As my backyard apiary began growing beyond just a couple hives, an important practical question arose – how closely together can I physically place multiple beehives in the same location without causing issues? While it’s tempting to cluster hives tightly together to maximize efficient use of limited space, having them spaced too near inevitably leads to problems like increased drifting, fighting, and disease transmission between the crowded colonies.
In this article I’ll share my firsthand experience experimenting with different hive spacing as I gradually expanded my small urban beekeeping setup over the years. Determining that ideal separation distance between my hives turned out to be crucial knowledge.
Typical Spacing Recommendations
When I was first starting out and began consulting experienced veteran beekeepers about adding more hives, they generally recommended leaving at least 3-5 feet of empty space between adjacent full-size hives as a reasonable minimum spacing guideline. This prevents the entrances of neighboring hives from being immediately clustered side-by-side or having overlapping flight spaces.
Some seasoned large-scale beekeepers I spoke with give even more space than that between hives, suggesting gaps of 6 feet or even up to 10 feet if feasible. But anything under 2-3 feet between hive stands is strongly discouraged. The general wisdom is keeping hives close enough together for operational efficiency and easy beekeeper access, but still adequately far apart that returning foragers can easily identify and navigate directly back to their assigned colony.
Bees identify their specific hive location visually based on surrounding landmarks and spatial orientation, not by the paint color or unique appearance of their box alone. Having entrances clustered together too densely predictably results in disoriented bees entering and leaving the wrong hives. This drifting back and forth stresses colonies and causes complications like spreading pests and pathogens. Ample spacing between hives reduces those risks.
Reducing Risk of Drifting & Absconding
One of the main priorities and benefits of proper hive spacing is reducing incidents of “drifting” between colonies – that is when active adult foraging worker bees exiting or returning to the apiary mistakenly approach and enter the wrong hive other than their own. This drifting most commonly happens when multiple hives are placed so incredibly close together that the bees have difficulty visually distinguishing the exact entrance location of their assigned colony.
In my early days starting out, I initially situated three brand new package bee colonies right next to each other in my backyard with maybe only 1-2 feet of separation between each hive stand along my fence line. I figured this would maximize use of space and I could expand the apiary more easily. However, I quickly observed bees seemingly getting confused by the tight quarters and struggled to navigate accurately between the nearly touching hive entrances.
Both drifting between hives and general defensive maneuvers clearly increased due to the close proximity. Bees attempting to return with pollen or nectar would wander between entrances before finding their way. The colonies appeared stressed, and drifting rats can also help trigger absconding if the situation worsens. I realized the hives definitely needed more physical definition and breathing room between them for long-term health.
Minimizing Spread of Disease & Pests
In addition to increased drifting issues, maintaining beehives in extremely close contact with minimal separation also inevitably exacerbates the spread of contagious diseases, destructive hive beetles, parasitic Varroa mites, and other bee health disorders between colonies. When hives are nearly stacked atop each other, the resident bees have very regular direct interactions including drifting which allows any contamination issues to quickly jump from one affected hive to neighboring units.
In my first couple seasons, I experienced this negative effect firsthand when spacing hives too tightly. Any pest or disease problem that popped up in one hive would almost immediately spread and appear in the other hives adjacent to it despite my best efforts at control. Having entrances literally inches apart simply provided too much opportunity for problems to jump from colony to colony via contact.
It took me losing my fair share of hives before fully realizing they needed to be kept well apart to better isolate colonies from each other and limit transmission of infections. Now when introducing new colonies, I’m careful to space them an adequate distance from existing hives during placement to help avoid spreading challenges before they even get established. Proper spacing helps a lot in limiting cross-contamination issues, which is hugely beneficial for beginners still learning effective hive sanitization and disease prevention. Don’t make things harder on yourself by crowding hives unnecessarily.
Ease of Hive Access & Inspections
Another practical factor I considered as I added more hives was allowing easy access for regular hive inspections, manipulations, and other maintenance. When hives are packed tightly together in rows, it can be extremely tricky to work on one colony while literally standing directly adjacent to other hives on either side. The close proximity greatly increases the chances of accidentally squishing bees against frames or boxes of the neighboring colonies and potentially aggravating their defensive response. This risks provoking stinging attacks from two hives rather than just the one being actively worked.
I found through trial and error it took at least 4-5 feet of clearance both in front and behind each full hive to allow me to comfortably and safely approach and manipulate any individual colony for inspections or adding/removing components like honey supers. Any less space and I was crunched right up against adjacent hives no matter how cautious I tried to be, often disturbing those bees in the process.
Having adequate hive spacing means any routine hive work or corrections only bother that particular colony. This avoids riling up multiple hives and allowing better focus on the individual hive requiring attention. Getting unexpectedly stung by defensive bees from the side hives is no fun! So ensuring you can easily access and work on any single colony without interference or aggravating neighbors is an important consideration.
Observing Bee Activity at Entrances
One useful advantage of having multiple hives positioned in the same apiary is the ability to directly observe and compare entrance activity from colony to colony. With proper spacing between hives, I could stand at a distance and clearly watch the front landing areas and exiting/returning forager traffic patterns at each of my hives side-by-side.
