Rooftop Beekeeping

[edward]

Rooftop Beekeeping

Things are winding down in the bee yard with colder weather and winter feeding. :'(

Next spring  8-)  have bee invited too place a few beehives on the rooftop of a theater in the middle of the city .                         

I wounder if any one has any tips or advice of do's´and don't´s or advice in general in keeping bee´s in a public populated area or the top of buildings

[tecumseh]

well now you will need to watch where you step....

[Tommyt]

I'll be watching this post as I too have been thinking that I would like to do a few City Roof tops myself

Tommyt

[wildbeekeeper]

Here in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, we have quite a few beekeepers who have rooftop hives.  often, these city hives do a lot better than country hives due to less exposure to pesticides and more access to nectar sources.  Depending on the situation, rooftop hives are easy to maintain.  The relative closeness to neighbors is the biggest concern.  I know of one who has neighbors less than 25 ft away with no problems and I know of a couple of top of university buildings with neighbors hundreds of feet away with no issues!

[philinacoma]

I'm also interested in following this thread. Keep us up to date if you manage to set some up.

[sloshire1]

I would advise that you check what your local laws say about keeping bees in the city limits.  Some places consider them pests, while others (like New York) have no problem at al with a roof top hive setup.  It would really suck to go through all the work of setting up the hive on the roof only to find out that you have to move it.

[hardwood]

I would think the biggest problems would come from access issues. How will you get the hives up there? Is there an elevator to the roof of just a ladder access?

Scott

[AllenF]

I think it will work out fine if there is enough room and you have easy way to get your stuff to the roof.  As long as they want you there and it is not against the law.   At least here in Georgia, they can not tell you where you can not keep bees.   :-D

[edward]

No problem with breaking any laws. :-D

I live i Sweden and their has been law suits that wander through the justice system all the way up too the high court that sets precedence.

Their were some very intelligent judges that came too the conclusion that the benefits too local fruits , vegtables , and Berry crops far out way ed the inconvenience of some grumpy old fart that could not tell the difference between a bee and a wasp/yellow jacket.  :-D

This being said , precautions should be taken too minimize conflicts with neighbors.

But as you are probably aware if people don't see a beehive they probably wouldn't even know there are bees in the neighborhood  ;)

At this particular theater there is an elevator to the 6 floor and then 2 flights of stairs.

Surrounding the theater is a lot of parks with flowers , also there are a lot of maple trees.

Beekeeping is a lot of fun , but it is sad that the the season doesent last longer. Oh well the Swedish beekeeping magazine came today , a little comfort in the long wait fore spring. :)

[edward]

To day i had a birds eye view of the center of town from the roof of the theater.

The roof is relatively flat with gravel , its a bit larger than a tennis court , on one side their are a few ventilation/ air conditioning vents. The vents are not in the way of the best bi hive placements.

The plan is to have about 8-12 hives on the roof.

I am thinking about placing them on a frame that is in the shape of a "W" . It will be stabler , and not be as likely to be blown over/down.

Is there any one that has any ideas on any better ways to keep everything on an even keel?

Each hive will bee tied down with tension straps to the big "W"

The major problem will be how to get every ting up on the roof. The first 6 floors i can ride the elevator , but the last two stories there i a vertical ladder and a small hatch to access the roof. It will be almost impossible to carry anything up the ladder .
A rope might bee useful to hoist smaller supplies.

This leaves one alternative to solve this problem, a sky lift or a crane .

 After the first installation the plan is to once a year in late fall hoist supplies up to the roof , next years supers , winter feed at the same time harvest this years honey.
The better I plan ahead the less  problems with transporting things up and down .

One of the  most positive aspects of this adventure is that there are Linden tree tops 30 yards from the roof and no other bee keepers nearby  :-D

With regards edward  :-P

[mathew]

Hey Edward, Here in Vancouver, Canada there are quite a few beekeepers who have been invited to keep bees on rooftops. I think the only consideration I know about rooftop beekeeping is that the building should not be too high otherwise, you'll lose foragers when they try to climb on a windy day. But you mentioned that the theater roof is only 6 storeys so tat should not be a problem. However, if the building is high but on a lower part of a hill, it will be alright still.

I would consider exposure to the elements to be a bit more extreme in terms of heat from sun in summer, cold and wind. I think providing a clean source of water would be essential.

