About a month ago, I moved to a rural area, horse country. Neighbors on both sides have horses. I've got 7 hives near an arroyo at the edge of our property. Because of several things--moving house, breaking my toe, and being scared by a systemic reaction to stings--I hadn't done very well at swarm prevention with my two established hives, and I know that they both swarmed, because I found queen cells in both and caught two swarms. I know that it was irresponsible of me not to manage them better, but I could hardly walk, was trying to get things hauled from one house to the other, and was scared of having another sting reaction. I'd figured if they were going to swarm, a rural area was the best place to do it.
One of my horse-keeping neighbors was riding about a quarter mile from my place, a few weeks ago, and encountered a swarm in the air. She assumed that the bees would move around her, so she kept riding forward--at a walk--and crossed paths with the bees. A number of bees momentarily alighted on the horse's head and then reoriented and kept flying.
At the time, she thought she'd be killed, but the horse didn't really react, and soon the bees were gone.
She approached me wanting assurance that such a thing would never happen again, and seemed to suspect that these had been my bees. Perhaps they were--I don't know how many swarms those hives put out before I finally got both hives organized. But the swarm was moving toward my place, not away from it--I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe they had come from someone else's hive, or maybe they'd come from mine and then made several moves before they found a home, but that seems unlikely.
So I explained to her what swarming is about, and that swarming bees aren't agressive and won't pursue, and that they can't really steer around a horse's head or some other moving object. So now she knows (if she encounters another swarm) not to keep riding toward it. Part of her fear had come out of her assumption that there might be belligerent roving swarms perpetually looking for horses to run into. So the lesson in basic bee biology helped her feel more safe, but the whole episode made me wonder whether--beyond practicing responsible swarm prevention in future seasons--I need to have any special concern about keeping bees in horse country.
Again, I don't know that this swarm was mine, but I do know that I wasn't as thorough as I should have been in preventing swarming. My question is whether any really bad horse/bee interactions are likely. For example, many people ride their horses up the arroyo which borders my property. Those horses are passing maybe 30 feet from my hives. The concern is that a horse or rider could get stung, and as a result a rider could get thrown, or a horse injured.
I'd figured it was fine, since I'd kept the same bees in the city very close to people without incident. But now I wonder. I don't believe I'd have any legal liability, but I'd really hate for anyone to get hurt. And my neighbor emphasized how valuable some of these horses are.
Any thoughts? I'd especially like to hear from those of you who are both horse people and beekeepers.
(As I think more about it, it seems quite reckless to continue riding toward a swarm of bees, rather than waiting for them to pass. I don't think many riders would do that, keep going. But again, she seems to have thought they'd wait for her to pass.)
One of my horse-keeping neighbors was riding about a quarter mile from my place, a few weeks ago, and encountered a swarm in the air. She assumed that the bees would move around her, so she kept riding forward--at a walk--and crossed paths with the bees. A number of bees momentarily alighted on the horse's head and then reoriented and kept flying.
At the time, she thought she'd be killed, but the horse didn't really react, and soon the bees were gone.
She approached me wanting assurance that such a thing would never happen again, and seemed to suspect that these had been my bees. Perhaps they were--I don't know how many swarms those hives put out before I finally got both hives organized. But the swarm was moving toward my place, not away from it--I'm not sure what to make of that. Maybe they had come from someone else's hive, or maybe they'd come from mine and then made several moves before they found a home, but that seems unlikely.
So I explained to her what swarming is about, and that swarming bees aren't agressive and won't pursue, and that they can't really steer around a horse's head or some other moving object. So now she knows (if she encounters another swarm) not to keep riding toward it. Part of her fear had come out of her assumption that there might be belligerent roving swarms perpetually looking for horses to run into. So the lesson in basic bee biology helped her feel more safe, but the whole episode made me wonder whether--beyond practicing responsible swarm prevention in future seasons--I need to have any special concern about keeping bees in horse country.
Again, I don't know that this swarm was mine, but I do know that I wasn't as thorough as I should have been in preventing swarming. My question is whether any really bad horse/bee interactions are likely. For example, many people ride their horses up the arroyo which borders my property. Those horses are passing maybe 30 feet from my hives. The concern is that a horse or rider could get stung, and as a result a rider could get thrown, or a horse injured.
I'd figured it was fine, since I'd kept the same bees in the city very close to people without incident. But now I wonder. I don't believe I'd have any legal liability, but I'd really hate for anyone to get hurt. And my neighbor emphasized how valuable some of these horses are.
Any thoughts? I'd especially like to hear from those of you who are both horse people and beekeepers.
(As I think more about it, it seems quite reckless to continue riding toward a swarm of bees, rather than waiting for them to pass. I don't think many riders would do that, keep going. But again, she seems to have thought they'd wait for her to pass.)