Urban beekeeping
Urban beekeeping is the practice of keeping bee colonies in towns and cities. It is also referred to as hobby beekeeping or backyard beekeeping. Bees from cities apiaries are said to be "healthier and more productive than their country cousins". Once banned, this procedure became significantly famous among urban dwellers, especially those interested in farming or related fields. The movement gained momentum in places like Paris in the 1980s and has since spread globally, reflecting a broader interest in sustainable, artisanal food production. Nowadays, this production is most popular in major cities like London, New York, Detroit, Paris, Istanbul, Seoul, and many more.
Bees help to fertilize plants through the transfer of pollen. This not only supports urban agriculture and green spaces but also enhances the overall biodiversity and local food systems of city environments. Urban beekeeping can lead to higher yields in community gardens and boost the health of local flora, fostering a connection between humans and nature.
Additionally, bees in urban settings often have access to a wide variety of plants and flowers, which helps produce unique, high-quality honey. While urban beekeeping requires careful management to address challenges like limited space and ensuring the bees do not become a nuisance, it has become an important part of urban sustainability efforts and a popular hobby that connects city dwellers with nature.
History
Most cities in North America once prohibited the keeping of bees, but in recent years, beekeepers have succeeded in overturning these bans. Many urban areas now attempt to regulate the activity; while registering beehives is often mandatory, a high proportion of urban beekeepers do not inform the city. The popularity of urban beekeeping was growing rapidly perhaps due to its inclusion in the local food movement. Between 1999 and 2012, London saw a 220% increase in beekeepers.Challenges and concerns
Due to the increase in artificial beehives in London notably, there is mounting evidence that honey bees are greatly outnumbering wild pollinators. The actions of private companies adding more hives are upsetting the preventive actions of pollinator conservation groups.Swarming is a common occurrence in beekeeping. While harmless, the sight of a swarming colony in urban areas can make people fearful. Limited resources are another concern for urban beekeeping. As cities have limited greenspaces, the increasing popularity of the hobby may lead to lower honey yields, as has been reported in London and New York City. According to a 2015 research study, urban environments have also been shown to favor the viability and transmission of some disease agents that affect honey bees.
Benefits
Using managed honeybee colonies to fill the ecological niche of pollinators in urban environments is thought to be crucial to preventing the formation of feral colonies by more destructive species like the Africanized honeybee.Managed urban honeybee colonies can also provide pollination for urban green spaces and allow apiarists to collect critical information about the ecological conditions of an urban environment based on the condition of the bee colony.
Due to the urbanized setting, harvesting from hives is more convenient for beekeepers. The collected honey from the harvest can later be sold directly to the same community, strengthening the local economy.
Urban beekeeping cities
Some cities have active beekeeping communities, while others offer plentiful parks and gardens but have few apiaries.North America
Detroit
Detroit is home to a flourishing population of native bees and a variety of greenspaces. The city has several urban farms, including the Michigan Urban Farming Initiative, the Hantz Farm, D-Town Farm, and Earthworks Urban Farms. In 2017, the Detroit Hives nonprofit was founded with the mission to improve communities for people and pollinators, especially for underserved populations, by transforming vacant lots into urban bee farms. Detroit Hives is the first to create an educational apiary in the City of Detroit. In 2019, Detroit Hives founded National Urban Beekeeping Day, celebrated annually on July 19, as a day of education and awareness to support urban beekeepers and the ethical treatment of pollinators living within the urban landscape.Chicago
In 2003, Richard M. Daley, then Mayor of Chicago, had two beehives placed atop City Hall. Michael S. Thompson was put in charge of their care. Subsequently, the bee population in the city has grown.In 2013, a ban on beekeeping was defeated in the suburb of Skokie. The town may regulate backyard beekeeping in the future.
Milwaukee
In 2010, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, passed a beekeeping ordinance allowing individuals to practice beekeeping in the urban center of the city. Urban beekeepers take part in Milwaukee's Community Pollinator Initiative.Montreal
Montreal's beehives are regulated by the governmental agency MAPQ. This agency enforces a set of regulations surrounding the installation of a beehive in order to protect the health of colonies, but these rules are rarely restrictive enough to deter committed hobbyists.Since 2014, the Westmount Public Library has had a public honeybee hive on its roof featuring live inspections every two weeks during the summer months for the general public.
