Choosing where to put the hive: the decision hardest to undo

Once a box is placed it should not be moved: stingless bees learn the way home from landmarks around the entrance, and shifting it even a few metres strands part of the colony. So the siting decision has to be right the first time, and it matters more than any technique applied later.

1. Midday shade — the first criterion

The box needs shade from roughly ten in the morning to three in the afternoon. Early and late sun are fine, even helpful. But hard tropical midday sun raises internal temperature past the point where the resin-blended wax softens, and the colony leaves. If there is no tree, build a roof.

2. No standing water

Water pooling under the stand brings damp, termites and fungus. Choose higher ground or raise the stand at least forty centimetres, and make sure water drains after heavy rain.

3. Forage within a few hundred metres

Look around the intended spot within a three-hundred-metre radius. Is anything flowering? Is there a mixed garden? If it is all concrete and lawn, the colony will weaken regardless of care.

4. Away from spraying

A field or orchard sprayed on a schedule next door is reason enough to reject the site, even if the first three criteria are perfect. Ask the neighbours before building the stand.

5. Accessible but not on a thoroughfare

You need to reach it for checks, but the box should not sit on the path everyone walks daily or where children play. Constant vibration and knocks unsettle the colony.

Entrance direction

East or south-east is the common choice: morning sun, no afternoon glare. More important than direction is that nothing blocks the entrance within a metre and that it does not face into prevailing wind.

Frequently asked

I already placed it badly — can I move it?

Yes, but correctly: under a metre at a time, several days apart. Moving it straight to a new spot a few dozen metres away means losing the foragers that are out.

Can two boxes sit side by side?

Leave at least an arm's length between them and offset the entrance directions, so bees do not enter the wrong nest. A stingless bee entering a foreign nest is usually killed.

Does the box need a rain cover?

Yes. Rain driving into the entrance blocks bees and dampens the nest just inside. An overhang in front of the entrance is enough.