Urban beekeeping - your thoughts?

[charlievictorbravo]

Don't worry, there's probably a cure for it!

No, you're thinking of Dengue Flu. I've seen a painting of a dancer by a French impressionist painter.

CVB

 

[user 6228]

What do you all think of inner city, rooftop or densely populated bee-keeping? Do you think it hinders bee health or is it promoting a better environment?

I spoke to a rural bee-keeper today who wasn't convinced that the general public could be sway round to accepting bee's 'next door' so to speak.

Do you think urban bee-keeping is a good idea?

I am coming at this from a very novice (I am a student) point of view. I have heard many differing opinions on where people thing bees should be, and how bees should be approached.

Do you think the hives for urban areas should be different than to rural? On rooves/walls etc?

The bees are in the cities anyway, without bee keepers. There is forage and plenty of nesting sites. People dont see them, as they are way above their heads unless a swarm decends to ground level
http://www.getreading.co.uk/news/local-news/swarm-bees-causes-buzz-reading-7406821
You need to get to a first or second story window where the sunlight crosses the street in front of a dark background. Then the sunlight catches the anything flying and you can see it against that background. Look for something small flying fast in a straight line. Thats a honeybee.

Nesting boxes need to be put up so the bees dont go into buildings, The nesting boxes should emulate their natural habitat so should be tall (1.5m) thin insulated things

 

[Erichalfbee]

Put a honey bee box up instead of a bird box? Now that's a thought

 

[user 6228]

Put a honey bee box up instead of a bird box? Now that's a thought

Why not ... cities are now home to peregrine falcons, red kites as well as foxes etc...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-berkshire-15214415
http://www.independent.co.uk/enviro...ns-the-peregrine-is-back-in-town-2333308.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencet...ome-bird-prey-The-red-kite-British-towns.html

 

[Ely]

Put a honey bee box up instead of a bird box? Now that's a thought

How a out 'as well as'

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The bees are in the cities anyway,

How dare they - not nest in a tree!

 

[Dishmop]

Having lived and indeed been brought up in an urban estate I wouldn't dare to keep bees in the garden unless I had an out apiary I could move them to at little notice. I wonder how many folk here who have started keeping bees in their garden or allotment still do so three years hence

Yep..

Had mine in my back garden for 4years..
Only one real problem was one neighbour kept complaining to council about mess on her car....I think in the end the housing officer told her politely that if she parked around the corner it wouldnt happen.

 

[beeno]

Hi Erica,
I am going into my fourth season beekeeping in the garden. So far so good, but I do not have swarmy bees or particularly aggressive ones. However, I have too many at the moment, so I envisage selling one perhaps two colonies in the spring as I do not want to invest in more kit and would like to get back to four colonies.

 

[Erichalfbee]

It's good to hear that back garden beekeeping survives
Many years ago, pre varroa,my first ever job came with a small house in a suburban London terrace. My neighbour kept a hive on the flat roof of his kitchen extension. You would never know they were there and nobody complained, not even when wasps invaded their late summer barbecues. How times have changed....and I don't mean about varroa.

 

[Dishmop]

"Your bees keep coming into my garden"

Yes...Thats what bees do.

"One of YOUR bees just stung me."

Feel privileged mate..because it died doing so. If you've finished with it can I have it back.

 

[Roola]

I'm semi-urban or suburban and increasing my hives exponentially. My main hives produced over 100lb of honey this year but the forage locally is excellent plus we donate/sponsor our local gardening group to plant more bee friendly flowers from our income which can only help... I think suburban is very different to urban. Lots of flower variation through whole of summer and excellent ivy at the end. Can't complain... Plus the honey is beautiful.


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[bontbee]

It depends very much on the location - things to think about are:

space,
potential nuisance to neighbours,
the available forage,
having somewhere you can move the bees to in case the worst comes to the worst,
the strain of bee you keep
and - most important of all - your knowledge and ability.

It's probably not a good idea to set up a colony, with no experience of bees, in a garden (or anywhere with close neighbours), where they can fly in all directions at 3 - 4' above ground level. Having said that, a lot of us do keep bees in the garden and they do very well. I live in a terrace and have several colonies here, some literally outside the back door, but they are, obviously, all very docile colonies. I also have out apiaries in case I need to move a colony as, unfortunately, even the best tempered colony can become defensive at any time, even with the same queen.

I didn't start my beekeeping in the garden, I only moved them in once I was confident that I could cope with whatever they threw at me, and believe me, in the early days, in my ignorance that difference strains of bees were available, I took some real pastings.

Just re-read the OP, and now I'm not sure if any of this is relevant - are you enquiring with a view to keeping bees yourself, or is a more academic interest?

 

[Dishmop]

One thing that must be considered is how high your fences/hedges are.
The higher the better.....
Some fly out and across the garden to fly back over their hive, and some fly straight out and up and out but they are all about 3metres off the ground by the time they clear my garden.

Put the washing out and its like being on the M4 near Heathrow with everybody looking for a landing slot.

 

[jeff4051]

3 Years in a community garden 2 ft from general public path 6ft fence built all around people dont know it is there. Gardens to one side, as long as you have plenty of water in summer ( went into garden fish pond ) next door when water dried up in apiary, nobody complains. In an urban environment there is plenty of nector and pollen. Give it a go.