Light in relationship to hives

I am preping for my first hives & have a question about where to place them. I live in the country so no street lights, city lights etc. Just my house. If I place my boxes facing SE as recommended, my house will be on the left side of the hives about 100 yards away. My question, is the house far enough away for the lights to not interfere with the bees.

Do you leave lights on all during the night?

What type of bulbs are you using?

I’d say you’re fine.

Our hives are 20 metres from the house. We have a black shade cloth screen 1 metre high and low growing plants about 1 metre in front of the entrance so they can’t see the lights direct from the entrance. We get the odd bee inside but no real problems.
Good luck.

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I have a lot of hives in my yard. Bees are never a problem in the house except for a very few at the height of summer that come inside. I catch and release them generally and haven’t been stung yet :face_with_raised_eyebrow: I have hives with entrances facing all directions- I wouldn’t be too bothered about any particular direction if it meant you had to aim the hive where you don’t want bees to be. It’s important to give them a good space at the front where you won’t often have to go- i.e not aimed at a path you regularly use, etc.

I agree with Jack (@Semaphore). Several of my hives face south west, to keep the entrances facing away from foot traffic or buildings. The bees have done very well for several years, so I would say that direction of facing generally should be decided by what is safe and convenient, with a secondary preference to face south if possible.

By the way, well done Jack for changing your account name to show who you really are! :smile:

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Thanks everybody! Knowing that hive opening location isn’t so rigid you can’t adjust it to suit your needs will make it much easier to determine a good spot. I’m getting excited!

Dawn_SD Regular
January 8 |

Semaphore:I have hives with entrances facing all directions
I agree with Jack (@Semaphore). Several of my hives face south west, to keep the entrances facing away from foot traffic or buildings. The bees have done very well for several years, so I would say that direction of facing generally should be decided by what is safe and convenient, with a secondary preference to face south if possible.By the way, well done Jack for changing your account name to show who you really are! Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond.
In Reply To

Semaphore
January 8 |

I have a lot of hives in my yard. Bees are never a problem in the house except for a very few at the height of summer that come inside. I catch and release them generally and haven’t been stung yet :face_with_raised_eyebrow: I have hives with entrances facing all directions- I wouldn’t be too bothe… Visit Topic or reply to this email to respond. To unsubscribe from these emails, click here.

I am a night owl so lights can be on into the early morning hours sometimes. I think most of my bulbs are soft white incandescents

Based on the lights around my place, compact fluorescent and incandescent globes tend to attract bees and insects more than LED lights.

Deb,

You’ve gotten some pretty good answers already you “Night Owl :owl:! 100 yards unless you owned a Lighthouse shouldn’t be adverse or troublesome to your girls…

Maybe not recommended or totally wise on my part … I leave the florescence 4’ work light on 24/7 in my woodshop for surcurty issues … That’s within feet of two of my hives. Only on a few very hot summer days do a few bees have a Night Owl party on n around my shop window … it’s not recommended but what the heck … my bees seem to have adjust to having a night Light :bulb: like my kids use too.

Here’s couple pix’s to show you just how close !

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Great question may I add. Keep them coming if you need something else cleared up.

Cheers,
Gerald