Anyone keep bees?

[Andani]

Hubby really wants a beehive for pollination and honey. We have 2 acres of land, but it's mostly wooded. He wants the hive out in the open, which means in the yard. I'm afraid of the children getting stung. I'd love to hear from someone with experience in this.

Thank you!

[athomeontheprairie]

We have hives right near our house. No kid has ever been stung. I have 6 kids under 10.

 

Friends with 5 kids have a similar set up, and afaik, none of their kids have been stung.

[Melissa in Australia]

We have 6 hives near our house. We have had the occasional sting, but only on the day we are raiding the hive. Apart from ds4 who picked up a bee that landed on the veranda next to him.

[Callie]

We have hives right near our house. No kid has ever been stung. I have 6 kids under 10.

 

Friends with 5 kids have a similar set up, and afaik, none of their kids have been stung.

We had hives for years near the house and no stings.  The only annoying thing the bees ever did was hog the hummingbird feeders.  Oh and I am allergic to bee stings and never worried because the bees just don't mess with humans.  I hang laundry, work in the garden etc right next to the bees.

[athomeontheprairie]

Upon further reflection, we have had two be strings. One child went outside without shoes and walked over to the bees watering pool, he stepped on a bee. Same child Walked over to the hives holding a popsicle.

 

Prior to getting bees, we visited with the pediatrician about what we would need to do in the event of stings. And had medication on hand in case one of them had a strong reaction. Maybe I would feel differently if we lived closer to hospital, but we are so far out we wanted to have medication on hand in the event one had a severe allergic reaction

[Critterfixer]

I have had as many as four hives in the yard, and am down to one this year. I may be getting more next year. Every one of my hives has had a personality. Some have been even tempered, others more easily agitated. I haven't had a "mean" hive, but my father has one that has that reputation. It is just very easy to upset those bees.

Weather upsets them. I joke that if it is too much of anything (hot, dry, wet, cold) the bees blame the beekeeper. Anytime that the forage is low around their territory the bees are going to act edgy. They do get possessive of the hummingbird feeders and one summer we had war on the front porch until I moved feeders to new locations.

 

The bottom line? You have bees, somebody is going to get stung. I get a few every year since I deal with the hives. DH took one to the ear when he was mowing close to the hives. They were not upset, just one of them was returning to the hive and almost flew down his ear! He wears a veil when he mows, and I have a hand mower to work with around the hives. I usually do not suit up to mow; the bees know me well enough to not bother with me unless I get right up at their front door. One of the boys has had three stings over the last two years, one hasn't been stung at all. Now, to put that in perspective--we've had more wasp stings than bee stings, and far more tick bites than wasp or bee stings. So while I consider the bees to pose a certain level of risk, it isn't higher than we have on any normal day in the summer.

[Bluegoat]

We've had bees though we don't right now, but we've had them in the past.  I think we've had kids step on bees on the lawn a few times, though I don't know if they were our bees or not.  We have them next to the house, and they are surrounded by a fence made of trellis panels.  the bees can fly in and out, but the kids - and people walking by -  can't really see the hives enough to get interested.

 

In our old house we had the bees on the carport roof.  That was really ideal, as their flight path didn't really even go through the yard.  No one who wasn't actually dealing with the bees ever got stung when they were up there.