This was the first subject that I taught at the Nazarene University, in 2022 (to see the other subjects I’ve taught click a link here: Hive Parts, Queen Cells)
There are many reasons why placing your hive in the correct spot is important: you can have your hive blown over if the hive is in a windy spot, you can chill your bees if the place is too cold, you can anger your neighbors if its too close for their comfort, you can have your hive pushed over by an animal, person (angered neighbors) or the wind, the hive can be attacked by pests, your hive could just rot, or you might not have enough space for you or your bees.
I’m going to break these down into three main groups, weather, space, and other.
Starting with weather you need to think through a few things:
-Sun and heat. You want your hive’s entrance to be facing east if possible, this will wake your bees up earlier and allow them to get more work done. With heat, bees will regulate the temperature to the hive to a certain extent, when you paint your hive choose a color that is lighter so the bees don’t overheat.
-Wind. Try to have something behind your hives (like a shed, barn, wall, or some sort of small structure) to block the wind from blowing the hives over, this will also reduce the wind chill on your hives.
-Rain and moisture. Pick somewhere that the ground won’t sink in when it gets wet. Also never leave the lids off your hives.
-Cold. Again, especially in the winter, try to have something behind your hives to block the wind.
Next is space:
-Be considerate to your neighbors, ask them if they are allergic to bees (and hope they aren’t) and inform them of your plans to have bee hives around. Maybe offer them a jar of honey to keep the peace.
-Flight path. The bees need space in front of their hive to take off into the air so make
sure there isn’t anything blocking them. -Space to work. Beekeeping can take a lot of space, especially when you are inspecting and disassembling a hive so make sure that you have space around the hive to walk and set down extra Boxes.
Then last of all is other:
You are going to want your hive to be up off the ground for three reasons: 1-The boxes get very heavy so lifting them straight off the ground can cause you back problems, 2-if you set the boxes right on the ground they might rot, 3-small rodents like mice and rats have a harder time getting inside the hive if its higher off the ground. Consider using cinderblocks to keep the hive off the ground.
The bees also need to have a close nectar source and water source. The bees will fly about 2-3 miles to get nectar while only 1-2 miles for water, this is in a worst case scenario though so try to be closer than that.