[nc checkers]

Lets say you have 50 to 60 colonies with part of them a mile apart and someone brings in 16 pallets with 64 hives and sets up on property 1/4 mile from your house where you keep most of your hives.

How bad do you think this will hurt your honey production? What would be your reaction?

This area is mostly farmland and maybe 30% woodland and as you know we get no nectar from pines, cedars, oaks and many other trees. We have a short nectar flow here and usually very little for them in the hot dry part of summer.

I am concerned to say the least. I have built up a decent honey business and sold out every year. Last years will be gone very soon and my goal is to produce enough to last until the next harvest.

 

[G3farms]

Not really much you can do about it. Maybe the fella with the 64 hives knows nothing of your operation and thought the area would make a good out yard for him.

Bees will be competing for forage, so you may see a drop in your honey production.

 

[sqkcrk]

Generally speaking, if the crop is there you will both get it. I'd be more concerned about varroa/virus impact. I think you should find out whose bees they are and talk to the beekeeper. Maybe he didn't realize what he was doing and would agree to move them. Ya never know.

 

[McBee7]

I've seen some of those 64 hive yards and they will put out a river of bees...I drove around one
last summer and and as I rounded the corner into their flight path, my truck was covered and the
truck filled up with bees quickly,,,,But look at it this way- you could double your hive count if you
put out some swarm traps....What's good for the goose is good for the gander...as they say

==McBee7==

 

[beepro]

Definitely your honey production will drop given the close proximity. Bees forage 3 miles away in any
given direction. On the bright side you can now sell packages or nucs for next year. Trap them out to
expand your operation. Learn to graft some good queens to sell too. You are lucky that bees come to you
don't have to buy them.

 

[Frontyard Beekeeper]

I don't know what the laws are for your state, but in my state if you have an established apiary, no one can move hives in unless they are 2 miles or over from you.

 

[nc checkers]

You all made some good points to think about. Already talked to my inspector and he plans on talking to the beekeeper for me.

This farm next to me is owned by and absentee landowner that I don't know personally and the beekeeper is about 20 miles away.

 

[southeastflorida]

no one has a monopoly,
I have the same situation here.
yield is way down, only the super strong colonies produce a surplus.

 

[EastSideBuzz]

I don't know what the laws are for your state, but in my state if you have an established apiary, no one can move hives in unless they are 2 miles or over from you.

Typically that is the case in states that have those rules. But, if he owns the property he has placed them on then that goes right out the window. Montana is a great example of good rules.

 

[Acebird]

Trap them out to expand your operation.

Are you advising him to steal the beekeepers bees?

 

[beepro]

Thanks, Ace. You always keep me on my toes! Hee, he.

How bad do you think this will hurt your honey production? What would be your reaction?

I have built up a decent honey business and sold out every year. We have a short nectar flow here and usually very little for them in the hot dry part of summer. I am concerned to say the least.

This is his concern about the honey operation with a sudden increase in hives.
They will throw off swarms for sure so I say trap them to increase his operation to sell nucs and
queens. Either have the bees or the honey. A shift in thinking to sell the bees and nucs. Take these trap swarms (impossible to know who's bees) to the beekeeper to make a deal with him. This is the start of the conversation. Let him know about these issues to make a decision--go else where or stay. If he choose to stay then keeping the trapped bees is a fair game because no honey for the season anyways. So who's stealing from whom--the bees or the honey? Also, let the new beekeeper know that you set out the traps too since both sides have swarms it is impossible to know who's bees. I don't think it is stealing because you have to ask first before take. I hope they don't have to go this route. It is better for everybody to understand first and make the best decision for the better outcome. Maybe he will leave after
knowing the beekeeping environment.

 

[Acebird]

Setting out bait hives I don't consider a trap out. I am not sure bait hives will work the way you think if there is not enough forage. I wouldn't expect the hives to swarm because they will be struggling to survive and the beekeeper who has moved in might know how to manage hives so swarming is not going to happen in large numbers. Swarms are weak and need forage to survive they start out will little resources.

 

[BernhardHeuvel]

Keep robber bee strains, they will bring back all the lost honey right into your hives. :wink:

 

[nc checkers]

Everything is good now. I called the beekeeper today and he had just moved them to another yard in Mebane. He installed the packages during the middle of the day and several homeowners came home and found bees flying all around their house and some in the house. They called the property owner complaining so he moved the bees before I even talked to him.

He was unaware my bees were so close and said he wouldn't have moved there had he known.

 

[EastSideBuzz]

Nice. Diplomacy and Open communication working. Maybe Obama has a chance using this as an example of moving the Russians out of the Crimea.

 

[Acebird]

Yeah, maybe he could offer him some of that crack you are smoking.

 

[McBee7]

I think sometimes both -beekeepers and Vladimer Puton- operate under the primis that
"its easier to ask for forgivness than for permission" Just Sayin....

==McBee7==

 

[hpm08161947]

Everything is good now. I called the beekeeper today and he had just moved them to another yard in Mebane. He installed the packages during the middle of the day and several homeowners came home and found bees flying all around their house and some in the house. They called the property owner complaining so he moved the bees before I even talked to him.

He was unaware my bees were so close and said he wouldn't have moved there had he known.

If it is the Mebane beekeeper that I think it is, he is an extremely nice guy, and I have no doubt he did not know where your bees were. He is also a great source of info and help when you need it.

 

[sqkcrk]

I think sometimes both -beekeepers and Vladimer Puton- operate under the primis that
"its easier to ask for forgivness than for permission" Just Sayin....

==McBee7==

You can't know what you don't know when looking for new bee yds. If the guy asked the landowner whether there were any other beekeepers nearby the landowner probably didn't know. No forgiveness needed.

 

[McBee7]

And to that sqkcrk, I would say, touche and amen....In northern MN 20 miles is just to
warm up the truck, my kids knew everyone along the international
boarder for 70 miles because they were in school with all of those kids. 20 miles here
isn't 20 miles in NC....It's just a good idea to drive around the block before flopping down 60
hives, in new territory

==McBee7==