Hello All,

I plan on starting a 12 hive apiary next spring and am wondering about location and the best distances from other hives and commercial orchards. I have a medium to large apiary at the end of my street which is about 1 mile from my home. Is this to close for me to start mine here? There is plenty of forage available, but I don't want the possibility of robbing, disease transmission, etc.

The second question is how far do you want to have your bees from commercial orchards? Most of the new chemistries used in cherry and apple production need to be ingested to work and many guys spray at night (wind is calmer better coverage), but I would rather steer clear if possible.

What rules of thumb do you all use? Let me also add how great I think this forum is. For a new beekeeper the info is invaluable and all of the site are polite and helpful.

Thanks,
Jason

[Dave W]

>plan on starting a 12 hive apiary next spring . . .
I would start out smaller, but that’s not one of your questions :)

>medium to large apiary about 1 mile from my home . . .
>Is this to close for me to start mine here . . .
No. This apiary could be valuable asset (mentor, drones for mating, etc.)

>There is plenty of forage available . . .
With all due respect, how do you know? Is lack of forage the reason the nearby apiary is not “huge” :)

>possibility of robbing, disease transmission, etc. . . .
These happen WITHIN all apiaries. If the nearby apiary is "medium to large", that beekeeper must have most of HIS problems under control. He may not like your competion.

>how far do you want to have your bees from commercial orchards? . . .
Bees are said to forage within a 2 to 5 miles radius, maybe farther. But, bees are often USED IN commercial orchards without problems. "Backyard" sprayers are the ones that concern me.

[jjallday]

Thanks for the response. I know that there is plenty of forage because I am familiar with the main honey plants in my area and their bloom dates etc. I am also aware of honey bees use as pollinators in commercial orchards as I am an agricultural consultant. I work in these orchards and with the farmers.

While all of the growers I know are very respectful of bees while they are in the orchard (bloom only as far as I know) once the bees are out many of the pesticides used are very toxic to bees (organophosphates, carbamates, etc.).
Knowing these things I was curious to see what others thought.
Thanks,
Jason

[ss91]

I keep some of my hives right next to my apple/cherry orchard all year long with no ill affect yet. We do all of our spraying during the day and it takes us about 4 days to get the whole thing sprayed. So I do not think you should have any problem but, I am sure there is always the chance.

[Jeffzhear]

I would never spray any of my fruit trees with pesticides during the day when they were flying, no how, no way.