# Legal implications of keeping bees



## GatorBeeGal (May 23, 2009)

I wasn't sure where to stick this thread, so I'm sorry if this isn't the right place. I live in a residential neighborhood and am planning on starting a couple of hives in my backyard. I have already checked to make sure this is legal, which it is. My husband is now expressing hesitation because he fears that if a neighbor child gets stung, we could be sued. He tends to be hyper-paranoid about things like this, but I suppose he could have a legitimate point. I wasn't planning on announcing my plans to the neighborhood, but I would feel horrible if some child went into anaphylactic shock. How could anyone even know if it was one of my bees or a wild one? Does anybody have any thoughts or knowledge about this? 
Thanks for any info I could use to assuage my hubby's fears - my son will be crushed if we have to abort our plans now. 
Chris


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## Daddy's Girl (May 5, 2008)

GatorBeeGal said:


> I wasn't sure where to stick this thread, so I'm sorry if this isn't the right place. I live in a residential neighborhood and am planning on starting a couple of hives in my backyard. I have already checked to make sure this is legal, which it is. My husband is now expressing hesitation because he fears that if a neighbor child gets stung, we could be sued.


Anybody can sue you for anything in the US. The merits of a bee stinging a child and being blamed on you is going to require proof that it was a bee from your hive that did it, and -maybe- whether or not the child was doing something that invited a sting. Since bees are around anyway, regardless of the presence of your hives, the plaintiff needs to prove it was a bee from your hive that did it. Usually they can't provide that proof.

That said, in WV they offer a Best Practices document that gives guidance on how to best site hives, and that was very helpful to me in siting my apiary. My bees live inside a 6 foot stockade fence enclosure that forces them to fly out and up, and thus limits their immediate contact with people and animals.



> I wasn't planning on announcing my plans to the neighborhood, but I would feel horrible if some child went into anaphylactic shock.


Frankly, it's not your problem. Seriously. I am allergic to bee stings and I have to take precautions every day of my life when walking barefoot or in sandals--and that is _before_ considering that I have 4 hives. 

I think that part of your answer is to stick with a small hive that isn't going to grow to a size of 80k bees in the first place. Top Bar Hives and Warre hives are nice and small, don't encourage huge populations of bees, and are very manageable. Do some research and decide what works best for you, and is within the local laws regarding beekeeping practices.

As well, if you are still concerned, consider hooking up with some local beekeepers and tag along when they work their bees.


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## PCM (Sep 18, 2007)

Be sure you do not have a " attractive nusiance " this can be anything to a child.

Out of site, Out of mind !

There are many 1 or 2 hives in backyards, above all just use " common sense "
a product not used much these days !

PCM


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## devdog108 (May 7, 2009)

I have 1 and have another one on the way. My yard is 300' deep and 120' wide. With an 80 foot wide house, I can throw a 20lb rock and hit both neighbors. NOW, add to that the the neighbor on the left and 2 across the street are all highly allergic. They carry EPI pens all the time, and the one beside me is the one who found this swarm for me! My house is 3rd from the cultisac and there are 15 kids within the 6 houses soroundiing. You'll be fine.....Im more worried about one of them fallling off the trampoline.....


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## dsquared (Mar 6, 2006)

*In Town*

I live in the country now, but lived on a 1/4 acre lot in town before. I knew one neighbor was a potential problem when she said "The town said I can't stop you from having one bee hive."

She was what we call "contrary" in my part of the country. Other areas have several unflattering terms for that type of person. I located my hive between a six foot stockade fence and my shed. It was the most productive hive I have ever had with all the flowering trees in town. I worried a little when the supers were higher than the six foot fence. But that was nothing compared to the Sunday morning the colony swarmed the following season. Good thing she slept in Sunday mornings. It went from a sky black with bees to dead quiet. They moved into my swarm trap and I moved them to the country.

The only down side I see to keeping bees in a densely populated area is the stress on the beekeeper.


