Individual action when it comes to declining bees?

As you know, I'm on vacation, but here's a thought from the Guardian. We city slickers can start helping to bolster the dramatically declining bee population!

Beekeepers get busy at Chelsea Flower Show

In pictures: amateur beekeeping

Press Association
Monday May 21, 2007
Guardian Unlimited
 
 City dwellers are being targeted in a bid to bolster the declining British bee population.

The initiative, aimed at encouraging more urbanites to keep bees, was launched today at the Chelsea Flower Show.

The British Beekeepers Association (BBKA) says hives can be installed on rooftops, behind garden walls and on allotments in towns and cities.

It created a show garden to inspire urbanites to keep bees, which have lost some of their natural countryside habitat.

The 'bee friendly' design is stocked with fruit, flowers and vegetables as well as beehives.

But the insects themselves were not included in the garden after being banned by the show's organisers.

Bill Turnbull, a BBC Breakfast presenter who keeps his own bees, was on hand to publicise the design.

"You don't need much space to keep bees and we need all the beekeepers we can get. It's a lovely thing to do," he said.

The BBKA chairman, Tim Lovett, said honeybees play a "vital" ecological role.

"Many new urban beekeepers see working with a colony of honeybees as a healthy change to the stress of office life.

"Tending bees is peaceful, keeps you in touch with nature - and bees only sting when provoked," he said.

There are about 44,000 beekeepers in the UK who look after some 240,000 hives.

The UK produces about 20% of the honey it consumes, according to the BBKA - so an increase in domestic beekeepers could also help reduce food miles.

                                                       

Comments

[Patrik]

I like the idea, a lot of small scale beekeepers rather that a smaller number of huge commercial ones. I think this would probably keep the organic and natural sized bees in greater numbers rather than the hybrid giants that are common in the commercial operations. I do wonder though what kind of restrictions or laws might be in place preventing this in some of the suburban areas? For instance in my neigborhood (which, I might add, used to be farm land) I can't even have chickens unless I'm on at least a 1/2 acre. Yet in NYC you can have them in an apartment. Go figure!??
P~

[Susan Och]

Patrick, I've been out of commercial beekeeping for 20 years now, so things might have changed, but I've never heard of either "organic sized bees" or "hybrid giant" bees. Can you cite a reference on these terms?

As far as keeping livestock at home, the local zoning laws are pretty random. My home is a rural township with a lot of retirees moving in. The retirees tend to have the time to sit on zoning boards and other committees, but they often don't know that much about what goes on around here. Ten years ago they tried to put through an ordinance that would have banned "farm animals" from any parcel less than 10 acres. Our 4-H families and other livestock keepers had to go to the town board meeting to talk them out of it. You just have to stay on top of local politics, even if it's trivial 95% of the time.

As for city beekeeping, that's something you don't want to rush into. City Bees is a blog that will give you a little taste of what city beekeeping is about.

You don't really want to tell all the neighbors that you're keeping bees, lest they blame you for everything from wasp stings to the spots on their Lexus. And you need an accomplice; even rural beekeepers need the support of fellow beekeepers when they run into problems. Beekeeping is a wonderful hobby, but it takes time and commitment, so research it well.

[Blondeemum]

Not sure I could hack this one...I'm terrified of bees, wasps, etc...if it can fly and sting, I'm petrified of it! Oh well...however, I'm thankful for those that raise them and I get my organic honey from a guy where I used to live...just got some yesterday, actually. My 17 yo never realized until yesterday how different the organic honey from Harold is from the stuff you get in a SueBee bottle! ;-)

[Crunchy Chicken]

Huh, that's funny. I just did a post on the bee Colony Collapse Disorder and how crops this year don't seem to be affected by it. Yet.

Some people also pointed out (see the comments section) that it appears that organically raised bees haven't been impacted this year.

[SKG]

Maybe CCD is a case of Bees Gone Wild! They're not sick or dead, they've seen the writing on the wall w/ respect to our doomed species and they've dissolved our always tenuous partnership and deserted our plastic hives once and for all. Okay, so that's ridiculous, but it would make a great Whatsisname book. Whatsisname? Plague Dogs guy? The big sentient animal novelist of the 70s? He was responsible for Watership Down.

[Patrik]

Susan, I can see I didn't write that fist part to clearly, let me reiterate. Two separate descriptive terms; Organic bees and natural sized bees. The former obviously referring to bees raised in an organic and much more natural way, and the later being in reference to the natural size of a bee with regard to what I have read about the much larger size of some of their commercial bretheren. I can only find this reference off hand, and I am really no authority on this subject, so I'm sure you have much more insight to it than I. If I am blabbereing utter falsehoods please correct me, or if you have more to add to the discussion I'd love to post your comments on my site. I think you've been there before, but in case you haven't you can drop me a line there any time.
P~

[Rebecca]

If anyone is really seriously considering beekeeping let me recommend some books on the subject that you might be able to get at your public library or local book store.
"Bees in America" by Tammy Horn gives a lot of history.
"Beekeeping A Practical Guide" by Richard E. Bonney
"The Queen Must Die" by William Longgood a bit philosophical but seems to be an easy read.
"The Hive and the Honey Bee" edited by Roy A. Grout this one was a rare find for us so definately check used book stores
We were thinking about raising bees my husband and I on his parents farm but with his mom insisting on poisoning the lawn to "get rid of dandelions". Which by the by bees really like and need for food if there is not much around for nectar, food, and such. So we immediately scrapped the idea and I am very sad by it because I was hoping for some very awesome honey along with bees wax for making candles, lip balm etc.