Whanganui council urges care with urban bee keeping

Urban beekeeping requires thought for neighbours.

Urban beekeepers are being urged to keep hive numbers to two per section to avoid becoming a nuisance to neighbours.

Whanganui District Council environmental health officer Alison Smith said care is needed to be taken to manage bees in built-up urban areas.

"We know bees are important for pollinating the backyard vegetable garden and play a part in commercial crops, but we have to balance this with making sure they are not a nuisance in our community," she said.

"Because beehives can contain up to 50,000 bees who can fly several kilometres from the hive for food and water, we recommend no more than one or two hives per section.

"Having more than this can cause issues which may be deemed a nuisance to other people because bees poop in flight, either as they leave the hive or upon their return.

"The bee poop can get on neighbours' houses, cars or laundry and can be hard to remove.

"It only becomes an issue when there are large numbers of bees heading in the same direction to a good food source causing a concentration of poop falling in a small area."

Ms Smith said the council has occasionally has to take action against beekeepers who had overstocked and caused a nuisance to neighbours.

"We'd definitely prefer that if they know there are issues in the neighbourhood, they are proactive and minimise the issue by splitting up or removing beehives."

As well as keeping hive numbers to a minimum to avoid nuisance, there are a number of rules which need to be followed when housing bees in town.

Hives cannot be placed within three metres of a public footpath or within 10 metres of a neighbours dwelling.

There must be a fence or dense foliage at least 1.8 metres tall to provide a barrier.

Tips for neighbourly beekeeping

•Keep concentrations of hives down. To avoid bees becoming a nuisance, the Council's Environment Team suggests having only two beehives on a 500 to 700 square metre property.

•Check with your neighbours in case their property is being damaged by the bees. Most people will be happy to have some bees nearby. Problems only tend to arise when there are too many hives concentrated in an urban area.

•Ensure there is a fence or dense foliage at least 1.8 metres tall to provide a barrier to neighbouring properties.

•If buildings are affected by bee poop, pre-soak, waterblast or wash it off with soap to remove it.

•Use ethanol, isopropyl alcohol or products with eucalyptus oil to remove the poop from clothing.