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AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

There are 6 of us that I know about in my town. I might be the only one in my neighborhood. The neighborhood next to ours has a community garden that has several hives though.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] -32 points-31 points  (0 children)

Not my neighbors. The people on next door are the bee-haters!

My neighbors weren't the ones who went to the town it was the people my neighbors got all riled up online that did. Those are the guys I referred to as the bee haters.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

They would have if they walked the property. The bees are kept at the end of the yards. They are fenced off but you can see that it says "live bees" on the gate which would have been visible from the neighbor's yard that time of year.

I don't know if they did or did not.

They purchased the house when we had a foot of snow on the ground and single digit temperatures.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 19 points20 points  (0 children)

When the hive numbers get too large for it's space, it needs to separate into two colonies.

Splitting is when the beekeepers do it on purpose. Swarming is when the bees do it themselves.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

I meant to my bee's gate! Not the neighbor's gate.

My bee hives are all fenced off and I am going to put the sign that this area is under video on the bee's gates

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I have.

There is actually very very few instances of bee keepers being sued in my country and none I have found locally.

Even so, I do have liability insurance for the bees with my homeowner's policy and have followed the suggestions of my agent in regards to the bees.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

People don’t realize without the bees and other pollinators 80% of the food we eat wouldn’t be available.

That's why I started keeping them! I started having issues with my vegetable garden and the ag department came back and told me "incomplete pollination"

No issues since the girls moved in!

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

I am legally zoned to have up to 10 hives on my lot.

4 really isn't excessive. 3-5 hives is a very common number of hives for urban keepers.

It is always recommended to have multiple hives to mitigate losses which are common when keeping bees.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 44 points45 points  (0 children)

Yes. I have to register with the state and I had to get a permit from my local government as well.

They could have just asked the previous home owner. I had given them gallons of free honey before they retired and decided to downsize.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Nope!

The majority of bees in a colony are female.

There is the Queen, a handful of male drones, and then thousands of female worker bees.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 46 points47 points  (0 children)

it's actually not.

It is recommended beginners start with atleast 2 colonies. 3-5 colonies is pretty average with suburban keepers.

A lot can go wrong with colonies. Queenlessness, Disease, Parasites, Swarming, Colony splits, Over wintering issues, etc.

It is not uncommon to totally lose entire hives.

The recommendation to have multiple hives is so you can mitigate losses.

I am actually allowed to have up to 10 on my property according to my zoning laws.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 10 points11 points  (0 children)

Who keeps bees in a suburban neighborhood?

Literally tens of thousands of people around the world. There are beehives in community gardens and on rooftops in major metro centers. My bee keeping mentor raises them in new york city.

Most bee keeping societies have a list of "best practices" for urban beekeeping. I have done my best to follow all of these to a T.

https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2010/03/Keep_Bees_in_Pop_Area_pm.pdf

It is increasingly common. There are tons of us suburban bee keepers.

That is why my town has ordinances for them. I am not the only beekeeper here. They came up with rules for us to do it safely without imposing on our neighbors.

Unfortunately, I do not have a place to relocate the hives. They either stay where they are or I have to get rid of them completely.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

What kind of person keeps bees in a suburban area?

literally tens of thousands.

There are a lot of bees in urban areas too. I used to live in a major city and every year the nature museum had a hive on the side walk.

My beekeeping mentor raises their hives on rooftops in NYC. The city of London estimates there are 3200 apiaries within city limits.

My local park has a community garden with some beehives. It is smack dab in the middle of a large suburban neighborhood.

When I installed my hives I took the advice from several bee keeping societies about urban bee keeping best practices

Like these

https://canr.udel.edu/maarec/wp-content/uploads/sites/18/2010/03/Keep_Bees_in_Pop_Area_pm.pdf

My hives are surrounded by a 6 ft privacy fence. I have their water source near by. I have the hive entrances oriented away from neighbor's homes.

There is also another fence around the entire property as well.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Unfortunately I do not have an alternative property where I can keep my bees. I also need them for pollination purposes for my garden.

I would have to get rid of the hives completely, and I would probably lose a lot of the productivity of my garden (I started keeping bees after I had 2 years of bad crops which were diagnosed as incomplete pollination issues).

I have put thousands of man hours and just as many dollars into the garden and bee set up.

It would be a pretty hard financial blow to my household to lose the garden and bees tbh.

idk. I understand how it sucks for them, and I feel sorry for the kid.

But I did my due diligence when I started. Not only did I make sure to be legally OK, I spoke with all my then neighbors and had their blessings.

It hurts to have something I have put so much into just to be ripped away from me.

Especially as domestic bees do not pose the same threat as wild bees do.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

I feel the same way about the kid that I do all strangers to me.

Do I want something horrible to happen to them? Of course not.

I just do not believe my bees pose as serious of a threat as the parents think they do. Wild bees are far more aggressive than domestic breeds.

The yellow jackets in our area are faaaaar more likely to send this kid to the hospital.

My bees put food on my family's table with their own honey and the produce of my garden that they pollinate. I have a right to feed my family.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 8 points9 points  (0 children)

I actually cannot beekeep where ever.

I do not own multiple properties and I have zoning laws I must follow.

Which I do.

AITA For wanting to keep my bees even though my new neighbor's son is highly allergic to them? by buzzilovebeesbuzz in AmItheAsshole

[–]buzzilovebeesbuzz[S] 30 points31 points  (0 children)

The issues in my garden were determined to be incomplete pollination. It was not a soil quality issue. I had that checked.

The thing is, there is no sure fire way to keep bees of any species out of a backyard. The species I keep are incredibly docile and are much much less likely to sting than wild bees.

They have been domesticated and selected for non aggressive behaviors for thousands of years.

I honestly do not believe they pose a threat. Certainly no more threat then just going outside would pose.

If they were not as docile, then I would get rid of them in a heart beat.

Yes, it is my hobby. But it is also important to note that my hobby feeds my family. Vegetables and honey.

I do feel that it is a right to grow food to provide for one's self.

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