A hive that does not pick a fight

Most backyard trouble is not mystery biology. It is a flight path at face height, a dry yard, and a colony that stings without a reason.

UF/IFAS wrote Best Management Practices for Siting Honey Bee Colonies: Good Neighbor Guidelines, the Good Neighbor Guidelines. The 4-H book Welcome to the Apiary states the same kind of siting in plain language. FDACS puts residential, non-ag apiaries under the Beekeeper Compliance Agreement. Read those. What follows is a reading.

Hives you can open. Removable-frame hives, Langstroth or similar, in sound condition. A box you cannot inspect is a box you cannot manage.

Flyway. The 4-H book says keep colonies more than 15 feet from a property line, or behind a flyway barrier at least 6 feet. The Good Neighbor Guidelines talks about a barrier about 6 feet high when hives sit within about 25 feet of a line, extended past the colonies, so bees commute over heads. Face the entrance at the barrier.

Water. Give them water on your ground. A tub with floats. A drip. A jar at the entrance. Change standing water so it does not breed mosquitoes. Bees that have a dish at home are less interested in the neighbor's pool and the dog bowl.

Yard. Do not leave comb on the grass. Wet comb in the open is a robbery and a mess.

Animals. The 4-H book says not within 150 feet of tied or fenced animals.

Public land. You do not set hives on schools, parks, or other public ground unless FDACS-DPI issues a special permit and the property manager writes consent.

Queens. Keep European stock. If a colony starts stinging without cause, requeen. Africanized honey bees are in Florida. You cannot tell them from European bees by looking. FDACS and UF keep explainers. This is not a panic sheet.

The sign. Florida wants a name and a phone number posted at the apiary.

The Good Neighbor Guidelines https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/AA137

Welcome to the Apiary, Welcome to the Apiary https://ask.ifas.ufl.edu/publication/4H446

FDACS registration and the residential compliance agreement https://www.fdacs.gov/BeekeeperRegistration https://forms.fdacs.gov/08492.pdf

Africanized honey bees, FDACS https://www.fdacs.gov/Consumer-Resources/Health-and-Safety/Africanized-Honey-Bees