As part of their 135th anniversary, Birks Group installed three honeybee hives on the roof of their downtown headquarters.
In the summer of 2014, the Accueil Bonneau homeless facility launched a pilot project introducing their itinerant community to the art of beekeeping as a means of re-engaging them in a fulfilling and meaningful hobby.
Most of the public beekeeping initiatives stem from companies offering beekeeping services that make it more accessible to urban dwellers, such as Alveole, Apiguru, or Miel Montreal. The movement towards generating local produce is part of the reason beekeeping is becoming increasingly popular in this metropolitan city.
New York
Until 2010, beekeeping was illegal in New York City, but this had little effect on the many New Yorkers who built and maintained hives. Prior to being recognized by the city, urban beekeeping had become an established hobby, and a support network of organizations, blogs, and supply stores were already in place. When the ban was lifted, only the non-aggressive Apis Mellifera species was allowed to be kept. While registering beehives is required, as of 2012 only half of the 400 bee colonies thought to be situated on New York rooftops had been reported to the city.In New York, there are beehives at InterContinental The Barclay Hotel, the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, the York Prep School, the Brooklyn Navy Yard, the Bank of America Tower and the Empire State Building.
Toronto
Hives have been kept discreetly in Toronto for many years. Several beekeepers kept around fifty hives each along the Don River in the beginning of the 20th century. There was also a beekeeping co-op near the Don Valley Brick Works into the late 1950s. Mayor William Dennison kept nineteen colonies in his Jarvis Street backyard during the 1970s. During this time, beekeeping equipment could be bought in the downtown Little Italy and Little Portugal neighbourhoods.As of 2015, Toronto does not have any bylaws governing beekeeping, so the Ontario Bees Act applies. The Act does not address urban beekeeping but contains a set back requirement for property lines, and a set back requirement for highways. However, the rule has gone largely unenforced as few urban lots are spacious enough to meet requirements concerning proximity to property lines, dwellings, and highways. In 2011, there were 107 registered hives in Toronto.
Some of the many Toronto landmarks that host honey bee hives include: the Fort York historic site, the Four Seasons Centre for the Performing Arts rooftop, the University of Toronto, the Amsterdam Brewing Company rooftop, and the Fairmont Royal York hotel.
Vancouver
Often regarded as a green and sustainable city, the City of Vancouver has recognized hobby beekeeping in residential areas by issuing guidelines and requiring hives to be registered. Bees are kept at Vancouver Convention Centre and Vancouver City Hall.Los Angeles
Los Angeles has a long history of beekeeping. The first two honey bee colonies arrived in California by way of the Isthmus of Panama, in 1853. Imported by Christopher H. Shelton, they were the only survivors of the long trip from New York to San Francisco. Bees were purchased on the docks of San Francisco for $150 and then brought south to Los Angeles. The bees arrived in Los Angeles on September 4, 1854. In April 1855, the colonies cast out two swarms which were sold for another $150. At this time, the honey generated by the bees was sold for $1.50 per pound. Italian bees, considered superior to the German variety, were introduced in January 1855.By the 1860s, beekeeping was common in Los Angeles with some individuals owning 25 hives. Wild honey was collected in significant quantities throughout the foothills. The honey was sent to San Francisco for sale. A large colony was found in the San Fernando Valley, some estimate it contained 8 to 10 tons of honey:
The hive is located in a rift which penetrates the rock to a depth of approximately 160 feet. The orifice is 30 feet long and 17 feet wide with four passages. This rift was discovered to be the nesting place of a swarm of bees that was seen to come out in a nearly solid column, one foot in diameter. Certain parties have endeavored to descend to the immense store of honey collected by the bees but were invariably driven back, and one man lost his life in the effort.
In 1873, the Los Angeles County Beekeepers Association was founded. In 1879, Los Angeles lawmakers banned beekeeping within city limits based on the false belief that honey bees damaged the citrus crop. By 1917, there were calls to repeal the "ancient ordinance"; many were illegally keeping hives anyway, but lawmakers did not act. It was not until 2015 that the 136-year-old ordinance was repealed by the city council.