Top tips for having a beehive in your garden

Having a beehive in your garden can bring you closer to nature and rewards you with delicious honey to eat, plus you’re helping to pollinate your plants and those in your neighbourhood.

A hive doesn’t need a lot of space as bees don’t need acres of fields to forage in. They can do well in urban areas too.

When siting your beehive make sure you and your neighbours are not in the bees’ flight line.

Place the hive entrance a few feet from an object like a fence so that the bees exit and have to fly immediately upwards.

Getting the siting right from the very start is essential. Plan ahead extensively before placing the hive in the spot you think would be best as bees will fly back to the first place the hive was sited, so once sited a hive should not be moved.

Bees prefer to be handled calmly and anyone considering getting a beehive ought to chat to the British Bee Keeping Association for expert assistance and training: www.bbka.org.uk.