I am hoping to be able to accomodate a hive in the backyard. I have limited options to position it. I will aim to obtain a docile strain. The proposed hive will be 5 meters from my kids trampoline however. The hive will have a 2m fence around it and the trampoline has the netting around it. There is also a citrus tree between the hive and trampoline. The hive will face away from the tramp. Im wondering if kids jumping and squealing in the tramp would be offensive to the bees, make them defensive and sting the little ones. (5y.o and 3y.o.)
Wow, my set up is almost exactly the same!
my children are 6 and 5 and their trampoline (regularly used) is located near the hive. I have found the bees leave the trampoline alone. No nectar or pollen in there to attract the bees I guess
As long as you dont eat honey or put flower pots in the trampoline, it should be fine
I’ve had bees and kids in my backyard for 42 years now with no issues. It is, however, always a good idea to have a fallback plan in place if a hive ever gets agressive. If you know where you can take it, then if it’s every a problem, you just wait for dark, close them up and move them and deal with the problem somewhere else where there aren’t a lot of people close.
Funny, my neighbour has kids and trampoline and the bees have stung them on two occasions, I have now moved that hive to a different part of the yard and replaced the queen, it took a couple of months and those bees appear to leave them alone now.
My dad had 4 hives in our backyard while I was growing up to about the age of 7-8. The flight path was aimed directly in line with our basketball court. We played countless hours of HORSE in a constant stream of bees coming to and fro. So long as you don’t disturb the hive and you don’t swat at them young and old will be just fine.
Kids and bees can def be compatible. What I think you’ll find is that once your hive builds up to tens of thousands of bees, the kids will get stung once in a while. This happens in life anyway, but now it will just happen more. Especially if the bees crash land in the tramp while the kids are bouncing.
Also, your docile queen could easily be superceded by an angry queen and you don’t have complete control over that, so, as Michael B says, you might need somewhere to remove the hive to in an emergency (needs to be at least 5km away).
Regarding noise, some bees don’t like machinery noise nearby, like a whipper-snipper, and will sting. Don’t know how loud your kids are…! Mine are really loud around the tramp, but they know to be careful around the hive, which is situated in the chook run…
Good luck!
There were no beehives in my backyard or any of the neighbors yards. I got stung fairly often. I ran around barefoot and often stepped on bees. We had a yard with dandelions and clover and the bees were always on those…
Yah !
I use to run barefooted n do crazy stuff as a kids. I got my fair share of stepping on bees ! Our yard was one step up from a cow pasture. (We mowed instead of the cows). We got dirty, fell off bikes, out of trees, n so on … We learned, had fun n lived with nature … I’m a whole lot more concerned with bad two legged critter n kids than any ’s stings ! We survived n so will our kids n grandkids. Most people want a perfect environment n can’t figure out why the kids can’t deal with life ! . Bring the bees home to tour yards. It WORKs ! Now we have bees again when people come over we sit out in lawn chair, sip ice tea or something n watch the bees.
Sharing my bees,
Gerald
.Make sure their hair is short or covered. My wife gets stung when one gets stuck in her hair. Now she wears a hat when walking past the bee-yard.
Is my beard n hair short enough ? . Your right … I had longer hair (no longer but longer than this) in Jr n Sr high school … Every once in awhile they would get caught. I was always lucky to rake them out quickly. Those bees sure get in a buzzing panic when they get hung up in your golden or other locks of hair '! Point well taken !
Thanks for the nite !
. I do usually wear a hat !TaTa n bye bye,
Gerald.
Sounds like your preparation is close to perfect. The only thing I can see going wrong is if a hive inspection goes bad. They tend to remember for a few days. Use plenty of smoke & try not to upset the bees.
You never know when a guard bee is going to take her job very seriously & lash out & attack someone a fair way from the hive. That does happen on the odd occasion so a good idea would be to stay nearby while the kids are playing on the tramp.
Another thing is to make sure the little ones are wearing shoes outside because it’s easy to get stung by half dead bees that get kicked out of the hive etc.
Jeff,
I’m lucky … No kids on our property or around the five properties that surround us. Just mostly old fossils n few chickens here. Wife stays indoors during my hive inspections too. She can only walk with a walker so best she watches from our bedroom window at time ! Added screens to my crown boards today after adding syrup. Now cooking supper. Huge pot of spaghetti !
. Thankz for the notes,Gerald
Hi Gerald, well done. I’m sure the spaghetti turned out fantastic:) cheers