St. Andrews beekeeper tries to boost backyard colonies

A man who keeps hives in St. Andrews is sharing his knowledge with other gardeners in the hope of encouraging more urban beekeeping in the region.

Small beekeepers can make a difference to the bee population, said James Whitehead, who has been beekeeping for the past six seasons and tends to two hives in his garden.

Urban beehives help protect the honeybees from disorders such as colony collapse, he says, and can cut down on pesticide-related bee deaths.

"The town bees have a higher rate of success overwintering than some commercial hives used for pollination of crops," said Whitehead.

"[Commercial bees] get transported around a lot, they get exposed to all sorts of pesticides in fields they pollinate, while the town bees get to sit in one location, the bees get to do their thing naturally and the beekeepers can spend more time looking for disease and maintaining the hives.

"So they're actually doing quite well in town," he said.

Honeybees docile insects

Whitehead says the responsibility of looking after bees isn't as labour intensive as people think.

"You just need a baseboard, a couple boxes — each of those boxes have ten frames in it — and then the bees draw the honeycomb on the frames, and a lid on top, and that's basically where you need to go," said Whitehead.

"You can buy them from The Bee Store, believe it or not in Maugerville, or another store down in Moncton area. There's a store for everything," he said. "If you lose your queen for whatever reason, you need a new queen, you can buy one and have it shipped to you in the mail.

Whitehead has had queen bees arrive from as far away as California and New Zealand.

"They arrive at the post office and it's rather exciting, creates a bit of a buzz," he said.

Keeping hives does not require a lot of land, said Whitehead, and the bees mostly keep to themselves.

"I've got a small yard and they are docile insects. They bump into me all the time," he said. "I can walk around with shorts and no shirt and I think it shocks the bees more than they shock me. They get a bit of a bad rap, the bees, when anyone gets stung they blame it on the bees.

"One of the times people are most frightened by bees is when they see a swarm, but that's when the bees are at their most docile state … Swarms don't have a hive to protect, they're just looking for a new home."