Natural Beekeeping International Forum

[Adam B]

I have a very small walled back garden in an urban area here in S. England. I'd estimate 15' square at most. I feel the space would be too small for a hive - unless the hive dominated the use of the garden.

I do have a Juliette balcony, however.

So I'm trying to find some credible information on alternative places to keep urban hives.

I have googled around a lot and found very little concrete information, other than people putting a framed hive on a larger more substantial balcony or the roof of a block of flats, and hoping for the best... I don't have either of those luxuries.

Some of the things I am interested in range from "What would the total weight of a top bar hive, with bees, brood and honey be?" to "Does anyone have any anecdotal experiences about keeping a hive on a balcony?"

A tiny bit about me: This is as much research as anything else; I'm not expecting to jump at this tomorrow morning. I have taken the basic bee keeping course here in the UK, but I have yet to have my own hive. I would like to have my own hive, but I'm struggling with where to put it. I assume that I may be able to find some distant location to set up a remote apiary, but this is somewhat prohibitive, currently. I am not that interested in honey harvesting and am not looking to sell honey as a business or hobby.

Does anyone have any information, links or experiences about urban bee keeping that they can share?

[Adam B]

I did see someone (in Germany, I believe) that kept bees in their loft, and drilled an exit pipe through the roof, but I'd be worried about the temperature in the loft during summer.