One of the (rather unoriginal) points made about beekeepers is that, if you ask 5 beekeepers a techncal question, you get 10 answers.
One of the regular questions from new beekeepers is about how to organise the hives in their apiary.
It is generally accepted that bees can tell left and right, but no more. For this reason we have our 6 hives in 3 groups of 2. The principle is that bees will always return to their own hive, avoiding problems with robbing and fighting. It is also generally accepted that 40 or so hives is a sensible maximum in any single apiary to ensure that enough forage exists to support the colonies.
We were in Turkey last week and, as usual, we kept an eye out for beekeeping activities.
From the picture below it was clear that Turkish beekeepers have a different view of the optimum layout for an apiary. There must have been 200 plus hives in this apiary, with perhaps 100 per row.
If you can’t quite work it out, here is a close up.
More interesting pictures from Turkey to come.