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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Sat, 18 Apr 1998 07:23:42 -0600
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>A neighbour of mine was stung by 3 of my bees lately....
>The same man was stung twice last year - 1 sting each time
>separated by about a month...  My question is this - Am I
>putting these people at risk by having a beehive
>in my back garden right beside them?
 
 
I hope you are joking.  Yes, you are putting these people and others at
risk -- and your wealth as well.
 
Any situation where you have non beekeepers, whether neighbours or family
members, stung that frequently and repeatedly -- especially in an urban
setting -- is asking for big trouble.  Not just for you, but all beekeepers
in your district.
 
Isolated occurrences are one thing, but such episodes are obviously not just
rare flukes.  Legally and morally in most countries, you are pretty exposed.
It is public reactions to beekeeping like this that results in outrageous
and oppressive ordinances against innocent beekeepers.
 
Either you are doing something(s) very wrong or bees are just dangerous in
your climate.  Many expert  and amateur beekeepers routinely keep bees in
cities the world over without any bystander getting ever stung.  My father
kept 25 hives on two acres in a city in plain view and with the knowledge of
the neighbours and AFAIK no bystander was ever stung.  FWIW, I've had almost
1000 colonies in one yard right in my hamlet without anyone other than my
beekeepers ever getting stung -- in their case, only a very little bit while
working them. But bees here are not as vicious as they are some places.
Some localities just make nice bees vicious, as both Andy and I have often
observed.
 
If I were you, I'd get those bees out of there as fast as I could.
 
Allen

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