This visibility allowed me to monitor for any notable differences in foraging enthusiasm or entrance hive behaviors that could signify a potential issue or health problem developing in a specific colony. Subtle clues like bees dragging out dead hive-mates, reduced pollen loads, or lethargic movements point to issues needing attention. With tight entrances spaced mere inches apart, it was impossible for me to easily decipher what behaviors were coming from which hive. Ample separation provides much better observational data to compare hives.
Considering Hive Aggression
Another consideration with tight hive spacing is that bees from multiple different colonies kept in extremely close proximity can sometimes heighten defensive behaviors and aggression levels within the apiary as they interact more regularly and detect the pheromones of foreign non-nestmates nearby. This effect seems particularly pronounced with colonies of bees that demonstrate increased defensiveness even when kept in isolation.
For example, bees that have some Africanized genetics tend to exhibit more intense guarding and stinging responses. And hives containing these genetically defensive bees likely need greater spacing between entrances than those populated with the most gentle and docile bee strains in order to prevent stimulating their territorial signals. If already angry bees are packed tightly together, things get ugly fast!
But even my hives of general Italian stock eventually get a bit ornery and “testy” when things get overcrowded between the colonies. The proper amount of space seems to keep everyone calm and mostly minding their own business rather than bickering with the neighbors.
Managing Swarming Instincts
Maintaining adequate separation between hives is also beneficial in my experience to help minimize stimulating shared swarming urges between adjacent colonies. I’ve observed that hives situated right next to each other with little space can sometimes almost “peer pressure” one another into high swarm preparations as they collectively sense crowded conditions and limited resources due to tight quarters.
Installing colonies tightly together essentially replicates overcrowded natural conditions that bees instinctively respond to by reproducing new queens and splitting the populous hive to establish new homes. If one hive casts a swarm, nearby hives may be stimulated to quickly follow suit, creating a detrimental chain reaction. Inserting more space helps reduce that kind of unintended swarm contagion scenario where hives goad each others’ reproductive swarming instincts.
Apiary Design and Layout
Once I fully understood the importance of proper spacing between individual hives for all the above reasons, I realized that the overall layout and organization of my entire backyard apiary was also very important forbee health and my own convenience. Simply cluttering multiple hives together tightly in a haphazard staggered fashion makes working the apiary much more difficult.
Instead, I learned that arranging hives neatly in evenly-spaced rows makes each hive far easier to access quickly and identify properly. This orderly alignment allows fast recognition of which colony is which when managing multiple hives frequently. It also looks much nicer!
Many beekeepers number their hives using signage or other marker systems and paint distinct identifying color schemes on each hive body. This further aids easy recognition and record keeping. But these visual cues are most effective when hives are arranged in clean rows rather than a disorderly jumbled heap. Otherwise it becomes quite confusing tracking which hive is which.
Utilizing Physical Barriers
In some apiary hive configurations where lack of space necessitates extremely tight spacing between colonies, some beekeepers will also employ physical barriers between hives to help establish better spatial definition and guide the flying lanes used by bees departing each hive.
Options for physical separators include placing partitions, hedges, screens, walls, or fencing between hives to force bee traffic in certain directions. These types of guides aren’t a complete substitute or replacement for proper ideal distance between full colonies. But barriers can help redirect and orient bee flight patterns when no other choice exists besides tight clustering of multiple hives.
Used strategically, these kinds of tools create cleaner segregation between hives that might otherwise be immediately touching. The goal remains proper spacing for all the reasons described earlier. But when that isn’t possible, barriers are a creative solution that is still better than smashing many hives completely against each other chaotically.
Supplemental Feeding Logistics
If routinely feeding my bees supplements like syrup, pollen and protein patties, I also found it critical to properly space multiple feeders adequately apart from each other as well as the main hives. I initially made the mistake of cramming hive entrances tightly together right alongside crowded feeding stations. But this resulted in frenzied and aggressive bee mobs at feeding time as they desperately competed.
I quickly learned it’s essential to isolate each feeder by several feet at a minimum so that only bees from that particular hive access each dedicated feeding station. This avoids inciting robbing behavior between desperate colonies and vicious fighting over the precious supplemental nutrition.
Don’t make the mistake I did of packing feeders as closely together as the hives themselves. Follow same spacing logic to prevent mayhem.
In summary, while inevitable space limitations will require beekeepers to make certain compromises, following the general “minimum 3 feet rule” between full-size hives goes a very long way toward preventing the majority of issues related to overcrowding like drifting, disease transmission, excessive robbing, and major fighting between colonies.
Additional separation beyond the suggested minimum is even better where possible based on your specific apiary space. Carefully experiment with incrementally wider spacing between hives over time to find the ideal separation your particular bees seem most happy and healthy with. Carefully arranging hives in orderly rows instead of haphazard piles also greatly aids hive management. And physical barriers can provide partial relief when no other spacing option exists.
But the overall takeaway remains that adequate hive spacing of at least a few feet continues to be one of most beneficial practices beekeepers can implement for colony health, productivity, and harmony as the number of hives in an apiary grows. So whether starting out with just one hive or operating hundreds, always give strong consideration to spacing and layout whenever installing new colonies!