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## Beaver Dam (May 27, 2008)

I have 7 hives in my back yard. My wive mows around them, passing inches away from the interance with no stings in the past 2 years. 5 are backed up next to a 6-8" high wood fence.The bees take off verticaly in most all cases. It's not the foregers you have to worry about because they are working. There will be a guard that has GUARD in her heart and will head butt you if your to close,but for the most part I set in fornt (out of the flight path) literly inches away from the enterance to watch. If I get that head butt I go to another hive. I built my stands so that they are 2' off the ground and have a trough that I fill with oil to keep aints and roaches out. This allows me to pull my lawn chair within inches of the enterance.


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## USCBeeMan (Feb 7, 2009)

I currently hiave 14 colonies in my back yard and I live in town. Between swarms and splits, I keep increasing my amount of colonies in my back yard as I move colonies to the country. I also have 1 hive across the street in my neighbor's back yard and 2 in another neighbors back yard 3 houses down from the first neighbor.

My next door neighbor has 1 hive that I am now working for him.

There are children on all four sides of my house. 

One of my neighbor's boys got stung in his yard but he also got stung playing soccer on a soccer field.

So, I have tens of thousands of been in my back yard and neighbor's yards and he gets stung 1 time at home. He goes and plays soccer and gets stung during practice.

Think of the odds. Seems it doesn't really matter where you are located. Getting stung just happens.


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## wildbranch2007 (Dec 3, 2008)

call your insurance agent and see what they say about your policy regarding bees 

mike


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## GatorBeeGal (May 23, 2009)

You have all brought up some very good points. My husband has succombed to the media hype surrounding Africanized bees coming into this country. He's envisioning someone getting stung hundreds of times and dying . I actually worked with hives of Africanized bees in South America, and while they are more aggressive than the European bees, they will pretty much leave you alone unless you accidentally run over their hive with a lawn mower or something like that. Anyway, I will let him read these posts and hopefully they will assuage his fears, especially since we have a 6 foot privacy fence around the entire perimeter of our yard. 
Daddy's Girl, you are one brave woman to keep bees when you're allergic to stings!! Kudos to you!


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

Better yet, don't call your insurance agent!

Have someone else call or call as a third party. Some companies will drop you if you have bees on your property.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

much like bizzybee I would be careful in regards to just calling you insurance agent.

the legal implication will vary somewhat to highly by state, but I suspect daddy's girls way ain't such a bad process to follow everywhere to minimize possible future problems.

as far as practical intervention... I have found that if you can control the level/height at which the girls come and go and minimize the ability to see a hive directly from adjoining lots this limits problems directly. of course the alternative solution is to do like myself and move to some rural development where you neighbors revel in the fact that you keep bees (I also bribe them on occasions).


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## GatorBeeGal (May 23, 2009)

tecumseh said:


> of course the alternative solution is to do like myself and move to some rural development where you neighbors revel in the fact that you keep bees (I also bribe them on occasions).


I'm working on that angle


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## Daddy's Girl (May 5, 2008)

GatorBeeGal said:


> Daddy's Girl, you are one brave woman to keep bees when you're allergic to stings!! Kudos to you!


Nah. I'm just crazy, which -really- helps.


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## DebCP (Apr 4, 2009)

*Florida has a best practice agreement...*

Our apiary inspector recommended that we read it and sign that we are willing to do what it recommends in order to manage our bees in a way the state of Florida finds best. When I attended the Bee College (done by UF by the way) it was strongly suggested that if you want to avoid potential losses due to lawsuits that you comply with the plan...pretty basic stuff...but shows that you are doing what you can to minimize any harm to others.

My husband and I have two back yard hives and our neighbors actually think it's really neat, although I was on pins and needles wondering how they would react. If I had suspected that my neighbors would be angry about it I probably would have just been quiet on the whole introduction thing.










We do have a six foot privacy fence that keeps the bees away from our neighbors as far as their flight path. Besides having them bump into you if you are right in front of the hive you wouldn't even know they were there. My husband is currently building a shed for me about six feet away from the hives power equipment and all...no problems at all.

Good luck

Deb


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