The Bees and Me
(Page 3 of 3)
May/June 1988
By Ruth McDaniel
One time, we got a call to come catch a swarm that had flown inside a truck at a construction site. My dad and I went over there and got the bees, while several macho-looking construction workers stared in awe.
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They couldn't believe that a girl would be so brave!
Urban Beekeeping
Beekeeping in the city is lots of fun, but it does have its problems, too. At first, our biggest problem was where to put the bees. The houses in my neighborhood are only about 25 feet apart, so we had to be careful to keep the bees' flight path away from other people. We ended up putting the hives on the second-floor back porch, facing away from our neighbors on either side. The arrangement's worked well for seven years—we have about a dozen colonies there now.
Neighbors can be a problem for city beekeepers. Once our next-door neighbors threw a summer-evening party. Our bees were attracted to the lights, so, naturally, they went over to join the party! No one got stung, but the bees were a bit irritating. Before the neighbors had another party, they went out and bought an electronic bug zap-per. Now whenever they hear a big "ZAP!" one of them yells, "Another honeybee bites the dust!" and everyone laughs. It's gruesome for the poor bees, but it keeps our neighbors happy.
Many times a better way to please neighbors is to keep them supplied with honey. (It's also a lot easier on the bees!)
Despite the difficulties, the city is a great place to keep bees. There are lots of trees and flowers they can work and relatively few insecticides. In fact, we get more honey from our city bees than we do from the few hives we keep in the country.
Honeybees are gentle, useful, fascinating creatures. They do so much for us. We should be grateful to them instead of afraid of them.
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