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STING INFORMATION 18. How does one keep from getting stung in the first place? 19. Stings and allergies 20. What should you do if you do get stung? CODE ENFORCEMENT 21. Bees or hives will be considered a public nuisance when any of the following occurs: a. Colonies of bees exhibit defensive or objectionable behavior or interfere with the normal use of neighboring properties. b. Bees or hives kept in anything other than a removable frame hive. c. Hives that are abandoned or not maintained on a regular basis. BEST MANAGEMENT PRACTICES 1. Time requirement — Like any other type of livestock bees require time of a beekeeper to inspect and manage a hive properly, keep it healthy and keep it at an optimum size for honey production without swarming. For those new to beekeeping hives should be inspected generally once a week to see if they have enough food, to determine if the hive is queenright, inspect for disease and pests and if there is adequate space for the hive to grow or if the hive needs to be condensed. Depending on the extent of the inspection, the size of the hive and necessary management tasks one should expect to take anywhere from 5 minutes to 1 hour per hive per week. As with all other activities the more experienced you get the quicker the inspections will be. Before you take up this wonderful hobby make sure you will have adequate time to responsibly take care of your hives. 2. Temperament and behavior of the bees - Bees can have varying degrees of defensiveness. Note: Bees are defensive not offensive. Bees are protecting their hive, brood and food. If they feel threatened they will sting to drive you away and in doing so die in the process. So it is their last resort. Some factors which can influence the hives behavior are queen genetics, whether the hive is queenright, weather, availability of food, health of the hive and exterior activities. Solving one or more of these issues and the hive may have dramatically different temperament. There are two types of bees commonly kept commercial bees which have been bred for decades by commercial queen breeders and feral or wild bees. Commercial queen breeders have selected in their genetics gentleness. Beekeepers can go through hives in t -shirt and shorts with no veil, gloves or any other protection. If you are new to beekeeping or in close proximity to your neighbors these bees will be an excellent choice as they are the least likely to create problems for those around you. Some beekeepers prefer feral bees