Supporting native bees and beehives?

8 years ago

I've long wanted to keep 2-3 hives. We love honey but don't need huge amounts of it, and I just love honeybees. Back in 2011 I moved to the boonies and wasn't able to keep bees yet.. and yet.. and yet.. lol. But I have been gardening, and adding flowers to the yard.. And over the years have grown to love and support my native bees big and small.

So, last fall my love and I closed on the property that backs ours, and this year I'm working on securing the old stablyard and stable for future veggie gardens and building. And it looks like I might be able to start keeping a hive next year! The neighbor moving out of the property has a SIL that does some beekeeping and years ago had some hives out back that is happy to help me set up stuff.

My bit of quandry is... if I'm introducing a new hive to the area, how can this affect the native bees I've been thrilled with that fly and crawl all over my yard? Or how might the native bees react to a whole new hive in their area?

Or do I really even need to worry about it at all? I am planning on planting in a bunch of irises, lillies, and some other bulbs I have ready to start setting in back there, and a few fruit bushes and trees. Some flowers and self-sowing edibles and herbs I'm trying to get worked in out there this year.

I asked the SIL about it, and he didn't know. He always just has kept a few hives, never really bothered or not with the native bees.

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Comments (3)

n2xjk
8 years ago
Honey bees forage up to 3 miles from their hive. Foraging bees pretty much ignore each other, going about their business. They can't tell if the bee on the next flower over came from your hive or a hollow oak tree.

If you're interested in bees, I suggest that you join a local beekeepers club and take some classes on the subject. Most clubs hold introductory beekeeping classes on a regular basis.

Two books you can read to give you a jump start are "Beekeeping for Dummies" by Blackiston (yes, it is actually a good primer) and "Beekeeper's Handbook" by Sammataro and Avitabile.
User
8 years ago
Honeybees can co-exist with natives, because they are looking for different things.

Our Palo Verde trees would be covered with all kinds of bees through the bloom period, as was the Antigonon leptus (queen's wreath), and alyssum.
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beesneeds
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks for the advice so far folks.

Unfortunately, nearest bee clubs around me are an hour or more away from me, and it's fairly time-prohibitive for me to go.

I have been reading books. And I figured working with the beekeeper that used to have his hives on the property would be a good idea. It's just that he never bothered tending to or factoring in the native bees like I'm trying to do. I think he was a bit amused- there's always native bees around, so he wasn't sure what my point was in thinking about it too much.