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I live in a semi-wooded area surrounded by farm lots and pasture.I'm planning on setting up 2 hives (My very first time)about 30 feet inside the woods.(this site has a southern exposure and is located 40 feet from a small pond.My question is should I cut fly-ways through the woods to the hives,or will the bees do fine on their own in and out from the hive.Also this spot in the woods is a 10x20 foot natural clearing.Thank you for thoughts.

my opinion, nit a good location, inside the woods that is if you have open fields aroud why not place them along a wind break? and one important fact, place your hive where they can get the morning sun the bees will be foraging earlier and remember some plants only produce nectar in the morning, so its very important to get your bees moving in the morning, also a location with good air flow is important, not a damp location in the woods damp shaded areas = dieases,, joel

There is a commercial beekeeper about 30 miles away where our association held our annual picnic a few years ago. The setting was in a wooded area and I noticed that he had all his hives grouped in small clearings within the wooded surroundings. There was still a tree canopy above. I would have to conclude from this that the bees should do fine where you are putting yours. The bees will find their way in and out of the woods fine. Feral bees have been doing this for a long time so there is no reason yours won't. Some of my hives are completely shaded all day and I have not noticed any difference in production with those that are in the sun.

barry did you ever notice on a cold morning which bees were foraging first, the shade ones or the hives in the morning sun?your telling me that bees that dont start foraging until later in the morning produce the same amount of honey as ones placed in the sun and forage eariler?? i have tried both and i always try to place my hives so the morning sun will get my bees moving earlier, while my neighbors hives in the woods are unable to fly until late morning , your right feral bees have been doing this for a long time, but what they dont do is produce 150lbs of honey plus the 100 lb in the hive,

Just want to add a little bit more info, The clearing in my woods currently has saplings trying to grow there,and during the winter/spring months gets about 85% sunshine on it.(this spot never gets late afternoon sun)As for the summer it is less due to the leaves of mature trees coming on. In the dead of summer this clearing gets about 40% sunhine from morning til early afternoon.I can't set the hives on the windbreak, because I don't own that part of the property,and my neighbor frowns on the idea of having bee hives on his land.(at this time-this is my rookie year)I thank You all for your replies,it is a big help.

Yes, I have noticed that USUALLY the hives that were in full sun were the ones that had bees out of the hive first. However, early foraging is only one part of the equation when it comes to total nectar gathered. Breed of bee is another. I dare also say cell size. This year, all my hives were converted over to 4.9 cell size. The ones that were sitting in the shade out performed the ones in the sun. They would fly at colder temps also. My point is, you just can't say that a hive sitting in full sun will automatically have higher yields than one sitting in shade. There is a lot more to it than that. You would need to do some controlled studies to prove that your 150 lbs. of honey is due to hive placement.

Personally, I would opt to put hives in more sun than more shade, but I don't have that option and I still do fine. Shade is definitely more beekeeper friendly if your summers are hot.