She Thought Moving Her Beehives Would End the Complaints—Then Her Neighbor Came Back With Another Demand
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Keeping bees can be wonderful for a garden and the environment, but nearby neighbors may feel differently when the insects begin visiting their property.
We all expect an occasional bee outside, but if your neighbor blamed four legal hives for disrupting his swimming pool, would you move them again or decide you had already compromised enough?
That disagreement leaves one beekeeper defending gentle colonies after relocating the hives, adding water sources, and still being asked to remove them entirely.
See why this neighborhood dispute has everyone buzzing.
AITA? – neighbor said my bees are a danger and a nuisance
We legally keep four beehives in our ~0.5-acre forested backyard (full lot is an acre), fully compliant with all state and county ordinances and regulations.
Initially, we kept two decorative hives in the front yard —the hives themselves were designed to look like little green-roofed houses.
A neighbor we’ve known for years asked us to move them to the backyard, expressing concern that the bees were “biting” the fish in her koi pond.
While bees don’t bite fish, we relocated the hives to the backyard out of consideration for her concern.
A different neighbor started complaining about the bees.
A few years later, another neighbor, whose property backs up to ours from the adjoining subdivision, began complaining that our bees are “a danger and a nuisance” and are interfering with his enjoyment of his swimming pool.
In response, we relocated the hives to the far side of our backyard and added more water sources to keep the bees hydrated closer to home.
Unfortunately, he says this hasn’t helped.
Apparently, the bees are still visiting his decorative stone waterfall feature, which flows into the pool. The waterfall is not intended for use by people; it’s purely ornamental, but the shallow water and accessible ledges make it an ideal spot for bees to drink.
This is despite the fact that there’s dense vegetation between our yards, and in spring/summer, we can’t even see his property because of all the trees and shrubs.
What he doesn’t understand is that these bees are not aggressive.
The bee families we keep were selected by my father, an experienced beekeeper, specifically for their gentle temperament.
Despite having a toddler who plays barefoot on our clover-covered lawn almost daily, he’s never been stung.
In the nearly ten years we’ve had the hives, I’ve only been stung once, by what may not even have been a bee (it flew away after getting tangled in my hair).
She asked an important question.
When the neighbor first complained, I asked whether he or anyone in his household was allergic to bee stings.
He said no.
In my view, that would be the only truly valid reason to consider removing the hives. I want to be respectful of my neighbors, but I also feel strongly about property rights and environmental stewardship.
She thinks bees are beneficial and doesn’t want to budge on the topic.
What’s hard to swallow is that many of these same neighbors regularly use harmful herbicides (even on windy days, their landscape company just sprays it weekly), synthetic fragrances, and other substances known to be detrimental to human health, including causing brain cancer in kids.
And yet, I’ve never asked anyone to change what they do on their land.
Why should I be pressured to remove bees, which are beneficial to the ecosystem and even offer medicinal benefits (bee venom, for example, is used therapeutically)?
Now, the neighbor is again asking me to relocate the bees, offering to cover part of the cost. But the truth is, I don’t really have anywhere else to put them, and honestly, I don’t want to.
AITA?
Wow! It’s easy to see both sides of this issue, but bees do make some people uncomfortable.
Let’s see what the folks over at Reddit have to say about it.
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It seems like this person leans both ways.
For this person, they wouldn’t want to be bothered in their pool.
This reader sees nothing wrong with her keeping the bees.
If you enjoyed this post, check out this story about a man who stopped salting his neighbors’ driveways when they wouldn’t stop driving through his yard.
As this person explains, it may be time for a lawyer.
From the beekeeper’s perspective, this story shows how frustrating it can be to make repeated compromises without ever satisfying the person complaining.
Relocating the hives and adding extra water sources were thoughtful steps, although the neighbor was also entitled to explain how the bees were affecting his use of the pool.
The strongest solution probably involves continued cooperation rather than removing legal hives or pretending every bee in the neighborhood reports to one address.
Unless those insects are wearing tiny name tags, proving exactly which hive they came from may remain the trickiest part of the case.
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