To think our neighbours should have spoken to us before deciding to keep a bee hive?

[slatternlymother]

Our neighbours 2 doors down have recently decided to take up beekeeping. The first we knew of it was when the bees were disturbed, creating a large angry swarm.

My DH is allergic to bee stings (and so naturally has quite a debilitating fear) and DS is only 18mo; I just would have thought they would have at least knocked on our door and said 'by the way, we're starting a hive and the bees will be disturbed by us at X time so you might want to shut your doors and windows'. They seem like nice people, but there seems to be a lack of consideration for others.

The bees are swarming right now, so even though the sun is shining, we can't get outside in the garden to play with DS like we wanted to

AIBU to think they have been a bit unfair on the rest of the neighbourhood? It's quite a populated area.

Bees have been undergoing massive decline in recent years. According to Einstein, without bees the human race will die out.
Please read this link, would be bee killers.

don't fucking kill the bees

I DON'T WANT TO KILL THE BEES, OR GET RID OF THEM.

I just wanted to be told when they were going to be disturbing them, so there would be a risk of a swarm. That's all.

And mousy I'm not an expert on bees; I was just creating an example. So they could say 'we go and see to them at X time, so they may be disturbed'. That really is all I wanted. Because honestly, to those of you who don't come into contact with allergies; epi pens aren't fun. It isn't just a matter of jabbing one in and forgetting about it like popping a paracetamol.

We had a massive 'nest' (?) under our shed which we discovered when we moved it - the man that was doing our garden was very excited and took them away in a box to have in his garden - LOADS of them!

Ds has epi pens - I know they aren't fun but I don't think he'll be at any more risk than if a neighbour had a wasp/bee nest inadvertently iyswim

valium it's more that we were sitting in our garden one week, and the bees were disturbed (we later looked out of the window to see them both in those special bee suit things) and went over quite a high and wide area (about 4/5 houses). It just would've been nice to have had some warning as we were all outside, toddler DS naked in paddling pool... You get the idea.

I think it's fair enough to ask them to give you warning then.

I lived next door to several hives when I was a kid. They swarmed a couple of times it was always quite exciting! Didn't get stung once in 15 years, and spent plenty of time naked in the paddling pool about five metres away from the hives. We also got the bonus of delicious local honey.

I think asking if you can all go round and learn a bit more about bees would be ideal. It would remove the fear factor. Having them a couple of doors down isn't going to noticeably increase your risk of getting stung at all.

Fil has taken up beekeeping this year. The kids spent fascinated hours staring at the hive in the garden and watching the bees go to and fro, and watching them drink out of the pond! Amazing stuff. Mil is a keen gardener though, and her garden is stuffed with flowers.

I'd hate this and I think it's a pretty selfish thing to do if the gardens are quite close.

I'd have a word with them and explain everything.

And the fact of the matter is the OP should have at least been notified of the swarm! If they were responsible bee keepers. Which they obviously aren't.

But how many people would they have to inform? The OP is two doors down so that is four neighbours (two on each side), then the opposite one, five more, presumably, then if they back onto people, 5 more, that makes 14 so far. That is only if we are doing two houses down. I think the person I knew who kept bees told his next door neighbours if anything was happening and that was it.

bees are vital to whole food chains, the numbers are dangerously low and it affects US, they are really really important! anyone who can keep bees should!

Could you write a friendly, open note, expressing your concerns, and ask them to text you when it is likely that the Bees will be out en masse?

I would keep bees if I had a garden

www.saveourbees.org.uk/help-save-our-bees.html

Well quite. And then they'd be on here saying 'omg! The bees have swarmed down the road and they aren't doing anything about it, they are just knocking on doors and talking to people!!!'

Bee hysteria is a new one for mn though. I blame it on users being raised on that godawful Macauley culkin film. In fact, I blame Macauley culkin for the anti- bee stance, and the endangered status thereof. it's all his fault.

Everything is McCauley Culkin's fault monkeymama!!

Ya know, over here, they ship gazillions of bees across the country in trucks, because they are so vital for crops. There have been quite a few instances where the trucks have lost their loads for some reason, dumping a gazillion bees in the wilds of Idaho, .

