Where to put a beehive: choosing an apiary site that works

More colonies are lost to a poor site than beekeepers like to admit. A damp hollow, a wind tunnel or a patch with nothing in flower after June wears colonies down no matter how well they are managed, while a good site makes an ordinary season look easy. Choosing one comes down to what the bees need, what you need, and what the people around the hives need. Here is each, followed by the rules, the number of hives a site can carry, and how to find out whether you chose well.

What the bees need

• Forage. Bees commonly forage within about three kilometres of the hive, and further when they must. What counts is not one big crop but something in flower from spring to autumn: trees, hedgerows, gardens, clover, heather, whatever grows in your area. A site surrounded by a single crop can be excellent for three weeks and a desert for the rest of the season.
• Water. A colony uses a lot of water, to dilute stores and cool the hive. A stream, pond or reliable trough within a few hundred metres saves the bees a long flight, and keeps them off a neighbour's pool.
• Shelter. A hedge, wall or bank on the side of the prevailing wind lets bees fly in weather that would keep an exposed colony at home, and keeps a winter cluster warmer.
• Dry ground. Avoid frost pockets and damp hollows, where cold air settles and fog hangs. Damp does more harm to wintering bees than cold.
• Sun. Morning sun on the entrance gets the bees flying early. In hot climates, afternoon shade helps; in cool, damp ones, deep shade under trees is the spot to avoid.

What you need

• Access. A full honey super is heavy and a hive full of honey much heavier. A site you can drive to, or at least reach with a barrow, in every season, is worth a great deal.
• Room to work. Space behind or beside each hive to stand, set boxes down and move around without standing in the flight path.
• Protection. Livestock knock hives over, so fence them out. Where theft or vandalism is a risk, keep the hives out of sight of the road.
• Distance from sprays. On farmland, talk to the farmer about when crops are sprayed, so hives are not in the drift and can be closed or moved if needed.

Neighbours and flight paths

Bees leaving a hive fly low for the first few metres, then climb. Face entrances away from doors, paths, gardens and roads, and put a hedge, fence or screen about two metres high a short way in front of the hives, so the bees climb above head height before they cross anyone's way. Provide water on your own side of the fence. Manage swarming carefully, requeen a colony that turns defensive, and a jar of honey over the fence each year does more for relations than any distance.

Rules and permission

Before the bees arrive, check three things. Some towns and cities limit the number of hives on a plot or set distances from boundaries, so look up local ordinances. For an out-apiary on someone else's land, agree in writing on access, the number of hives and what happens if either side wants to end it. And find out whether apiaries must be registered: it is compulsory in New Zealand, most Australian states and many US states, and voluntary but encouraged in places such as England and Wales, where it brings disease alerts from the bee inspectors.

How many hives a site can hold

As many as its forage can feed. A garden or small hobby site commonly holds two to ten hives; an out-apiary on a strong flow, such as heather, orchards or large areas of clover, can carry twenty to forty. Beyond what the land supports, each extra hive takes honey from the others. The sign is in the results: when colonies on one site keep producing less than similar colonies elsewhere, that site is full.

Setting up the hives

Stand each hive on a stand thirty to forty-five centimetres off the ground, level from side to side and tilted very slightly forward so rain runs out of the entrance. Avoid a long straight row of identical hives, where returning bees drift towards the ends and spread disease as they go: stagger them, face some entrances a different way, or mark the fronts with different colours or shapes.

Judge the site by its records

You find out whether a site was right by comparing it, and that takes numbers kept per hive: colony strength through the season, the harvest weight, the feed it needed and the colonies it lost. After a year, a site that underperforms with the same bees is telling you something, and comparing two apiaries shows how to read it. If a site has to go, how to move a beehive covers moving the hives. The apiaries map in BeehiveMind keeps every site in one place, with each hive recorded in the apiary it stands in.