Siting an Apiary
An apiary is a place where more than one beehive is kept. This means apiaries can be owned and operated by private individuals in their back gardens or by commercial businesses on a much larger scale.
Alongside honey, when managed effectively, apiaries provide a number of other valuable resources for beekeepers and individuals to collect such as beeswax, royal jelly, bee bread and propolis.
Naturally occurring beehives do not often exist in such close proximity as they do in apiaries, so these structures can be very beneficial in terms of pollination of plants in their surrounding area.
What Is an Apiary Used For?
Beekeepers use an apiary to house large numbers of bees and beehives. Alongside using their apiaries to produce honey and other bee products, beekeepers may use an apiary to raise bees to sell them to other beekeepers [1].
It’s common for colonies to die out, so many beekeepers also breed bees to be sold to other apiaries that require them.
The majority of the time, apiaries are used to produce honey, which is harvested by beekeepers and sold mainly for human consumption.
However, bees also produce many other products and goods that can be harvested at an apiary. An apiary can be used to collect pollen, propolis, royal jelly, and beeswax, all of which are valuable commodities.
Some apiaries are also used for scientific purposes. A large number of bees living in one location provides scientists with the ideal opportunity to study and monitor hives of bees throughout the year fairly easily.
An Apiary is a place where beehives are placed.
- Availability of water –Should be sited near the water source. If water is not available in a 3km radius, syrup/sugar solutions is placed close to the hives in containers.
- Availability of flowers –Should be sited near flowers for nectar collection.
- Well sheltered place- The beehives should be protected from strong sun and wind to protect the bees from absconding the hive.
- Away from noise and other disturbances to avoid swarming of bees.
- Away from human being and livestock –Should be sited away from homesteads,pastures and busy roads.