Cohousing-L Mailing List: Re: Bee hives

[michael barrett (mbarrett]

Here at Shadowlake Village in Blacksburg, VA we have had hives since 
April 2011.  After we, that is the two initial beekeepers, mistakenly 
assumed the whole community would embrace beekeeping, in accordance with 
the generally accepted cohousing ethos of saving the planet, we two (who 
had been to bee school and had already ordered our bees) proposed 
putting two hives in a quiet corner of the common property.  A couple of 
households objected with concerns about potential costly damages being 
awarded against the community, and thus all the homeowners, following a 
fatal reaction to bee sting(s).
Once this issue was resolved, with some difficulty, our apiary has 
received community acceptance from everyone, with many families, and 
their children, positively enjoying the experience, and the honey.
We now have three beekeepers with hives in 3 locations, two in people's 
yard, and one, with 3 hives at present, on community property.  The 
number of hives has varied, up to a maximum (I think) of eight.  
Personally I had 3 very successful years initially and gave away several 
swarms to friends and neighbors to replace their winter losses.  Sadly 
my luck has changed the last couple of years and I am down from my 
maximum of four hives to only one, but expecting 2 new replacement 
colonies to be delivered in 3 weeks.

Michael Barrett



On 3/30/2016 10:28 AM, Margaret Thacker wrote:
> Hello,
>
> We are discussing having bee hives on common community land, and I wonder if 
> anyone has experience with this and could tell me how it has gone.  Thanks for 
> any insights.
>
> Maggie Thacker
> Solterra Cohousing
> Durham, NC
>
> Let the beauty we love, be what we do.
>                              --- Rumi
>
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