"Bob Hobden" wrote in message
...

"Mary Fisher" wrote

It's not sensible to have hives on allotments for various reasons -
including that of vandalism and theft.


Mary, before I went to this allotment site one of the gardeners did keep
bees there and I'm told the crops of things that depend on pollination,
like Runner Beans, increased enormously. This site does not appear to
suffer from vandalism and there is only crops to steal, nobody keeps tools
on their plots much. So what other reasons are there for not having bees
on the site.
Being the Rep for the site I need to be able to form a considered opinion.

Runner beans usually develop even without insect pollination but honey bees
aren't heavy enough to get into runner bean flowers anyway, they're
exploited by bumble beas.

But you don't need a close source of pollinating insects, honey bees will
fly (it's said) up to three miles radius from their hive or wild nest,
that's a very large area. I wouldn't rely on three miles though :-) Other
insects, especially the ubiquitous wild bumble bees, are also pollinaters.
The crops might increase because of a nearby hive but it's not guaranteed.

You're lucky that you don't have vandalism!

The only reason I can think of for not having a hive on the site is that the
beekeeper will have to visit it to take swarm prevention action, to manage
diseases, to add space for honey and to remove the honey. S/he might also
have to feed if it's been a poor season or if too much honey is removed. In
the season - which is also the growing season - say from April to
September - this (approximate) weekly disruption to the hive will cause a
lot of bee activity in the air. The beekeeper will be protected by veil and
gloves, as a rule, the gardeners won't be. If the beekeeper is clumsy and
makes the bees defensive someone might suffer.

There's also the potential problem of vibration caused by machinery. That
too can cause bees to become defensive. There might be no machinery used
near the hive so it might be irrelevant but it's something to consider.

HTH

Mary

--
Regards
Bob Hobden