Hello again... I would like to thank everyone who responded to my original post about keeping hives in the city... They provided alot of encouragement. There seemed to be a couple major points: (1) Water... I guess I am lucky in this sense as there are no neighbours with pools... I was thinking of setting up a barrel under the downspout from the evestrough? Would this be suitable? (assuming I keep it full during those times it isn't raining) (2) Flight Paths... The spot I think I will go with is approximately 30 ft from my neighbours driveway, with a number of bushes on the property line, ranging from 2 - 6 ft high. These bushes are a mixture of roses, mountain ash and a few other flowering bushes. See ASCII art below. The proposed site is not near any door ways, but is near a window where I usually sit and have breakfast. What would be the best direction for opening? Parallel to the house? This would allow me to observe them while eating breakfast etc, but would point the opening into some bushes... (there would be 2-3 feet between the opening of the hive and the bushes)... Or towards the neighbours... with out fencing would this be a problem? The area between the hive and neighbours driveway will eventually be a veggie garden, but for the moment is a lawn (not generally frequented)... road --------------------------------------- | | ------- | | * | Neighbour's drive way. | * | |* * | My |*** * | House |** * | | * | | * | X <-Proposed Hive * |*** location... * |***** * <- various bushes.... |** <- more bushes _______ /|\ | <----- ~ 30 ft ---------> North (3) Honey.... For bribes.... Thanks again for indulging me and sharing your experiences with me... I particularly enjoyed the story about the 20 hives in the garage... amazing... I finishing my PHD at the moment and may not get this set up for a while, but I like to plan ahead.... Once again, any and all comments are welcome.... Dan Ryan [log in to unmask]