Allotment leased!

I have now got an apiary site to use. Nice sized allotment very near to my house. Permission to keep bees granted. It is bound by two hedges, to the west and south which gives some privacy and nearest neighbour is not using the plot.

Bonus Blackthorne on the site as well, brimming with sloes.

One question, thinking of placing the hive stand on wood chip to prevent having to mow around the hives. Sensible or not necessary?

Brigsy said:

I have now got an apiary site to use. Nice sized allotment very near to my house. Permission to keep bees granted. It is bound by two hedges, to the west and south which gives some privacy and nearest neighbour is not using the plot.

Bonus Blackthorne on the site as well, brimming with sloes.

One question, thinking of placing the hive stand on wood chip to prevent having to mow around the hives. Sensible or not necessary?

Click to expand...

A haven for various organisms?

Stand the hive on a large paving slab if you can get one or a few smaller ones. This will prevent weeds growing directly under the hive and any legs sinking into the soil after that the wood chip will be just fine.

my garden hives are sitting on such an idea
black breathable weed membrane, then bark chippings, then slabs for the hives

Nice one. Ta.


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Brigsy said:

Nice sized allotment very near to my house. Permission to keep bees granted. It is bound by two hedges, to the west and south which gives some privacy and nearest neighbour is not using the plot.

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I hope you have more luck than I did when I tried keeping bees on my allotment years ago.
People tend to get pretty dirty and sweaty if they're digging an allotment. It may be that my neighbours were closer than yours but all the activity nearby attracted the bees attention. Even though I had permission and everyone though it was a good idea in the beginning, it didn't work out for me. You might have more luck though, my site was a little exposed and quite windy in the autumn. Nevertheless, its a good idea to have another site in mind as a fall-back plan.
gl

Thanks. Finger crossed. I have a farm about 1k away as a backup but not sure how the 3 yards/miles rule will work.


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I started my beekeeping a few years ago with hives on my allotment. Written permission from council. No problems until last year when a new town clerk took over. She issued an edict of no bees no chickens. I appealed as did the chicken keepers. We got nowhere. My site was an unusual shape for the allotment plots so I asked the council for a map of the site. It transpired that the land the hives were on actually belonged to the farmer on the other side of the hedge. He said he did not care what I did on that bit of land. It felt really good to tell the council where to go. Unfortunately my mates with chickens were not so lucky

drex said:

Written permission from council. No problems until last year when a new town clerk took over. She issued an edict of no bees no chickens.

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The same thing happened here: no livestock of any kind. If memory serves me right, some people were taking their dogs over for a walk while they did a little work on the allotment and they were there a little longer than anticipated. People complained about not being able to use the paths between plots (which were quite narrow) because the animal would stretch out in the sun...then it was all over.
I remember years ago people used to keep pigeons and all sorts on their plot. Now, we get too many people who've only ever lived in towns and cities moving into the village (if I haven't just opened a whole can of worms with that comment).

Oh god now I'm worried.


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I'd be inclined to go for the farm site, it's far easier alround. My mate had a great site, an unused end plot with a vacant adjacent plot. Everything was fine, then the adjacent plot was rented and the guy (large, sweaty, stripped to the half type) cut down the hedge and planted his beans there. Now he'd created an open flight path and the complaints began. The following Spring, after an AS, there were a few snotty bees in the air and my mate was asked to remove his hives.

Going to start work on a partly abandoned allotment apiary very soon (nice winter project) once I have removed the left to fend for itself hive on site.

This will be my fourth allotment apiary and although they carry an element of risk and worry if you set them up and run them right they are no problem.

Out of the four two are shared and the other two it's just me. I only have to pay rent to one and this one is an actual plot but not suitable for vegetables all the others are small bits of land used as apiaries.

I have between 2 and 6 colonies on an allotment. My neighbour has about the same number. None of the other plot owners complain, but I do give them a jar of honey each most years. It's a good idea to force the bees up by putting the hives in a corner with high structures close by all around them

Thanks,

I am trying to get permission to use some high netting on the open sides.

Brigsy said:

I am trying to get permission to use some high netting on the open sides.

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Be careful how you phrase your request. You may raise concerns about flight path/etc that don't exist at the moment.

I was contacted by an allotment society, asking me to hive some bees on their site, very secure area etc, I thought great, they set up the area for me, high debris netting to make the bees fly up and out, by the 2nd year we had changed over from top bar hives to nationals, very docile bees etc, and by the 3rd year, the members had voted no bees on site, have them removed within 48hrs please.

just goes to show that one or two people may like the idea on a committee, but it's the paying members that get the final say, thankfully I had my woodland to move the hives too, but always be prepared for the worst

Thanks guys.


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Portsmouth council have a rule that beekeeper must be a member of local bka and have kept years for at least 2yrs.

Local bka then have to inspect


Did have problems locally with new beeks wanting to be natural beekeepers and letting bees swarm and become a nuisance

Having kept bees on an allotment, I would make sure you have a Plan B,C and D ready to go from day one
We had four colonies at the end of our allotment that I fenced to 9 feet with panels plus scaffold net above, but neighbours still got stung occaisionaly.

Some were understanding but others weren't. Being on tenterhooks in case a neighbour gets stung when weekly inspecting knocks the fun out of beekeeping.

Having council approval, being a member of your local bka, completing a training course, having an experienced mentor, forcing the bees up, not inspecting when allotment neighbours present are all worthwhile and recommended, but keeping your bees in a field away from people makes beekeeping much less stressfull in my opinion

I'm now onto Plan C by the way and enjoying beekeeping again

I was talking to someone on the parish council about apiary sites. He said the county had issued guidelines not allowing bees on allotments anymore.
Something about no win no fee claims costing thousands to investigate even if they were thrown out and no action taken. Shame really as the allotment owners were quite positive about it.

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