Hi there! Recently, while on a hike in a neighboring State Park, the Ranger and I disscussed the idea of having an observation hive in exchange for a fenced off apiary which we might work. He loved the idea, a letter of proposal was written and wisked off to the officials at State Government. They liked it too, but said we'd have to carry $500,000 in liability insurance. Liability for what they didn't say, just for all liability. They also said we must agree not to produce more than $2,000 in profit from that apiary which, given the current state of things, is not a hard stipulation to meet. It is a simply beautiful area, surrounded by farms, and I expect wonderful for both the bees and those who work them. So I rang up my USAA homeowner's policy to find out if it would cover hives we might keep out there. "Well, we didn't know you had bees, and you have them at your house too, oh my, we'll have to re-review your policy before we renew it as this poses a serious liability risk exposure." After that came a series of very stupid questions "Do you keep them in a cage or are they just, er, out in the open?" I really don't know what's going to happen now, either with my own homeowner insurance or this wider question of liability in an out yard. Has anyone experienced anything like this? I've kept bees for 4 years at my home. I'm not sure I like life in the modern world. Tim Cote MD MPH Timothy R. Cote MD MPH Resident Pathologist and Epidemiologist Laboratory of Pathology, NIH tel. 301-496-2441 fax. 301-408-9488 [log in to unmask]