How to Decide Placement of Your Beehive

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Beehive placement is important! Before you get bees, make sure you decide placement of your beehive!

Things to Consider When Deciding Placement of Your Beehive

So you are ready to get some honeybees, but you haven’t figured out where to put them… It’s not that tricky, but there are some things to consider when it’s time to decide where to place your beehive (or beehives) on your property.

Sharing Space With Honeybees:

Some people keep their beehives on other’s property, in the case when they aren’t able to keep them on their own. This can be a great option, but make sure the person who is housing your bees has an understanding of what it will entail, so it doesn’t become a problem.

Bees usually keep to themselves, but sometimes they can be a nuisance. If your property has a pool, you can expect to find the bees spending a lot of time around it. While they are harmless, some people are scared of bees, and will not want them buzzing in or around their pool! Bees need a nearby water source for their hive, and often times if there’s a pool around, they will adopt it as their water source, regardless if there is another source nearby. So keep this in mind when you are deciding placement of your honeybees. You can make a bee drinking station yourself, but if you have natural water sources within 1/2 mile, that will suffice.

If you live in a close-knit neighborhood, check your city ordinances to find out if you are allowed to have bees. You also should notify your neighbors and make sure they don’t have any oppositions.

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Where Should I Place my Beehives?

Choose a spot on your property that isn’t damp, wet, or cool, and isn’t prone to flooding. You want them in a warm location, that doesn’t get too much shade. Southern exposure at the entrance is ideal. I would advise against placing them under a tree, where leaves and other debris could fall onto them. Make sure the spot you choose is as level as possible!

If you have more than one hive, (which it is always a good idea to have at least two) you should try to place them at least 1-2 feet apart. This is just to give you space for working in and around each hive. If you had to, you could place them right next to each other, or stacked on top of one another. You will usually see this in bigger apiaries with less space, but if you only have a few hives, there’s no reason for you to need to have them so close together.

If you live in a suburban area where you don’t have a very big yard, and have tall fences, make sure you place the hive in a place where the bees have at least 25 feet in front of them to gain elevation when flying out. You also want to make sure you don’t put them facing your driveway or a busy street, because they will end up flying through traffic and getting squished, which is the last thing we want to happen to our bees! It is also a good idea to give yourself at least 4 feet behind the hive for working, placing equipment, etc.

Underneath The Beehives

You can place your beehive on any surface, but concrete or something that isn’t going to have weeds and tall grass growing through it is idea. I put stuff under my hive stands to keep the weeds from growing up and around my hives, but I still have to keep the surrounding vegetation cut down, otherwise it gets too overgrown.

Place Your Beehive in a Spot Safe From Pests

Cinder blocks make great hive stands, but if you’d like something a bit fancier, you can get these really nice hive stands! If you are going to be putting your hives in your yard, or an area with vegetation, you can put an outdoor rug or something like that under them to keep the weeds from getting out of hand. If you live in a place where small hive beetles are a problem, you want to make sure there isn’t a lot of hiding places for them under your hives.

Ants are usually drawn to beehives because of the sweet honey or sugar syrup. Usually ants aren’t a problem for a strong hive, but if you are concerned about it, you can get special feet for the hive that ants and other pests can’t climb up.

Mice can be a problem for your hive too, so keeping it in a place where there aren’t likely to be a lot of mice is a good idea. Mice like tall grass and places where they can hide. Usually mice aren’t a problem until winter time when the bees are in survival mode. It is a good idea to put a mouse guard on your hive in the late fall through the winter time to protect them from mice!

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