Bee Brooklyn

Adventures in Urban Beekeeping

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Do urban bees have enough to eat?

Beekeepers in the U.K. are raising concerns that their city bees might not have enough bee-friendly flora to support the increase in urban hives. Although research suggests that city bees are generally more healthy and productive than their rural cousins, some British beekeepers are worried about over-saturation in urban areas (signs of over-saturation include slow colony growth, poor honey production and excessively defensive behavior).

Read the full Guardian article HERE.

In New York City, there is a great organization dedicated to examining local food sources for bees and other pollinators. Since 2007, the Great Pollinator Project has been collecting data and researching ways to improve urban bee habitats.

Find out how to grow your own pollinator garden to support urban bees.

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Urban bees are healthier, happier ...that's because those agricultural pesticides and a life on the road are a real buzz kill

"...city bees kept by hobbyists and smaller operators are healthier than bees used in commercial agriculture. You're putting them on a semi and throwing a net over them...[they're] on the road three or four days. It kind of stresses them out."

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Hive Heists

In Madera County, about 130 miles east of San Francisco, officials saw a rash of bee burglaries this year, as a shortage of able-bodied pollinators drove up the price. “They’d just go in there and they smoke the bees, sedate them and take them,” Sheriff John Anderson said. “And they wear protective gear just like the pros.”

Brian Long, a beekeeper based in Colorado, was one of those hit, losing more than 400 hives — valued at about $100,000 — in California in January. And while Mr. Long later recovered the hives, and most of the bees therein, he said the thieves were getting bolder. “This is way more than we’ve ever had to deal with,” he said.

Read the full NYTimes article here

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Like the honeybee, the sage should gather wisdom from many scriptures

Bhagavad Gita

[beebrooklyn-blog]

"The bee is more honored than other animals, not because she labors, but because she labors for others"

 Saint John Chrysostom

[fetters-deactivated20141016]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

bad ass bees!

fetters:

Asian Honey Bees have developed an incredibly bad ass defense mechanism against predation from the Japanese Giant Hornet: When the hornet scout locates the hive, they lure him in and roast him alive.

[catchingthequeen]

I suspect that bees, like other creatures, hear music unknown to human ears, as they march to drums unheard by us.

The Queen Must Die: And Other Affairs of Bees and Men

by William Longgood and Pamela Johnson

(via catchingthequeen)

[beebrooklyn-blog]

The Beers and the Bees

Can't wait to try the Beehive Honey Ginger Tripel Ale!

[barrelofmonkeys]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

barrelofmonkeys:

A swarm of bees disrupted life in New York City this week when they descended on this Little Italy mailbox. 

[iheartbees]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

iheartbees:

How to Keep Bees in New York City

by Sami Grover, Carrboro

When we spoke to the directors of the Vanishing of the Bees documentary as part of Discovery’s Bees on the Brink efforts, they talked about their delight that cities around the world were recognizing the value of bees in the urban environment. In fact, they told us, bees are often doing better in inner city environments than they are in the countryside where monoculture fields of single crops have become all too commonplace. Nowhere is the renaissance of urban beekeeping more noticeable than in New York City, which only recently lifted its ban on city bees. The video [above] gives a glimpse into the life of an urban rooftop beekeeper in New York City.

Click here to view the full article

[beebrooklyn-blog]

I want to meet Joe Hansen...sarcastic beekeeper, realist, beer drinker...

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Another swarm in Brooklyn...spring is in the air. Keep an eye on your hives fellow beekeepers. If you sense your hive is getting a little over-crowded, you might want give the ladies some more space and check for supercedure cells at least every two weeks. Remember...it only takes 17 days for a new queen to emerge (from egg to adult).

[lmnoq-deactivated20111110-deact]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Another reason to applaud urban beekeepers...and all bee enthusiasts, for helping to save our favorite pollinators. The loss of the honeybee would be a the threat to our ecosystem that's beyond comprehension.

ramblefish:

“The lack of increase in losses is marginally encouraging in the sense that the problem does not appear to be getting worse for honey bees and beekeepers,” said Jeff Pettis, an entomologist with USDA’s Agricultural Research Service (ARS) who helped conduct the study. “But continued losses of this size put tremendous pressure on the economic sustainability of commercial beekeeping.” Pettis is the leader of the Bee Research Laboratory operated in Beltsville, Md., by ARS, the chief scientific research agency of USDA.”

[fuckyeahgreenanarchy]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

fuckyeahgreenanarchy:

the language of bees.

[iheartbees]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

iheartbees:

Soooo….. he’s not an organic beekeeper - but he does go through some useful explanations of basic beekeeping tools.  Just disregard the part about plastic vs. wax…. bees can make their own foundations!

[lu-shh]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

Love this!

[mothernaturenetwork]

[beebrooklyn-blog]

mothernaturenetwork:

White House honey analyzed When carpenter Charlie Brandt installed the first beehive on the White House lawn in 2009, he had little idea how famous his bees and their honey would become. Now the sweet stuff has been sent to Texas A&M to discover where bees are scoring their pollen at the world’s most famous address.