Lesson 3: Bees and Neighbors

Keeping bees where other people live

Plenty of people keep bees in backyards, including in suburbs and towns. It works best when your neighbors hardly notice the bees at all. Most neighbor problems come from just three things: bees flying low across where people walk, bees drinking at someone else's water, and hives placed against local rules. All three can be prevented.

Check the rules before you buy

Before you buy bees or equipment, find out what rules apply where you live. Bee rules can come from several places:

• your state (registration and other bee laws; lesson 4),
• your city or county (zoning or other local codes), and
• a homeowners' or property owners' association, if you have one.

Some places set rules such as a minimum distance between hives and the property line, or a required fence or hedge. If the hives will sit on someone else's land, get the owner's permission first.

Keep flight paths away from people

Bees fly out of the hive entrance and head for their food in fairly steady lines. Where those lines run matters.

• Point the hives so bees don't fly across sidewalks, playgrounds, driveways, patios or other places people use.
• Keep hives back from property lines and away from public areas.
• Use a flyway barrier: a solid fence, hedge or dense shrubs near the hive. Bees fly up and over it, so they pass above people's heads instead of at face level.
• In a suburban neighborhood it often helps to keep hives out of sight. Neighbors who can't see hives rarely worry about them. The same fences and shrubs also shelter the hives from cold winds in winter.

How it looks: hives placed against a tall hedge. Bees leaving the entrance have to climb over the hedge, which sends their flight path above the heads of anyone on the other side.

Give your bees their own water

Bees need water, especially in dry, hot weather. If you don't give them water, they'll find the nearest source: a neighbor's swimming pool, birdbath, dripping spigot or dog's water bowl. That's one of the most common complaints about backyard bees.

Set up water before the bees arrive, close to the hives, and keep it filled so they learn to use it. Options include:

• a tub or container of water with floating wood or foam chips, so bees can land without drowning;
• a dripping faucet;
• a feeder filled with water.

Lesson 51 covers water in more detail.

Be considerate when you work the hives

• Don't open hives when your neighbors are outside, for example when they're gardening, grilling or have guests over. An open hive puts more bees in the air.
• Remember that noise and vibration from mowers and trimmers can stir bees up, for your neighbors as well as for you.
• Wash your bee suit often. Dried venom on unwashed clothes can set off defensive bees, and can cause reactions in family members who are allergic.
• Choose gentle bees. A gentle colony is much easier to keep near people (lesson 15).

Keep a good site

A good backyard site keeps bees away from people and animals. A site should not be:

• right next to property lines or public areas,
• close to penned animals and their water,
• without a reliable water source, or
• full of old, unused hive equipment (it attracts pests and robbing bees).

Lesson 24 covers choosing the whole site: sun, shade, wind, flooding and access.

What to remember

• Check state, local and homeowners' association rules before you buy anything.
• Aim flight paths away from where people walk, and use a fence or hedge so bees fly up and over.
• Give your bees water before they find your neighbor's pool.
• Don't open hives when neighbors are outside; wash your bee suit; keep gentle bees.

Quick check

1. What does a flyway barrier do?
2. Your bees keep visiting the neighbor's pool. What's the fix?
3. Name three places bee rules can come from.

Show answers

1. It makes bees fly up and over it, so their flight path passes above people's heads. 2. Give the bees their own reliable water source near the hives, such as a tub with floats. 3. State law, city or county codes, and a homeowners' or property owners' association.

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Adapted from: Delaplane, K. S., Honey Bees and Beekeeping (UGA Extension Bulletin 1045, rev. 2017); UGA Bee Program, Getting Started: Preparing to Keep Bees; UF/IFAS Extension, Welcome to the Apiary! (4H446); Mississippi State University Extension, Beginning Beekeeping in Mississippi (P3594); Utah State University Extension, Thriving Hives: The Apiary (2024); University of Arkansas, Complete Beekeeping Short Course, Part 5.

Adapted from university Extension sources. Experienced Georgia beekeepers are reviewing these lessons. See something that doesn't match your experience? Tell us.