Why bees earn their place on a smallholding

Few things repay a smallholding like a couple of hives tucked behind a hedge. Bees pollinate your top fruit, soft fruit, runner beans and courgettes, they turn a hedgerow you already own into a crop, and a decent season will fill your shelves with more honey than you can reasonably give away. But keeping them responsibly takes a bit of forethought about siting, water, swarming and how much you take off — and about the people who share your corner of the countryside. A well-sited apiary goes almost unnoticed. A badly sited one causes trouble within a fortnight.

Siting hives away from footpaths and boundaries

The first rule is distance from people who have not chosen to be near bees. Keep hives well back from public footpaths, bridleways and the boundary with a neighbour's garden, and never point an entrance across a gate, stile or path. Twenty metres from anywhere the public regularly passes is a sensible minimum, and more where the flight line crosses open ground.

Face entrances south-east if you can, and think about what the colony needs across the whole day:

• Morning sun to get the bees flying early, which matters most in spring build-up.
• Dappled shade after midday so the hive does not cook in a heatwave.
• Firm, level ground — paving slabs or sleepers under the stand stop it sinking and tipping.
• A windbreak of hedge or hurdle to stop hives being knocked over in a gale.

Strap the hive down and weigh the roof with a brick or two. If your apiary sits near a right of way or a garden, a two-metre hedge, fence or screen a couple of metres in front of the entrance is worth its weight in goodwill: it forces the bees up above head height as they leave and keeps the flight line out of people's faces.

Water, forage and good neighbourliness

Bees need water close by, especially in spring when brood rearing starts. Provide it yourself and they will use it: a shallow tray or half-barrel with pebbles, stones or corks floating on the surface so bees can land and drink without drowning. Refresh it weekly. If you don't, your colonies will find the neighbour's water butt, drain, or a washing line with damp sheets on it — and bee droppings on laundry cause more complaints than stings do.

Forage is usually the easy part on a smallholding, but you can improve it cheaply. Leave the dandelions alone in April, let a patch of white clover and self-heal flower in the lawn, and sow borage, phacelia, lavender or a patch of wildflower mix. Willow, lime, apple, plum and hawthorn all give good early and midsummer flows. Avoid spraying anything in flower, and ask neighbouring farmers politely what they plan to spray and when.

Swarm control: the job you cannot skip

From April to late July, inspect every seven to nine days — no longer, or you will miss the moment. A colony that swarms takes half your bees, upsets neighbours and may well settle in someone's chimney.

• Look for queen cells, particularly charged ones hanging from the bottom bars.
• Have a spare hive or nucleus box ready so you can split the colony on the spot.
• Keep a bait hive — an old brood box with a little lemongrass oil — standing nearby to catch anything you miss.
• Tell your neighbours you keep bees before they discover it themselves, and give them your mobile number.

If a swarm does go, contact a local swarm collector rather than leaving it to chance. Some beekeepers clip the queen's wing to stop swarms travelling far; it works, but it is not a substitute for inspecting properly.

Leaving enough honey for the colony

Here is where restraint matters most. A colony in a typical British winter needs something in the region of 15 to 20kg of stores to see it through to the first decent flow. Take honey only from the supers; the brood box is the bees' own larder and stays untouched.

Heft the hive from the back in early September, lifting each side a little. If it feels light, feed thick syrup — roughly 1kg of sugar to 600ml of water — early enough that they can cap it before the cold sets in. Never feed honey of unknown origin, which can carry disease. In a wet, cold part of the country, or with a small colony, leave a super of honey on instead. Then heft again in February and add fondant if the hive feels light: more colonies starve in March and April than in January, when the queen starts laying and the stores go quickly.

Health checks, records and allotment rules

Monitor varroa in late summer using a sugar roll or a floor insert, and treat in the broodless window around midwinter when the mites are most exposed. Keep simple written records of inspections, treatments and yields — you will spot problems far sooner. Register your apiary with the national bee health scheme so you get disease alerts, and report any suspicion of foulbrood rather than trying to fix it yourself.

On an allotment, check your tenancy agreement before ordering a hive: many sites allow bees with the committee's written permission, some do not. Even where they are welcome, site hives away from paths and the communal tap, screen the entrance, and provide water on your own plot. Do that, and you will keep bees that are welcome, healthy and productive for years.