Ive been thinking for a couple of years about taking up beekeeping. I've read several books and have enrolled in a beekeeping class which doesn't start until Feb. I went to my city offices today to pickup info about permits and ordinances since I live within the city limits. Reading through this material, it all makes sense except a section that says "A constant supply of water shall be provided on-site within 3 feet of a hive. Watering facilities may not promote stagnant water. The use of a swimming pool and/or spa, bird bath, decorative pond, storm water pond or similar facility for a watering facility shall be prohibited." I won't have a chance to go back to the city office to ask for clarification until after the holiday. Would you understand that to mean that the hive would need to be within 3 feet of a water hydrant or a natural water source such as a pond, creek, river or lake? I was planning to place the hive on the back of my property which is about 500' away from my house and a water hydrant. I know that water is important to bees and there will be a creek about 400 yards away. Do you think this is put in the ordinance to ensure the bees have water or to have water accessible to clean up any honey spills or ??? I really don't want to go to the expense of running a waterline all the way to the back of my property to only supply bees with water that they could source from the creek. It has also occurred to me that this was added the the ordinance to actually discourage beekeeping. So what do you guys think?
A shallow"bird bath" will suffice. I have a small fish pond in my yard with pond plants, they sit on the plants and drink leisurely. "don't panic" about that! Bees will find a source. I know a man who has 5 gallon buckets cut down about 4" from the bottom, put's a brick on the bottom and some sticks and weeds for the bees to stand on to drink. You have to give them a place to sit, if they fall into the water they will drown. You can fill gallon milk containers and have them on site for when needed to refill also. The whole stagnant water thing is so mosquito's don't breed. The water will evaporate faster than the mosquito's can procreate if you use the bucket trick, That works well! My friends hives are in the back of his field and about 200 yards from water. Trust me when I say, they will find water. And also, who is gonna really check on you! The city really doesn't care, and honey spills, the bees will take care of that, Don't read to much into it. It's only for guidance.
Thanks for the insight. I guess what threw me was where it said that bird baths were prohibited, that makes me think they don't allow water in buckets or any other container like that. Which made me think "OK, what kind of water source do they allow"? After I turn in the application for a permit, they said they send a guy out to inspect the setup to see if it meets their requirements. Their requirements also limit the size and number of hives and they have to be so many feet from the property lines so I guess he checks all of that out.
wow! Now, I familiar with Wisconsin and I don't quite understand that! If that was the case, "NOBODY" in Fond du Lac could have a bird bath in their yard? Somethings fishy! I'm on just about 1/3 acre, and I can have up to 3 hives! I only have one, but I would ask them just what the hell are they talking about??? What happens to rain water? I would just ask, it seems like a bureaucratic wheel to me or they just don't want you to have bees. What a Crock!!!
Thats ridiculous. Bees have a very strong smeller and the will seak out a scented water source. This often times will be a chlorinated pool which poses a problem to neighbors. Thats the only reason i can see they might require a water source. But to say no bird baths or whatever? Come on now. I got a creek on the edge of my property about a quarter mile from my hives and the bees do just fine. They are quite resourceful. Yesterday they were bringing in pollen!
If it were me, I'd ignore that. They will be fine. If you want, you can always give them some fresh water every couple of days, but that seems like overkill.
I thought the same thing as I was reading this post! What the heck? Probably with the mind set of some regulations have to be better than no regulations? And then slapped themselves on the back after it was all written up? Shees! With the problems that seem nationwide with bees right now, I don't think the OP will have any troubles. Too bad you went to the city for "help/info".
That regulation isn't about the bees, it is about the neighbors. The bees will find water. What they are trying to do with the regulation is ensure a convenient water source so close to the hive that the bees don't end up drinking out of the neighbors pool or otherwise disturbing someone. Flowers come and go and people probably won't notice or care if bees are on their flowers. But there are a lot of people who are afraid of bees, ignorant about bees, or just plain like to complain and/or interfere with other people's lives. If one of those people notices bees every day drinking out of their manicured koi pond, they will raise a ruckus and complain to the authorities, who will then be obliged to do something about it or at least interact with the person who is doing the bitching. For the most part, the authorities don't want to talk to those people any more than you do. Prohibiting standing water is to avoid mosquitos, so that makes sense. I have no idea why a birdbath is specifically prohibited- seems it would be ideal if it had a little fountain to keep the mosquitoes unhappy. The property line rule is again to reduce the busybody factor: even if you hide the hive from view a neighbor might notice the beeline and get his panties in a wad. A bit farther from the hive, the bees will be more dispersed and may be flying above eye level. I don't know what the penalty is for having an unlicensed beehive (just writing that makes me thankful I do not live in town and reminds me why I will never willingly live in town) but if you have a hive out of sight and away from the property line, there is a good chance nobody will ever know it is there.
Thats a very good point Bert, I live on a 1/3 acre, "But" even with two water sources in my yard, the girls would still go the neighbors pool so there gonna go where they want. She would "B!T@#" and complain but there was nothing she could do because it was legal to have up to three hives in my yard. She would say that she was allergic, bla, bla, bla… and I told her just leave them alone, they won't bother you, she never once got stung. I absolutely hate living in a neighborhood. But for now, there is not much I can do...
That is the upside to getting all the permits. She can complain all day long, but can't do anything. That makes the paperwork completely worth the effort.
And don't forget the constant jingling and tingling of the bees that remember to wear their permits info/registration tags every time they fly by...... That way, they can trace them back to your hive once they drink out of another neighbors yard.
I finally had a chance to drop by the city offices and got an explanation, sort off. The ordinance wasn't written very well. What they meant to say was that the water source needs to be dedicated for the bees only. So a birdbath could work but it isn't supposed to be one that was already on site for the birds. Likewise, they said that you couldn't say a swimming pool was the water source because pools "are for people to swim in, not for bees to get water out of". I feel better now about getting an area set up for a hive. Thanks for all of the input guys, it helped me to make sense of things prior to questioning them about it.
My son started raising bees last summer and with his thoughts on the subject, sounds like you will enjoy it. Kinda gets me wondering, too.
I found it doesn't take much unless you have a lot of hives, They pretty much take care of themselves. Just my opinion, I have them because God knows our life depends upon them ironically. It's just the right thing to do and they are so taken for granted
I have a dog water bowl with the gallon jug in it like the water coolers in offices. Fill the bowl with smooth rocks and just check the water every so often so that it is full. Also you can some chlorine to it to help prevent mosquito infestation.
