Wondering if anyone has a good link to a one-pager info piece about how awesome bees are? I have neighbours on one side who disapprove of practically everything I do/have/own/think and I want to educate them on how amazing bees are, and that their natural behaviours do not necessarily equal dangerous or scary.
Our bees swarmed recently (and were safely captured from our own garden - we now have two hives! ) but as a result of all the bees they saw in the air, they are now particularly frosty with us. Funny that prior to that they didn’t even know we had a hive though, haha.
Going by what you say, your neighbors would probably reject any literature you present to them, besides, they should already know how awesome and amazing bees are, not to mention how important they (pollinators in general) are for our very survival…
Sorry to put it back onto you, however you need to learn how to manage your bees so as to avoid them swarming, because one day your colony could swarm without you knowing about it. Then if that swarm moved into your neighbors wall cavity, or anywhere on your neighbors property, they’d probably have something to say…
Sometimes when a colony swarms, they’ll issue more than one caste swarm, which is worth considering.
As urban beekeepers, we really need to be conscious of neighbors & how our bees can have as minimal impact on them as possible.
I know a lot of Beekeepers give there neighbours a copy or link to the WA Apiarists’ Society Best Practise Guide for Urban Beekeepers. Not sure if there is a similar product in Vic.
) but as a result of all the bees they saw in the air, they are now particularly frosty with us. Funny that prior to that they didn’t even know we had a hive though, haha.