I am writing this without knowing exactly how to describe the tendency towards urban beekeeping but as a beekeeper I have mixed feelings. I will try to be impartial and give you a clear idea and what this type of beekeeping is, with its good points, defects and limitations.
When I speak about urban beekeeping I am not referring to small towns with small populations..........I am talking about examples like London, Paris, New York, Berlin, Tokyo, etc. This type of beekeeping, in my humble opinion, originated from the social movements and related to the importance given to organic agriculture because of the ever increasing demand by people to know exactly what they are eating, where the food comes from and can be produced in the local area. Out of curiosity, I have kept in contact by email with people who practise this method of beekeeping; they talk to me about protecting the bees that they have recently seen being threatened by diseases caused by the agricultural model now in existence,(it is curious that previously they never put emphasis on apicultural investigation but this has now allowed them to increase their knowledge of all aspects of the biology of bees). They also speak about saving our planet, of producing their own honey and they guarantee that the honey produced by our friends in the large cites is better than that which is produced in the countryside.
For ten years now it is clear that apiculture and bees are in fashion. We are faced with a boom in apicultural activity at a world level and we cannot be left outside of this renewed interest in beekeeping.
But this urban apicultural miracle is not really a trend of our "modern times", however well David Quesada says it in one of his articles. In years gone by apiculture already existed in the urban environment and being in fashion is nothing new. Beehives were always present in the city parks and gardens. Is there a better place to locate your bees than in the patio of your own house?, to attend them in any other way was impossible. In our towns I speak about my island and how animals were needed to carry cork up Mount Teide which they had stored in the smallholding near the house, flat roofs, gardens............ until motorized transport became available.
Is there much interest in this phenomenon and will there be anyone who will ask the question: Is urban beekeeping regulated in Spain? I would say that the answer is yes and that its practice is regulated by The Royal Decree 209/2002 of the twenty- second of February and I consider that this includes all types of apiculture. In this decree norms of planning are established for the business of beekeeping. It also regulates and establishes where and how the apiarists can and must install the beehives, including those which are for personal consumption that they do not exceed 15 beehives.........it is in this last group that Urban Apiculture can or could fall into, according to my personal opinion.
It is in this Royal Decree where it is established according to Article 8 and in point nº2 that:
"The beehives must respect the following minimum distances with regards to: (...)"
"Establishments in groups of a public nature and urban centres, population nuclei: 400 metres....".
On this point that you cannot install beehives near the city centre and evidently even less so inside of it. This leads us to clearly think that beekeeping inside the cities is not permitted, but all is not lost! The norm leaves us with an open door in the autonomous regions by establishing exceptions to it for those businesses classed as for personal consumption inside their territorial limits.
Here i would like to make an aside because I have read on different platforms in Spain that the jurisdiction inside the cities is the responsibility of the town council and nothing is further from reality! I interpret that this jurisdiction resides with the autonomous administration. It is to the autonomous regional government you have to resort to, for to legalize the location of beehives within the urban limits.
There is an article on the internet about Urban Agriculture in Galicia which is about this possibility. I remember that some years ago at one of the Honey Fairs organized by "La Casa de Miel" there was an exhibition at which they touched on this theme and where I had my first contact with Urban Apiculture.
Bees are not aggressive animals but simply show ,at certain moments and occasions, defensive behaviour. This defensive behaviour is in response to certain stimuli and if they don't receive this stimuli they don't defend themselves and they don't sting. These stimuli are all related to the intrusion in their space or what we call security distance that must be maintained with respect to them, to give an example, a stimulus would be the handling and opening of a beehive.
But....is it safe to have bees in urban environments? I believe so but there always exists the risk of a sting and you also have to think about the trouble that a swarm of bees can cause for the neighbours and it is for this reason that those who are interested must take into account that the main thing is to be responsible and considerate towards the neighbours.
On the Internet there are lots websites about urban beekeeping where the beekeepers can be seen, with no protection at all, handling honeycombs and bees as if nothing could happen and I am tempted to laugh because it creates a false impression of apiculture and apiarists. This is due to those beekeepers that you see in the videos produced in the cities that I spoke about to you at the beginning, they work with other more docile and manageable bees such as Carnolian, Italian or Ligustica or hybrid lines like the Buckfast.
The subspecies of bee that inhabits the Iberian Peninsula is the Apis Mellifera Iberiensis (Spanish Bee), can show much more pronounced defensive behaviour than other subspecies that are used in European apiculture and in other parts of the world, which in my humble opinion doesn't make its use recommendable in the urban setting. However, there are beekeepers who are working on lines of this bee whose defensive behaviour is not so aggressive. Trying to introduce other foreign bees for use in the cities is a thing that I am absolutely sure has occurred to more than one person, not only has it not got any sense but, besides, it will be much less of an advantage than using our own or indigenous ones.
