please log in to view this image show her this (admittedly this guy is one of the top 3 beekeeping suit models currently around)
My nephew has about half a dozen hives which he's built up. A few years ago I helped him move them from where he lived in Southampton to North Cornwall, where he decided to pitch his tent for a few years upto the present day. He had a small van with no separate bulkhead, so we taped them in with a plastic shroud where the bulkhead would have been on another model and wore bees hats. Good job we drove late in the evening otherwise we would have looked rather odd to oncoming drivers. Good fun.
When I was a kid, my parents allowed a beekeeper to set up some hives on their property, in exchange for honey (and the pollination of the rather extensive gardens my mother keeps). Within a couple months, it had attracted a massive black bear that took up residence in the area. Spotlights didn't perturb it. An electrified fence with enough current running through it to send a person flying didn't provoke the slightest response (and was apparently useful, as leaning on it allowed the bear to keep its balance). Alas, the hives had to go. So be forewarned: set up a beehive, and a massive black bear will swim the Atlantic and make a mess of your garden.
We used to have bee hives at the bottom of our garden when I was a youngster..........Wasn't a particularly large garden either although it was out in the wilds. The bee's owner used to give mum as much honey as we could store. Which for us was terrific as sugar was still on rationing. We were in that house going on 4 years or so and in that time do not ever remember being bothered or stung by the bees. I used to stand just outside the gate leading to their compound which was about 10ft or so away, from the nearest hive, fascinated watching them come and go.
She seems like one of those annoying pretentious celebs, perfect match for Chris Martin... although I know they're not together any more. Although in fairness, she sang a good cover of Forget You by Cee-Lo Green in Glee.
We had one in ours for a while. It really does depend on what type of bees you get. The first swarm we had were very gentle and didn't cause any problems but died out over the winter. The replacement swarm were little buggers and I got stung a couple of times without even being close to the hive, so we had to move them out of the garden.
Bees make raspberry jam? Versatile little devils. My neighbour kept bees and I ended up with a swarm in my chimney....boosted the fire up and they decided they'd rather go elsewhere.
