Keeping horses near bee hives?

SpruceRI

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I know that bees (in hives) aren't keen on horses

But how far should hives be from grazing neddies? Would a larch-lap style 6ft high fence with vegetation on the hive side be enough to deter bees from flying en masse to attack horses or do you really need to be far far away??

Thanks
 

Molasses

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I keep mine beside bee hives and a wind turbine!
I love living on the edge;)

The hives, 4 of them are in the next paddock about 50m away with 2 hedges between them and the horses and i've never had an issue.
 

ladyt25

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I think it may depend on the bees. Maybe have a chat to some bee experts. I never knew about the issues with bees and horses and, many years ago a friend of my parents had 2 or 3 hives in our horses' field. They were in the same field as the horses, just fenced round so the horses couldn't get to the hives. We never had any problems at all and the bees produced good honey. I think some more placid bee types are ok. However, I am no bee expert! :D
 

SpruceRI

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Thanks both for the reply.... hmmmm, I was thinking more of a 10m gap away. Not 50m and two hedges. That sort of scuppers my idea! eek! Thanks ;)
 

Moya_999

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I walked into my hay barn and a livery pointed out she saw bees going into the hay. I carefully went into the hay area tied a lead rope to the bale and ran dragging it out, behind it was a nest. After a bit I dragged the bale with the nest out and dragged it to muck hill. This was 4 weeks ago, we also had two in the roof above the horses heads in the insulation, I knocked this down and they all dissipated by the next morning.



Don't regret it at all.

One of mine got stung and got a reaction to the sting, running round stable, then escaped into the field and ran round in a freak -sweating-and drooling and blowing bubbles. I had to call the vet asap it was scary I can tell you.

I have heard that if you want rid, contact a bee keeper and they will bring a temporary hive to move into then take them away.
 
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SpruceRI

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It's more the fact that there is a field to rent locally and it has bee hives in it. Didn't know whether to risk it, and/or if the bee keeper would let me put some sort of solid fence (like garden larch lap stuff) around the hives between the horses and them.

I will enquire with the bee keeper.


Thanks for the replies everyone
 

kellybee

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Thanks both for the reply.... hmmmm, I was thinking more of a 10m gap away. Not 50m and two hedges. That sort of scuppers my idea! eek! Thanks ;)

We have 4 bee hives just over the wall, and upon de-brambling the back field found another three wild bee hives. I have never ever had a problem but as i understand it some species are much less irritable than others
 

twiggy2

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there are hives where we keep my daughters horse, they are within 10m of the field gate, they face away from the gate though so the bees do not tend to travel towards the horse on mass, they have been there over ten years-there is a riding track directly in front of the hives within 3 metres and it has always worried me, there has been one incident when a horse and rider got swarmed and both were stung, the horse had some complications due to a mild reaction but neither were seriously hurt.

my understanding is if you put a high fence/hedge in front of the hives so the bees have to come out and over then it encourages them to fly high until they come across a food source thereby reducing the likely hood of problems. cant remember where i heard it and do not know if it is true but worth asking about
 

Ladyinred

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I walked into my hay barn and a livery pointed out she saw bees going into the hay. I carefully went into the hay area tied a lead rope to the bale and ran dragging it out, behind it was a nest. After a bit I dragged the bale with the nest out and dragged it to muck hill. This was 4 weeks ago, we also had two in the roof above the horses heads in the insulation, I knocked this down and they all dissipated by the next morning.



Don't regret it at all.

One of mine got stung and got a reaction to the sting, running round stable, then escaped into the field and ran round in a freak -sweating-and drooling and blowing bubbles. I had to call the vet asap it was scary I can tell you.

I have heard that if you want rid, contact a bee keeper and they will bring a temporary hive to move into then take them away.