I fully support beekeepers. So important.

I'd just like to add that it's these local beekeepers that get called out if you have a swarm in your garden, btw. It's a completely voluntary service - they just get a call and are asked if they are free to collect a swarm, and they get their stuff and off they trot to your garden to collect. It's not pest control, or the council, it's local chaps with a hive in their garden. They collect the swarm and if they don't have a spare hive, the swarm is offered out to the community. The more local beekeepers, the better for everyone.

The whole thing is fascinating, but because it's no longer the norm, people aren't used to hives being fairly commonplace in the community. a real shame, because then they automatically assume it must be a Bad Thing.

mrsterry I would think 2 on either side would be sufficient.

I adore bees and would really love to have beehives but I'm crazy allergic so it would probably be a bad idea.

I grew up with bee hives next door and used to spend hours watching them. The fresh honey was wonderful too. I only ever got stung the once but that caused huge swelling and an emergency trip to A&E. Such a shame. :(

I do think that mentioning to your neighbours that your husband has an allergy and you'd like to know if they are going to be disturbing the bees wouldn't be unreasonable. It's probably just never ocurred to them.

WhiteWidow that seems very arbitrary. There are lots of cries of, "they should have told you" but why? What radius around the house, how many neighbours, why? If they should have been told, why not the neighbours opposite?

I think you should tell them about DH's allergy because that is a special case but apart from that, I don't really see that it is the neighbours' business. How many people on this thread have been around bees a lot, myself included, and never been stung?

If you are in rural idyl with an acre or two, YABU.

If you are in a semi-detached/terraced house/small gardens situation, YANBU.

I live in quite a large town house with a garden that is generous for a town house, but what I would call a small garden. I would like chickens, but haven't gotten them yet because I am worried about the neighbours and I would be quite fucked off if someone near us got a hive.

Go buy a house with land ffs, if that's what you want to do, OP's neighbours.

I keep bees. I don't have near neighbours, though.

SOME bees are very sting happy, some are much calmer. SOME beekeepers are heavy-handed when they deal with hives, and wind their bees up unnecessarily. When either of these apply, they would be grim to deal with and live near. If people get stung 2 gardens away (assuming v small town gardens) and it's honey bees (and not nearby wasps nests -wasps are far more aggressive than honey bees) then IMO the beekeeper should be asked to sort him/herself out. Hives 2 gardens away absolutely shouldn't be a problem - in fact I'm 100% confident that you wouldn't know they were there if they were my bees.

Try speaking to your neighbour directly. Explain about the stings, and ask him if he could "requeen with a more placid strain". Basically, how aggressive they are can be largely genetic, so introducing a new queen will help.

Beekeepers will inspect the hive (about) weeekly. When that happens, the bees will get uppity. Mine will be liable to sting if I'm going through the hive and someone stands within 3ft of it. However, it really is only 3ft. SOme peoples are more aggressive, and will "follow" the beekeeper (or anyone else nearby) for a longer distance. But it isn't necessary to keep aggressive bees - it's easy to breed for calmness, and at this time of year, to introduce a queen from a calmer strain.

If there appear to generaly be lots of bees in your garden 2 doors down, then most likely either, (a) they've found a good water supply nearby, or (b) they've lots of good forage there. Ask the beekeeper to check they have a water source in his / her garden.

lots of people are allergic to cats
and bees don't shit in your child's sand box
but none says you should do a knock around before getting a cat!

Yay for bumperella!

and mankind doesn't need cats, we need bees!

I believe that the advice from the bee keeping association is that bees shouldnt be kept on allotments so I cant imagine them recommending them on gardens.

This came up locally recently. The advice of experienced bee keepers was that they shouldnt be kept where people are likely to be active eg near footpaths, gardens, allotments etc.

All sorts of things can and have disturbed bees -

• strimmers
• certain colours - blue I believe
• perfumes
• hair sprays

At the very minimum your neighbour should be a member of their local bee-keeping association, have third party insurance and have undergone some training.

They should have told all the neighbours so that they are aware in case the bees do swarm elsewhere.

Honey bees arent in fact great pollinators for a lot of vegetables as they arent interested in closed flowers.