The House

We take pleasure in a nook lot with a big (for Southern California), flat yard. The area behind the home is a rectangle roughly 85′ X 74′ with neighbors on two sides. The bee space is a 50′ lengthy by 15′ extensive strip alongside our again fence stretched between two sheds. It additionally runs alongside our vegetable backyard with no limitations between the 2 areas.

The Issues

So, why am I redoing this area? Let’s go over among the present apiary design’s issues.

Flight Path Drama

The beehives are lined up in a number of quick rows with 2-4 hives in every. Their entrances are all going through the identical path (in direction of the north shed), like chairs in a classroom. This retains the bee flight paths from going straight into the vegetable backyard, nevertheless it additionally implies that their flight paths are simply disrupted throughout inspections.

The hives within the first row should fly across the hives which can be in entrance of them. So, after I stand behind one hive, I block one other’s flight path. This setup is very problematic when I’m instructing. All the further our bodies stading within the area turn into obstacles that confuse the bees as they attempt to discover their entrances. Just some minutes into my beekeeping class, we now have created a chaotic aerial site visitors jam!

No Boundaries

More often than not, the bees are tolerant of us, even once we work very near them within the backyard. Nonetheless, we do expertise defensive conduct from the occansional guard bee and I’m all the time on alert when I’m near the hives. Now that we now have a toddler, it’s extra traumatic. I always fear he’ll go into the bee space. We even have this downside with friends and canines that come to go to. Since there is no such thing as a clear division between the apiary and the remainder of the yard, new individuals and canines usually wander proper into the bee space. Some don’t even notice the bees are there!

Weed Meadow

To maintain the weeds down I partially lined the world in low-cost astroturf. I do know this isn’t a great resolution, however I had some available so I figured why not? After awhile, I bought sick of wanting on the unnatural inexperienced and lined it with straw as a short lived repair. Nonetheless, weeds nonetheless develop via it and trigger points with ants.  Additionally, the astroturf has began to interrupt down from solar publicity and is now shedding horrible microplastics in all places. I remorse utilizing it.

Aesthetics

To be frank, the apiary design is ugly. The best way the hives are organized seems messy and the bottom cowl is incomplete and ugly. We’re always battling weeds and within the spring, components of the apiary are swallowed by them. It has gotten to the purpose the place I keep away from exhibiting anybody the apiary as a result of I’m embarassed by the way it loooks.