# Do you check before you place your hives



## tuzserhu (Dec 8, 2013)

I am not a commercial beekeeper.
I have 14 hives. 
A commercial outfit just placed 19 pallets 500 feet from my hives.
Do you guys check in before you place your hives if anybody has hives next door?
What are the ethical ways and what are the governing laws in cases like this?


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

tuzserhu said:


> I am not a commercial beekeeper.
> I have 14 hives.
> A commercial outfit just placed 19 pallets 500 feet from my hives.
> Do you guys check in before you place your hives if anybody has hives next door?
> What are the ethical ways and what are the governing laws in cases like this?


"You guys"?? There are thousands of commercial beekeepers. Most care, many don't.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

tuzserhu said:


> I am not a commercial beekeeper.
> I have 14 hives.
> A commercial outfit just placed 19 pallets 500 feet from my hives.
> Do you guys check in before you place your hives if anybody has hives next door?
> What are the ethical ways and what are the governing laws in cases like this?


If your hives are visible from the road then that's just rude. If not, then nothing wrong was done. I imagine that the beekeeper asked the landowner if they could put bees on the property and may or may not have asked about whether there were other hives in the area. It happens. It has been discussed on beesource before, recently. Maybe, if you can find out the beekeepers name and contact info, the hives will be moved.

Best wishes.


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## CLICKBANGBANG (Feb 3, 2013)

Commercial beeks have many hives inside flight distance of my house. I am not keeping bees here any more. 


Oh! Almost forgot... Entrance reducers. I'll only say that once.


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## Tenbears (May 15, 2012)

Beekeeping, Beekeepers, Are like anyone else, Be they commercial or hobbyist, some are considerate and respectful and some not. But do not be offended, I had a commercial operation at one time. In the guys defense if he could not see your hives, then he did nothing wrong. Remember it really is not his responsibility to scour the area looking for the hives of others. Now if he had to drive right by your hives he is wrong, wrong, wrong! However you will probably never see the guy to discuss it with him. I would have a talk to the property owner, and inform him that you have bees. He probably did not realize that. and will not grant permission to others in the future.


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## flyingbrass (Jul 2, 2011)

Even in a backwoods place like Arkansas, we have laws, register with the state before you move! This takes care of all these issues.


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## dback (Jan 8, 2012)

You've not given near enough information.

Here is an example……we have 3 to 6 trucks running each night, often two loads each. Every location is registered (often for 40 years or more), we have permission or we are pollinating. One of my drivers calls me at 2:00 AM and says "Boss, there are 14 hives setting where you told me to put this load?"…..my (groggy) response is "Set them on top of him and I'll call BLM (or state or Forest Service or….) in the morning. It's not just "Newbie" beeks…..it's "Snowbirds", hunters, RV'ers, hikers, gold miners, gentlemen with Alzheimer's and an occasional impassioned pair of teenagers.

I'm not saying you're right and he's wrong (or visa versa)……just saying it's (possibly) not as simple as your opening post might suggest. Maybe the man has been using the location for years and you're the "Johnny come lately"…..we don't know.


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## franktrujillo (Jan 22, 2009)

put swarm traps out you may get lucky.if any other thing there good for you especially if you want to breed some queens.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

flyingbrass said:


> Even in a backwoods place like Arkansas, we have laws, register with the state before you move! This takes care of all these issues.


Does it? Does Arkansas have laws about how close one apiary can be to another? Does someone on the State level tell a new beekeeper where yards already are so they won't put them too close to another apiary?


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## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

Good luck I moved a yard because a commercial beek bought a farm a mile from my yard and puts roughly 100 pallets, yes 400 hives, on the property and adjoining land. Instead of getting mad and having my yard starve, I found a new yard, and he has to feed all year long. You go past his place and white buckets are on every hive from April to October. 
Oh and I own the land that my yard was on, but I want a honey crop not starved out hives from took many bees in one spot and fair pasture to begin with.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I think you should keep a cpl of hives at home to see if your assumptions pan out.


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## Mbeck (Apr 27, 2011)

Happened to me probably my fault. I just moved my hives. The next new spot I got to put bees, I gave him a call.
"Hey Mr. Umpteenjazillion Hives I know it's none of my business where your hives are but I don't want to step on your toes. I've got a new spot over yonder is that in your way?"

He told me no problem, told me where his yards were and the dates he would be there. Offered me a good yard he couldn't use and gave me some local insight. 

Call him
If he is a nice guy he'll work with you to give you space. If he's not you'll need to have that space!


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Here's how it went I'm betting.... commercial beek to landowner... "can I place hives here".... land owner "sure, place them over by those hives over there...."


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## James Kellie (Oct 30, 2010)

Had an issue similar, we put out three truck loads a night. Our bees are in Texas and then we bring them back. Had a beekeeper read my the riot act because he had two colonies stuck down along a creek about 200 yards away on another piece of property. Couldn't even see them. I explained to him that we had been putting bees on the alfalfa field across from him for nearly 35 years. He was a newbie and said I lied because he saw that field in December and there were no bees on it. Tried to explain to him migratory beekeeping and that we had been in 7 counties around him for 37 years. He stayed hostile and just kept calling me a liar. Still won't talk to me today. His loss.


