Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[hannah donovan]

Hi all.
Xan anyone tell me which breed of bee is the most passive as i am about to put a topbar hive on scout land where there are children , so i need the least aggressive bees... i know that my bees did not attack unless you were near the entrance or opened the hive, but they were a swarm so i dont know what breed they were..please help i am moving my hive very soon as i am not allowed to keep bees on council land and my poor bees did not make oit through the winter..so qill be getting bees soon.. but no swarms on offer, so may buy them instead.

[AugustC]

hmmmm.... unless you will be requeening the colony every year this is fairly moot. Any colony may be passive eg Italian and Buckfast (first generation) as lovely but once they swarm and replace their queen you never know. Buckfast are especially well known for turning nasty after swarming. I catch local swarms and have never had a colony that would be defensive unless you opened the hive.

[catchercradle]

IN London are3a it is worth getting on the lea bees mailing list. leabees-editor@lists.riseup.net & ask to join. Likely to be a good source for knowing of swarms local to you.

[luk_lak]

Hannah,

I think most bees are docile if not disturbed.

In case of ignorant children / adults you'd probably need to build a fence and this still may not stop some...

I have (or had) a colony from a swarm in my small garden and I have a small child - co problem at all. My son stood in front of hive and sticking its face into the holes to "smell the bees" - never got stung.

Maybe beginners luck....

AFAIK - there is no law (see other recent thread) that disallow owning bees. Unless you're keeping it on somebody else's land (council in that case)

[Odisej]

Ask him:

https://youtu.be/aUD7QuCrz6M

Good luck.