So that's three swarms lost this year in one small area alone. Bees are threatened, both by pesticides and agriculture and by the varroa mite. Vey sad to lose a native species because people can't be bothered to pick up a phone and call their local bee society .. especially from someone who knows help is available. My son has picked up and moved both honey bees and bumbles this year,probably six swarms/nests when the hot weather began, and all with minimum stress to the bees.

If people indiscriminately destroy bees and their neststhere will be no natural and effective pollinators for rape, beans, flowers and particularly fruit. Then you wll complain when prices rise and we import yet more food. All for the sake of people not bothering to phone for help.
 

twiggy2

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had forgotten we have a nest of what look like honey bees in the barn at work-not been a problem to me or the horses, am not looking forward to finding the nest though as it is somewhere in the large bale hay stack, when i get close we will be calling a local bee keeper.

Ladyinred do they hibernate in winter?
 

kellybee

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The bee keepers next door have really struggled with growing queen bees this yr - all our wild bee hives are still intact - theyre on the winter grazing so cant imagine they'll be much of a problem to the horses
 

AmyMay

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I walked into my hay barn and a livery pointed out she saw bees going into the hay. I carefully went into the hay area tied a lead rope to the bale and ran dragging it out, behind it was a nest. After a bit I dragged the bale with the nest out and dragged it to muck hill. This was 4 weeks ago, we also had two in the roof above the horses heads in the insulation, I knocked this down and they all dissipated by the next morning.



Don't regret it at all.

One of mine got stung and got a reaction to the sting, running round stable, then escaped into the field and ran round in a freak -sweating-and drooling and blowing bubbles. I had to call the vet asap it was scary I can tell you.

I have heard that if you want rid, contact a bee keeper and they will bring a temporary hive to move into then take them away.

How very, very sad.
 

Moya_999

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So that's three swarms lost this year in one small area alone. Bees are threatened, both by pesticides and agriculture and by the varroa mite. Vey sad to lose a native species because people can't be bothered to pick up a phone and call their local bee society .. especially from someone who knows help is available. My son has picked up and moved both honey bees and bumbles this year,probably six swarms/nests when the hot weather began, and all with minimum stress to the bees.

If people indiscriminately destroy bees and their nests there will be no natural and effective pollinators for rape, beans, flowers and particularly fruit. Then you wll complain when prices rise and we import yet more food. All for the sake of people not bothering to phone for help.

I actually found out that someone could have brought a hive in, after the event not before by a livery the next day. If I had known I would have gone that route.

For a professional to do it Its £ 40 per nest to remove £ 120 that is one months livery for my diy and sorry but I need to spend that money elsewhere.


As it was there was no way we could get hay for the horses with the hive there.
Two of my livery horses were freaking out at the bees, they were at risk of injury so as the horses are in my care I put them first. The bees were not killed they will make another hive somewhere else. Sometimes time is the essence with horses. The horses were not prepared to wait for 3 days before someone could come. The owners could not keep their horses in the stables with the nests there, the soonest the company could get there was 4 days later...... too long.

Something had to be done there and then. I like bees but when they choose to use my hay so the horses can't have any, then I am sorry for going against other views but this had to be acted on promptly.
 
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BBP

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We have two hives right behind the stables, kept by my neighbour. Only issue so far was 2 years ago when they swarmed. I had brought my pony in to groom, heard a buzzing that got louder and louder and all of a sudden the air was thick with bees. I led the pony into a stable and he and I stayed there looking at a wall of black there were so many across the entrance. I think because the pony and I were both very calm and didn't flap about the bees didn't get aggressive. They eventually took off and made their own hive in a tree. Scary but fine. No other issues. The bees also have geese, ducks, chickens and cats to worry about!
 

Moya_999

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I have had two horses in the past get stung by bees and one by a wasp, one went into anaphylactic shock within a short time, vet came out injected him but during the course of waiting for the vet, the horse had the trembles shaking and sweating. Unfortunately the throat closed up as the wasp was in the hay. The horse could not eat or drink and despite excellent vet care the horse had to be PTS.