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## Heintz88 (Feb 26, 2012)

And it gets really complicated when commercials move into other commercials area hah


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## justin (Jun 16, 2007)

lots of the comm guys have yards they use for a month or 6 weeks this time of year after almond pollination before they head north. most have had these locations for years and its a big deal to lose one. they might have moved in at night and not seen your hives. like others have said, if they saw your hives they should have stopped, but maybe they did. i would doubt its a permanent yard. ask the land owner about it.


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## tuzserhu (Dec 8, 2013)

tuzserhu said:


> I am not a commercial beekeeper.
> I have 14 hives.
> A commercial outfit just placed 19 pallets 500 feet from my hives.
> Do you guys check in before you place your hives if anybody has hives next door?
> What are the ethical ways and what are the governing laws in cases like this?


Thank you for all the input. 
I tried calling the number on the hives but they do not have hives placed there. 
I will try to contact the land owner once I find out who the land belongs to. 
I am not oppose to having the bees there for a short amount of time - it is the end of citrus anyway - just wanted to get the general idea. Actually I am trying to look at the brighter side of it and understand the commercial side of this bee(u)siness. 
They could not have seen my hives since they did not drive far enough on the road. (I do not own the property where my hives are).
Will be able to get the name of the beek from the landowner later.

thank you all for your ideas and support,


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

In your location my guess is your bees are on parked in someone else's space. If I were to put down my $5 I would bet that the neighboring yard has been for used a long time before you were even born more or less the years you have kept bees. Some yards in Ojai have been in existence over a hundred years. The old saying about watching your back and watching your hives might be well headed as previously pointed out by long time beeks.


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## NY_BLUES (May 14, 2009)

sqkcrk said:


> I think you should keep a cpl of hives at home to see if your assumptions pan out.


I have thought about it seeing as he is about a mile in one direction which should give my gives at least a mile in the other direction where his bees won't forage to, in theory.


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## tuzserhu (Dec 8, 2013)

Honey-4-All said:


> In your location my guess is your bees are on parked in someone else's space. If I were to put down my $5 I would bet that the neighboring yard has been for used a long time before you were even born more or less the years you have kept bees. Some yards in Ojai have been in existence over a hundred years. The old saying about watching your back and watching your hives might be well headed as previously pointed out by long time beeks.


Except that I had checked before I placed my hives on this property and there were no other geeks in the area. 
Plus the landowner has been there since the 60's and had another geek prior to my arrival.
the neighboring yard could have been in use for migratory purposes for short amount of time, but why place the hives there after the citrus flow is over???


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

tuzserhu said...
"Thank you for all the input.
I tried calling the number on the hives but they do not have hives placed there..." 

Please explain, you called the number on the hives, and the person says they don't have hives there? Are these stolen hives? Am I reading something wrong here?


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

This is a tough one because land owner usually dont understand bees fly a couple miles. I have been offered many yards to which they said there are no bees around, to find apiaries a mile away. I kindly decline out of respect to the other beekeepers territory. 

Some territory disputes I have started because I have pushed in to someone elses area, other disputes others have started because they have done the same. It usually is worked out or battled between the beekeepers... what ever happens, leave the land owners out of it because nothing good comes from an angry land owner (coffee shop talk, I have gained yards because of this)

We are not in this business to make enemies but we are not here to get pushed around either. Stand your ground, work it out with the other beekeeper. Dont expect to win all the battles. This commercial beekeeper will not care if you have bees within that mile, as much as you care he is within your mile...

Cheers!


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## Haraga (Sep 12, 2011)

When canola gets pollinated here the company that manages the bees for the seed company is responsible for telling the beekeeper where to place the hives. They usually don't care if there are other Beeks in the area. Canola seed fields are spread out far enough that it is usually not a problem. I suppose if it were too much of a problem then one would just take care of dealing with the pollination manager and leave the beek and farmer out of it. Where I have a problem is if a beek has his bees anywhere within range of my honey house. There is no excuse for that. I draw the line on that one.


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## LSPender (Nov 16, 2004)

Tuzserhu, lots of beeks have been placing bees in Ojai area for years. you will usually find between 5,000 to 10,000 hives in the valley every year. Most likely the commercial beek has been placing them on that spot for many, many years. 

most of these hives are out of your view, I personally know of 12 commercial beeks that have between 100 to 3,000 hives each in that area this year.

Beekeeping is not new, we first put hives in Ojai back in 1980 and at that time there was a large commercial guy running 5,000 alone that was based in the valley, he has since passed on.

So in nice short terms , bees are every where & he who owns the land makes the rules. ie just because you place bees somewhere does not give you exclusive rights, the next land owner can do what they want and do because they also have crops to pollinate.


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## tuzserhu (Dec 8, 2013)

RayMarler said:


> tuzserhu said...
> "Thank you for all the input.
> I tried calling the number on the hives but they do not have hives placed there..."
> 
> Please explain, you called the number on the hives, and the person says they don't have hives there? Are these stolen hives? Am I reading something wrong here?


There are 2 different numbers. 
One is on the boxes and the other one is on the pallets.
Called the number on the boxes - "we do not have hives in Ojai"
Did not call the number on the pallet since I wanted to call the owner first.


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## LSPender (Nov 16, 2004)

why even call?

did you read previous post?

When you get hold of whom ever this beeks is what will you says? I know what their answer will be , why in the world are you calling about this.


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