With time they will start reproducing and crossbreeding with the native bees and resulting from that cross will be some bees with much more defensive behaviour, if it is possible, than ours or indigenous.......I have already spoken on other posts on this very controversial subject.
Bees need water, especially in summer and that is why some members of the public may be annoyed if they invade public or private swimming pools in search of water or at the taps that drip in the patios or in the plates that support plant pots.
These annoyances and dangers increase if the beehives are managed by inexperienced or unskilled beekeepers and in many cases lacking the most basic principles of handling to guarantee the security of those who are around them.
On the other hand I am not convinced about the consumption of urban produced honey, nor pollen or propolis (bee glue) because of pollution and contamination of the atmosphere which doesn't just stay in the air. the pollution is deposited as contaminated particles on the trees of the city. Flowers are also affected, especially the pollen and also the contamination being passed to the nectar which will then be gathered by the beekeeper or will end up in the honey as another natural component.
If I am not mistaken there are now studies that indicate the adhesion of particles of heavy metals to the grains of pollen of plants can provoke a flair-up of allergies in the urban environment. This can become more allergic because of the modifications provoked in some of the components of the atmosphere. This participates and unleashes allergic producing reactions and asthma.
In the cities or urban nuclei the numbers of bees are small and because of this the urban beehives would not have much competition for food, they would not suffer the stress levels looking for food like their counterparts in the colonies of professional production. The availability of food in quantity and quality is fundamental not only for the development of our friends but also for their for their health in general. On the other hand the scarcity of bees in the colony itself means that they have a better state of health and a lower incidence of diseases.........I haven't come across any studies or investigations about illnesses that bees are exposed to, caused by the consumption of honey and pollen contaminated by pollution in the cities.
There is nothing more unnatural and goes so much against the environment in which the bees should live than the setting of their beehives in these areas, whereas a wide distribution of urban apiaries is more akin to nature.
It is said that city bees are not subjected to the same exposure to pesticides or agrochemicals ............. In my opinion this is debatable and I do not believe that it should be used as a generalization, there can be agriculture in suburban areas and where pest-control substances are utilized in parks and gardens.
The wonder of Pollination helps the maintenance and conservation of urban vegetation and besides guarantees the pollination of the urban vegetable gardens that are now very fashionable in the cities.
Important studies have now been done with beehives in European cities for environmental quality control and urban apiculture can assist with the use of these beehives as stations for monitoring the environment.
Urban beekeeping can also be a very valuable activity for the cities but certain evaluations must be made about the location of the beehives, the care of the bees, attention must be paid to the local community but we are left with the basics: they are very important pollinators.
What considerations must be taken into account? It isn't me who should be doing this now that it corresponds to ADS but I will give you a few guidelines from my own experience as a beekeeper.
1. All beekeepers must attached to an ADS or an Apicultural Association.
2. They must have had adequate training, for which it is essential to do a course and have the help of an experienced beekeeper.
3.The location of the beehives should be in a place that has access, at least once a week, and this should be possible during mid-morning, around midday avoiding cloudy days or bad weather. It should always be done on days when the weather is good and when possible to coincide with flowering when the majority of the bees are working on the plants and the nectar is coming in.
4. There should be no more than 4 beehives. They should be on independent supports with a minimum of 2 metres from each other, exposed to direct sunlight with a flight path from the vent to the countryside without crossing any main or busy roads, children's playgrounds, etc. If it is necessary, then install a fence, at least 2 metres high in front of the beehives. By doing this the bees will be obliged to fly higher than this level.
5. Access to the beehive must be easy but not accessible to anyone who is not an apiarist and if possible hidden from sight or visits by curious people or worse still by vandals........and these are about!!!
6. You have to avoid the installation of beehives near swimming pools, it is necessary to have a supply of water all year round.
7. You have to avoid the use of breeds which are not from the region as well as bees and beehives with high defensive behaviour.
8. The handling of the bees should be avoided when there are people or neighbours in the vicinity.
9.You should maintain the area or environment around the beehives clean, free of the remains from honeycombs, old beehives or whatever can attract other bees or set off episodes of robbery.
I believe that these are some of the basic recommendations that people interested in this type of apiculture must take into account. There are others about handling, that in my personal opinion enter into the field of education and training, and are basic because I will not mention them.
Doing this post has cost me a lot of time and effort studying and thinking deeply about it. I have tried to be impartial and objective. The sources on which I have based it have been: The Laboratory of Apiculture and Social Insects (LASI) at The University of Sussex in England, on the work of Urban bees and in the book by Alison Benjamin (Bees in the City: manual of the urban apiarist), a book that will not be easy for you to come by and with it I used the dictionary as never before and articles by David Quesada which I enjoyed immensely. The images (or pictures) have been obtained from The Internet and Urban Beekeeper. From here, thank you very much for uploading them and sharing them with everyone.