The other case the horse got stung by bees as there was a nest in a log pile in the field. The horse sustained 6 stings and ended up going through two lots of fencing (P&R) and onto the road where it got hit by a passing van. SO excuse me if I am not so sentimental about them in this particular situation. The latter horse was my sisters top quality dressage horse who was working Prix St. George dressage. :( .

Maybe those who feel angered or saddened have never seen a horse react in an anaphylactic shock situation. :(?

oh yes and personally what I find sad and angers me is when local youths go round dossing beehives with petrol and setting light to them. To me that is a far far sadder situation than someone not killing them just forcing them to relocate.
 
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*hic*

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Yup I've had a horse have a severe reaction following rolling in nettles.

You might want to look at British Beekeepers Association. They don't charge and they will normally come out fast.
 

JLD

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we have kept bees in our horses field and never had any problems. if they are aggressive you can replace the queen hopefully with a better tempered one and the hive will be much better tempered. there are tempramant problems with some of the strains of bees imported from abroad - I think some of the south african ones are a problem
 

Moya_999

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Yup I've had a horse have a severe reaction following rolling in nettles.

You might want to look at British Beekeepers Association. They don't charge and they will normally come out fast.


Well that is good to know for the next time. Pest control told me their charges.
Next time yes I will get the bees removed via them moving into a beehive which K has offered to do. Its a wise man who knows everything before the event :)
 

Spring Feather

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I have a hive of mason bees living in a huge beam in one of my barns. Some of the horses use this barn as a field shelter. The bees don't bother me or the horses and everyone lives in harmony. We also have problems with the bee population being decimated so any bees I can safely live around is fine by me, any that might start to cause problems then I'd get in touch with beekeepers and ask them to relocate them.
 

Ladyinred

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had forgotten we have a nest of what look like honey bees in the barn at work-not been a problem to me or the horses, am not looking forward to finding the nest though as it is somewhere in the large bale hay stack, when i get close we will be calling a local bee keeper.

Ladyinred do they hibernate in winter?

They don't hibernate as in go to sleep, but they stay in their hive in the cold and live on the honey they have produced, or on sugar syrup and pollen bar provided by their keeper.
 
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Ok so I have horses and I keep bees!
I keep my bees tucked away in a corner and make sure the flight path is not inline with a pathway or bridal path etc.
Bees only get angry when they feel threatened so if a horse or person goes too close they will warn you off. They don't want to sting you because they die afterwards.
If you see a swarm or a natural bee hive then try to stay out of the way. 10 meters is usually plenty of distance for a human but remember a horse is large and so more threatening, 20 meters would be better. Bee keepers will come out and remove them for free. I do because to buy them is about £80 a swarm! A pest control company should not destroy them unless they are a danger to life and this doesn't happen very often. Don't get confused with wasps or hornets... I would run a mile even with my bee suit on! So to sum it all up just respect the bees and the horses and everyone should get on nicely.
 

Inchy

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We had two bees hives in our hay barn this year, we rang a local bee keeper who came out the following morning to collect them and 'rehome' them free of charge. If anyone else has trouble with them I'd recommend ringing round, the guy said he'd already got new homes lined up for them...I'd have happily allowed them to stay if they'd chosen somewhere a little more convenient to set up home!
 

SpruceRI

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Thank you to everyone.

I have been to look at said field and there are about 20 hives altogether. 10 in the field shelter and the others situated nearby. There was a strong smell of honey emanating!

So I don't think the field will be available to rent. I was hoping the hives were in a corner of the field but they're not.
 

pennyturner

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One of my fields has 8 or 9 hives around 6 feet from the fence. Never had any bother from them. On the contrary, the beekeeper once left the gate open after giving the hives fondant in the winter, and my nosy ponies pushed through the gate and 'investigated' the hives. Of course when they found nice tasty sugar fondant they pushed the hives over and scoffed the lot. Happily the colonies were too sleepy to attack, and did still survive.
 
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