Anyone have thoughts on urban bee keeping?

[vickytrouz]

I think bee keeping could be an exciting project for many cities, I don't think it would be dangerous taking the right measures... keeping them in green areas of the cities in the same way there are insect hotels would be great and beneficial to all! My family owns a piece of land in France and we have several hives from which we get honey every year, watching how they get it is amazing!

 

[vickytrouz]

I think bee keeping could be an exciting project for many cities, I don't think it would be dangerous taking the right measures... keeping them in green areas of the cities in the same way there are insect hotels would be great and beneficial to all! My family owns a piece of land in France and we have several hives from which we get honey every year, watching how they get it is amazing!

Forgot to say it's lavender honey, best kind in my opinion!!!

 

[johnny canoe]

There is a lady down the street form me that has kept bees for several years. So every spring and summer my bird bath would be lined with them stopping for a drink. I even put things floating in the water so that the bees that slipped in could get out and not go to their watery grave. So one day late last Spring there were hundreds of honey bees coming for a drink and the next day nothing and for the rest of the summer. I wonder if her hive got hit with a disease or a skunk got at it.
A couple years ago there was a huge wasp nest in a bush that I had been trying to get rid of. They had built the nest into the ground. Well one morning I noticed that there were no wasps flying around that bush. I took a closer look and there was a trail dug into the bush and something had visited overnight and dug out that wasp nest. I didn't smell skunk but I don't know what else could get into my backyard and do that. Maybe a badger?

 

[roadrunner]

There is a lady down the street form me that has kept bees for several years. So every spring and summer my bird bath would be lined with them stopping for a drink. I even put things floating in the water so that the bees that slipped in could get out and not go to their watery grave.

I've noticed this also, one of the most common visitors to my "bird baths" to get some water are bees and wasps and also lizards.

I also will occasionally spray down the garden and watch every thing sip up the water off the leaves of the plants and the ground...