bad beekeeping

[Willow]

Hi, firstly, I must make it known that I don't see the honey bees as the problem and I totally understand the importance of the job they do. 7 years ago the police took my neighbour to court and my neighbour was issued with a life time restraining order in an attempt to control his ongoing harassment of my family,. He has breached this order numerous times and now has a 2 years suspended jail sentence. Im concerned as he has placed 5 hives against our rear party wall, close to my patio doors and another hive at the front of his garden, below our bedroom.window. He chose to locate the bees this close to my property, despite there being an open field with no houses on the opposite side of his garden. I am having real issues with his bees, being attacked every day and stung numerous times. my grandchildren cannot use their trampoline as the bees drop down inside the netting. my neighbour also uses an electric zapper bat on the bees and will often go around zapping them, this I know, is unbeliveable to most people so I had to video them.doing it as proof. He has also lost control of a open hive, the bees were Swarming around his bird box, dispute him being in his full beesuit and in no danger, he decided to use the hosepipe on them. I have raised my concerns directly with my neighbour, which has resulted in him adding even a larger hive closer to my property. I am in a desperate situation as we cannot safely use our own garden. I am hoping that someone will be able to give me some advise as I shouldn't have to live like this and I'm sure that my neighbour is purposfully mistreating his bees to make them agressive, so much so that he has to tend to his own garden in a beesuit. Any help would be greatly received, thank you

[MickBBKA]

OMG, what a shame.
First I think treating his bees badly won't necessarily make them bad, but it won't make them happy either. I had until a few days ago 6 colonies about 5 yards from my house and never had a sniff of bees. They do sound like possibly aggressive bees but we can only take your word for what is happening. I would state that Honeybees won't have anything to do with a bird box though.
The only way to resolve it if you have a neighbour from hell situation is to call your local environmental health department. If they are causing a public nuisance then they should take action. You should take pictures, video and evidence of what you say is happening.
There is no law I am aware of stopping someone keeping bees in their garden.

[Willow]

thank you for taking the time reply.
The bees that are attacking me are definitely honey bees, I have taken a video of one of the bees on my arm with its sting detached, but still held on by its stomach contents as it drags behind it as it walked along my arm.
As you have suggested I will.contact my local Environmental health, thanks for this advice.

I am also considering speaking to a solicitor, as I have made my neighbour aware of the personal injury we have encountered by numerous attacks/stings, which resulted in the only action taken, is to add a larger hive closer to my home. I know that it's a difficult case to prove, but with the evidence I have of the cruelty he's inflicting on he's bees, I think I can easily prove his intent to keep bees without consideration to his neighbours, despite being made aware of the personal injury being inflicted.
Due to the ongoing harassment we have endured from our neighbour we have been contacted by a national newspaper and "neighbours from hell" a television series, they are trying to convince us to share our story. This is a last resort for me but something I would have to consider if matters aren't resolved.

if anyone else has any advice they can offer me to deter the bees from my garden and house safely, I'd be grateful or if there is absolutely nothing I can do please let me know. I've done the obvious, like remove all the plants they seem to like from my garden, which is so unfortunate as they not only looked good they cost a lot of money too.

I actual love nature and will not kill anything from a fly to a spider, they are always removed from my house and placed safely. Being attacked and stung on a regular basis is something new to me, I am in my 50's and until recently never been stung in my life. Being confined to the indoors is like being a prisoner in your own home.

I actually feel sorry for the bees as the bees he's using are not suitable for close proximity to people, this is evidenced, not only by me being attacked, but by my neighbour gardening in his beesuit and standing at his rear door swatting the bees with the electrical zapper bat.

thank for listening

[AndrewLD]

It's simple and as Mick has advised. The fastest and cheapest route is to get your Environmental Protection Officer involved. Copy the following link into your web browser and it will tell you everything you need to know.

https://www.environmental-protection.org.uk/policy-areas/air-quality/air-pollution-law-and-policy/pollution-nuisance/

You could consult a solicitor but that route takes time and of course, money.

[Willow]

I will definitely contact my local environment officer.

thank you

[AdamD]

You seem to be in a difficult situation and I agree with the other posts that 'the authorities' are the people to contact. I guess the police could also be called as well, if the neighbour was previously taken to court.

TBH, there's not much you can do to stop bees from coming in your garden even if you remove the flowers, so I would be inclined to suggest leaving the flowers where you can enjoy them. The behaviour you have described does not indicate a competent beekeeper.

I have bees in my front garden which the postman walks past every day - no issues, and when the children were small and riding on their bikes on the front drive, there were no issues. Bees do not have to be aggrerssive, occasionally a colony does become so. Bees in a bird box is usually the tree bumblebee.

Best of luck!