Horses

[earthguy]

If you've read my intro you know that I'm REALLY new to beekeeping (I'm in the process of planning my first two hives). I have a small (84 acres) farm that we use for a plethora of different activities. We alternate soybeans and corn, have a great whitetail deer population for meat, and we have a few horses and goats. My question involves placement of the hive. I've read that horses and bees don't mix. Obviously I'd never ride my horses up to check on the hives, but what is the appropriate buffer to keep between the penned horses and the hives? The spot that I have picked out for the hives (slightly elevated, wind buffered, sunny all day except for late afternoon, and immediately adjacent to an orchard). Unfortunately this area is only about 150 yards from the horse pasture. Is that too close?

[Bsweet]

Hello; I have had horses in the past as well as cows and pigs. Horses like to kreb (chew),rub and just check things out, cows just plain like to rub on anything and pigs will root up everything. so the best thing to do is keep all things seperated by VERY good fenceing. Keep at least 10-12 ft. from fence and hives so the horses can not reach over to chew or nuzzle the hives or suppers. I always used cow panels ( the galvanized welded wire type) that came in 16 ft lenghts. Jim

[Onehorse]

I have my hives (up to 11 hives) sitting right outside of my horse pasture fence line with bee flight paths going right out over the pasture and roughly 10 feet from the horses' water trough and have had no problems. I believe that the biggest issues is that horses like to scratch and rub on things and the bees wouldn't appreciate that or the hives are too close to a corral/dry lot type situation where the bees can't get away from the horses and the horses can't get away from bees. 150 yds should be absolutely fine and if that is the horses' pasture (being more then an 1 acre or 2) that the horses can get out of flight paths, all should be good.

[Barbee]

I have my bee hives (6) in the horse pasture since day one with a white electric fence (sans electricity). Last year I moved them up to sit between the horse barn and hay shed. I have a board fence about 4 feet in front of the hives to keep the horses from bumping into them or using them as scratching posts. No issues at all even though the path to the road pasture is directly in front of the hives. In the evening when I feed horses, I walk out and watch the bees come and go. Sort of my wind down time. If I work the bees and expect to rile them up, I'll lock the horses in a side pasture for a few hours.

[jkirby]

earthguy, if you use fly spray on your horses you need to keep them in the barn until they are dry. learned this lesson the hard way. bees and fly spray do not mix.

[indypartridge]

My hives are probably 100 yards from our round pen and maybe 150 yards from the pasture. Never had a problem with bees bothering horses.

[ccar2000]

My neighbors horses/yard are within 50ft of my hives. He said his horse got stung once It was not an issue for him. We will never know even if the bee was from my two hives.

[jeremy c]

I gess know one told me my bees should not be in the hores pasture they have been in with the horeses for 2 years and I have never had a problem.Granted it is 50 aceres with many trees but the horses keep the gass mowed around the hives.

[ccar2000]

I think that horses have to deal with bees wherever they are! I guess you are just increasing the chances by having your apiary nearby.

[Oldtimer]

I've run a number of my commercial apiaries in paddocks with horses, without problems. The horses will come right up to the hives, but they'll get stung and then learn, then they just keep their distance.

Cattle though, more of a problem, they'll continue to rub of the hives & push them over. In cattle country I'll put hives in groups of 4 for more support, but a few will still get pushed over, I'll fence if i can.

[Live Oak]

From what I have witnessed and learned from others is that bees DO NOT like the smell of horses. Bees pretty well function and communicate via smell and/or chemical pheromone so it would stand to reason that bees may not like the smell of horses. I have seen dosile bees in a swarm ball I was in the process of try to catch when one of our horse decided to come over to find out what I was doing and if I had any goodies for her. She got within 25 yards of me and the swarm ball and the bees began to pelt her in the forehead repeatedly and got more aggressive as she came closer. Once she figured out the bees were after here and I thing a few may have stung her, she bolted. The bee swarm ball immediately calmed down and became dosile again.

I agree with the above replies. I would not place hives within 30 to 50 yards of a fence holding horses or other live stock just to be on the safe side.

For that matter, the girls don't particularly care for me when I get all hot and sweaty working the hives either.

[CAHighwind]

My hives are all just outside of my horse pasture... probably 5 ft. away from the fence. Horse grazes over the fence and keeps weeds away from the hives. Hasn't been an issue.

[earthguy]

Thanks for the replies guys and gals! I figured that they'd be fine there, but I wanted some expert opinions. I have just a few trees to remove to open the canopy a little more (and clean up the property) and the sire should be ready. I'm sure I'll be having a few more questions for ya'll.