Subject: Urban Hives?

From: [email-masked] (Laurel Halbany)
Date: Wed, 26 Oct 1994 22:38:33 GMT

Has anyone had experience keeping an apiary in an urban area?
I am concerned about whether the bees will find enough food
for themselves and honey production (the area we're moving
to is residential, but it's still in the city) and about
problems with neighbors (people can be very irrational
about bees).

And if anybody knows of resources for beekeepers in the
Portland (Oregon) area, I'd like to hear about that too!

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From: Libby Goldstein <[email-masked]>
Date: 29 Oct 94 17:53 PDT

We keep 3 hives in our community garden where there's usually lots
of food, but even before we got into beekeeping bees from the
hives of other beekeepers here in Philly used to visit both our
comunity garden and all of our backyards. Portland has a big
community gardening program and so there should be a whole bunch
of food around.

Libby

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From: [email-masked] (John E. Fox)
Date: 31 Oct 1994 12:54:25 GMT

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Laurel Halbany) says:

I can only speak for the UK, but I think that urban areas are in fact
better for bees than the country. There are simply more trees and flowers.
Acres of wheat or grassland are no good at all.
Neighbours have to be carefully considered though. As long as you have a high
hedge or fence to force the bees to fly high then you should be OK. You 
have to ensure that there is no one in the flight path.
The odd jar of honey as a present does sweeten things though.

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From: [email-masked] (John E. Taylor III)
Date: Tue, 1 Nov 1994 12:48:51 -0500

In article <[email-masked]>, [email-masked] (Laurel

> problems with neighbors (people can be very irrational

My hive in Pennsylvania is in a distinctly suburban environment.  There are
no houses directly behind ours, but all the rest of the way around are
nothing but several miles of homes.  The lot is about 1/4 acre.  Depending
upon the particular year, the bees do from "well enough" to "great" for
finding food.  I suspect much of it is from trees, but things like berries,
flowering lawn weeds and garden flowers are surely sources as well.  A
friend who has a couple of hives several miles away from mine, but in a
similar environment, has had much the same experience.

There are a fair number of trees and a tall hedge along the side of my lot.
 The bees gain altitude immediately to top these obstacles, and thus never
seem to bother the neighbors.

--
John Taylor    (W3ZID)     |  "The opinions expressed are those of the
[email-masked] |   writer and not of Rohm and Haas Company."