Would you live next door to a beehive?

Sniipe

I know someone who is interested in getting a hive. He is thinking of setting up a bee hive of up to 60,000 bees. Would you like to live next door to a hive?

Remember, that bees are endangered and vital to agriculture, crops, pollination etc...

They can also sometimes sting...

Some stats from boyne valley

1. The honey bee has been around for 30 million years.
2. It is the only insect that produces food eaten by man.
3. Honey bees are environmentally friendly and are vital as pollinators.
4. Their latin name is - Apis mellifera.
5. They have 6 legs, 2 eyes, and 2 wings, a nectar pouch, and a stomach.
6. The honeybee's wings stroke 11,400 times per minute, thus making their distinctive buzz.
7. A honey bee can fly for up to six miles, and as fast as 15 miles per hour, hence it would have to fly around 90,000 miles - three times around the globe - to make one pound of honey.
8. The average honey bee will actually make only one twelfth of a teaspoon of honey in its lifetime.
9. It takes about 556 workers to gather 1 pound of honey from about 2 million flowers.
10. It takes one ounce of honey to fuel a bee's flight around the world.
11. A honey bee visits 50 to 100 flowers during a collection trip.
12. A colony of bees consists of 20,000-60,000 honeybees and one queen.
13. Worker honey bees are female, live 6 to 8 weeks and do all the work.
14. The queen bee lives for about 2-3 years and is the only bee that lays eggs. She is the busiest in the summer months, when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.
15. The male honey bees are called drones, and they do no work at all, have no stinger, all they do is mating.
16. Each honey bee colony has a unique odour for members' identification.
17. Only worker bees sting, and only if they feel threatened and they die once they sting. Queens have a stinger, but don't leave the hive to help defend it.
18. It is estimated that 1100 honey bee stings are required to be fatal.
19. Honey bees communicate with one another by "dancing".
20. During winter, honey bees feed on the honey they collected during the warmer months. They form a tight cluster in their hive to keep the queen and themselves warm.

Fr_Dougal

No. I got stung by a bee once, and it wasn't a pleasant experience. Charged me €20 for a pit of honey.

GLaDOS

No because I don't think they integrate into the local community and have a reputation for anti-social behaviour.

mad turnip

when the hive needs to be at its maximum strength, and lays up to 2500 eggs per day.
The male honey bees are called drones, and they do no work at all, have no stinger, all they do is mating.

If you were this queen would you be happy or upset your the local bike?

Plazaman

Unbeelievable some of them facts. Deadly buzz.

And no, keep your buzzy jive ass stinging machines of death away from my house.

Slicemeister

So long as they were going out the door every morning to work and not bumming off the state, why not?

weisses

I'm fine as long as they don't take "our" jobs

Agent Smith

If I had my way I wouldnt live next door to neighbours!

Mr. Incognito

Without bees, we would die due to non pollination of crops.

I would take a hive over my present neighbours any day

Legs.Eleven

One of my favourite songs as a kid:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ftywp1pJr5g

Sniipe

No (I like the idea, but not near me)

TheZohan wrote: »

Charged me €20 for a pit of honey.

Bargain

Muise...

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Add to your facts that beehives are only dangerous if you stand right in front of the door or open/move the hive aggressively. Otherwise the bees are happy out and the only one to get stung will be the beekeeper. Who won't mind as it doesn't hurt after a while. The orientation of the hive door is what keeps the bees and the people in the houses by the garden out of each others way.

Putting some of your facts together -bees don't hang around the garden/orchard/field where the hive is - as you said the workers travel miles for food, and the drones just hang around waiting to mate the queen, but they don't have a sting so no harm.

You mentioned the bee dance. It is the cleverest dance in the world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7ijI-g4jHg

Ficheall

My parents have recently bought a couple of beehives. They're not near any neighbours though. It'll be interesting to see if they manage to get any honey out of them...

Barely There

ScienceNerd wrote: »

No because I don't think they integrate into the local community and have a reputation for anti-social behaviour.

You mean bee-haviour?

Jimoslimos

Mr. Incognito wrote: »

Without bees, we would die due to non pollination of crops.

Whilst they are important pollinators this isn't completely true. Other insects can also pollinate (and more efficiently in some cases) but are usually wild and less easily controlled. Also many crops don't require the assistance of animal or insect pollination.

As to the the original question, no I wouldn't want to live next door to a beehive.....I want to have the beehive for myself in my back garden! I love bees, fascinating creatures!

Alf. A. Male

I'm allergic to their stings, so no, I wouldn't live next door to them, I might as well cut my own throat. Shame, 'cos I kinda like them and I would love the sound of the gentle buzzing as I sat in my garden if it wasn't akin to an incoming missile in terms of the damage it could do to me.

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Definitely! Bees are great.

coffee_cake

I know it's wasps that are the evil fcukers but I'd still have that "run away screaming" instinct...

diomed

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Great bunch of lads.

Muise...

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Alf. A. Male wrote: »

I'm allergic to their stings, so no, I wouldn't live next door to them, I might as well cut my own throat. Shame, 'cos I kinda like them and I would love the sound of the gentle buzzing as I sat in my garden if it wasn't akin to an incoming missile in terms of the damage it could do to me.

Hope you have some epinephrine. :eek:

Macy0161

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Bees travel several km's to look for pollen, so I wouldn't be worried.

endacl

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Yeah. No bother. Already do.

wp_rathead

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Parents have bees, about 8 hives around the garden- long as u dont go near them they no bother

Alf. A. Male

Muise... wrote: »

Hope you have some epinephrine. :eek:

Nope. I carry nada. I like the thrill of living dangerously. I was gonna say I like the buzz of it, but that seems too obvious.

endacl

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

wprathead wrote: »

Parents have bees, about 8 hives around the garden- long as u dont go near them they no bother

And if you go near the hives...?

Muise...

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Alf. A. Male wrote: »

Nope. I carry nada. I like the thrill of living dangerously. I was gonna say I like the buzz of it, but that seems too obvious.

You like the adrenaline rush of not carrying adrenaline then?

solargain

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

If you go at the hives it ha the same effect as putting your hand in a dogs mouth. They think you are robbing their honey , I am sure if somebody was knocking on your door and annoying you , you would come out kind of annoyed as well. I have 7 hives around the house

Muise...

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

solargain wrote: »

If you go at the hives it ha the same effect as putting your hand in a dogs mouth. They think you are robbing their honey , I am sure if somebody was knocking on your door and annoying you , you would come out kind of annoyed as well. I have 7 hives around the house

Missed a trick there - a false porch and doorbell rigged up to open a hatch and release angry bees on canvassers and sundry cold callers.

Duggy747

Bees would be handy to get rid of people like the license inspector.

Me: "Sure, come inside and I'll show you my TV...........it's right around back.

Inspector: "Um....ok?"

Me: "There, right there."

Inspector: "But........tha......that's a beehive....."

Me: ".........exactly.........."

Inspector "Wait a min......"

Me: "Go........go my pretties, feed on him!!"

*BUZZ*

Inspector: "AAAaaaarrgghh!!......"

Me: "Sorry to be such a............buzz kill........mwa ha ha......."

Grayson

are they romanian bees?

323

No (I am totally against living next to a hive)

Defiantly. Nice to see them around.

Guessing there must be a wild hive relatively close by as it is as shake any of the Escallonia hedging anywhere round my garden and 10 or more rise out of it.

Don't know of kids or anyone being stung.