Hi Everyone,
I will be installing a hive in the next week or so, do bees always fly straight out, so if I have a fence in front of the hive they would go up? or because there is no fence on the side of the beehive will they just fly to the side?
Welcome @Ann21!
The bees will have no trouble flying straight up from the landing board with the fence right in front of them. My advice however is to keep enough space to get around the hive so you can easily place entrance reducers and inspect things should you need to do any maintenance.
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Thanks,
I don’t need a side fence?
Maybe I’ve misunderstood your original question- you mentioned you were installing a fence. Is that for a beekeeping reason? The bees don’t require a fence at all, they will find a way in/out of the hive even in tight spaces. If you are trying to control the direction they fly in/out to keep them from interacting with say a neighbour, then yes a fence can help as long as its about 6’ tall. You could also put the fence on the sides, but I’m out sure why you want to do that. And, remember you want a certain amount of sun to hit the hives to keep the hive warm to discourage pest development unless you are in a full sun situation where you are trying to create some amount of shade for part of the day.
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Hi Tim
I want to control the direction of the bees, I would like them to go straight up and out. I have a fence that the hive can face with about
1/2-1m of room in front of the entrance. If I’m understanding correctly the fence in front will be enough to get them to fly up?
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Yes. I’m curious why you want them to go straight up…
I have 2 neighbours on that fence so just to get up and out rather than flying head height
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The fence will force them up above head height much more quickly however they then go in what ever direction they like. Or at least that is my experience, and I have my hives much closer to the fence.
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Hi Adam
thanks for the photo and info, that’s really helpful.
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Bees will fly in all directions. My set up below. Opposite side of the fence infront of my hives is a public foot path.
Watching my bees the majority fly up, out to the side, then behind away from the fence 
.
If your worried about your neighbours maybe think about a different place.
Picture of your thinking and full garden would help. I’m sure you’d get some good suggestions.
Difficult to control nature. I got my neighbours over with thier kids to have a close up look and now they all look forward to free honey and my full street have stopped using pesticides in thier gardens.
Get them involved even from a distance.
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Adam has given you good advice. If the hive is close and facing a fence if the bees want to fly in a direction beyond the fence then they can fly vertically till they reach the height of the fence and clear of the neighbors heads. If they want to fly away from the fence once they take off they can fly around the side of the hive and away.
I have seen hives facing a fence and only 10 cms from it but I would, if you can make the room, have it far enough off the fence that you can still get around to the front of the hive to adjust the entrance or just to watch the bees coming and going.
Cheers
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You might want to also take into consideration future maintenance/painting of the fence.
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Thanks Peter, I’m alot more confident now with the place I have chosen to put the hive
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