Building in the Creature Comforts For the Beekeepers (Not the Bees)

     As we live in a neighborhood, I was concerned about having to cut grass around the new hive,and was wondering if cutting grass around them would in anyway provoke or irritate the bees. When I asked this question at the Central Alabama Beekeeper Association, the short answer was “No, the bees don’t care if you cut grass around them.” I was told that as long as I didn’t throw grass clippings up into the door of the hives that I’d be fine. That said, I decided to “kill two birds with one stone” so to speak. In order to keep from accidentally throwing clippings into the hive, I installed an edging around the entire enclosure. This kind of edging is designed for the lawn mower wheels to run right over. Then I put landscaping fabric down and covered it over with red mulch. The mulch not only looks nice but is easy on the feet. I used the Stay-Green weed blocker as my landscaping fabric and double layered it. I first ran it front to back, then across. I ran the layers out past the enclosure and then used the edging to hold down the fabric. To finish off this portion of the build, I just spread the mulch. This was pretty easy…I just split the bags and poured them out, then spread it all evenly with the rake. I used 7 2 cubic foot bags of mulch. At our Lowe’s, if you buy the broken bags of mulch they give you a discount. The bottom two shots show the finished product. I had a beekeeper tell me that I need to relocate the hive stand so I’d have some more maneuvering room behind the hive, and that sounds like something I will ultimately do, but haven’t done it yet. Now, may I present the enclosure with the beekeeper comforts.