You should create a blog and take pictures. I'll be interested on how you carry out your basic task like transporting ur syrup for fall feeding, how u install ur hives. Let us know when you set that up.

[Finski]

Rooftop Beekeeping

Next spring  8-)  have bee invited too place a few beehives on the rooftop of a theater in the middle of the city .                        

I wonder what city you are talking about. I know that Sweden has good earth places to keep bees.
And if you live in Bönan "behing God's back" you should have fine conventional places to keep bees.

I know too that when 6-8 hives have cleansing flight the whole theatre will closed one week because of the bee poo. You will be a poor man edward.

Bönan is a locality situated in Gävle Municipality, Gävleborg County, Sweden with 289 inhabitants in 2005.[1]

I wonder why the hives should be on the City Roof!

Är de den där Bönan


.

[edward]

Hi Mathew witch part of Vancouver do you live in ? 1972-82 I lived in north Vancouver in Lynn Valley.

There are not many steep hills in the town , I sure do Miss the rocky mountains. :-\
I had planed to take some pics but it was a bit windy and i was not dressed for the cold weather. Will try again later , also forgot to give the caretaker a jar of honey to keep him sweet.

Water may bee a bit of a problem but there are numerous fountains and a river flows thru the center of town. I may collect rain water on the roof in some type of device.
  edward  :-P

[edward]

Hello Mr Finski

Do you live on the other side of the Bay of Botina ?

Yes the picture you posted is about 600 meters from where I live. :) It is from the land side of the light house in the sea side village of BÖNAN. Your interpretation is a lot kinder than the German one  :-D

In the picture there is a house that has a lot of smoke pouring out of the chimney that is where they smoke herring  :-X not a taste that I have acquired yet  :-X.

If you were to keep going 800 meters in to the forest you would find my first bee yard at one end of a wild meadow. At the midsummer equinox people pick a lot of wild flowers , but for some reason they don´t seem to pick the ones closest to my bee hives  :roll:

As I have numerous hives and have placed as many as I can in and around Bönan , I also have hives elsewhere.

I am active in our local bee keeping club , after many years of dwindling memberships we need to replenish and recruit new bee keepers.
As we are a small club and have a limited budget we need to do things to attract the attention of TV , Radio and the local papers. The plan is to invite them to the installation of the Bee Hives in an unusual location.
Hopefully it will be pickt up by the national media. and we can create a BUZZ and attract a lot of new members !

The bees that I am going to install on the roof have been toilet trained and will most likely yous the rest room at the nearest gas station. ;)
But if an accident should occur it will most likely go unnoticed because the theater is painted yellow  :-D

Here is a picture from the sea side of the light house in Bönan


Uploaded with ImageShack.us
edward  :-P

[Tommyt]

Finski  Terrific Picture
edward, you live in Picture land that is really inviting
I'd bet the winter must give some Great Views(pictures)
Good Luck too you, with getting TV and More keepers
It looks so nice I'd say my Bees would like to summer there :-D

I hope the roofer Bees do well

Tom

[Finski]

As we are a small club and have a limited budget we need to do things to attract the attention of TV , Radio and the local papers. The plan is to invite them to the installation of the Bee Hives in an unusual location

My idea is to keep low ego and not to atract tax collector's attention.

I know that roof will be windy place and unfriendly place to bees. But just put there empty hives. They can collect swarm.

[Scadsobees]

I'd recommend starting small, maybe 2.  Add from there.  I didn't see much "cleansing rain" when I only had a few hives, but at 10 hives there is definitely a noticeable amount.  Only on a few warm winter days and early spring days.  And mostly within probably 50 feet or so, but some does get on my vehicles more than 100 feet away.

Rick

[edward]

I think the bee will get away with there golden bombardment.  :evil:

 The blame will land on the  magpies :yippiechick: and :yippiechick: crows that reside in the trees in the evenings.
They roost there because the temperature in the colder months is somewhat higher in the urban area than in the outskirts of town.
    edward  :-P
 

[Finski]

.
One think is that those horiontal roofs are not mentioned to beekeeping and walking.

At least in Finland thousands of those roofs are leaking and that is a big bill when rainwater gomes into the theatre. I would stay out of there.

[edward]

One thought is that  horizontal roofs are not designed fore beekeeping and walking.At least in Finland thousands of those roofs are leaking and that is a big bill when rainwater comes into the theatre. I would stay out of there.

Maybee if the bees poo on the roof it will seal the leaky roof and everybody will bee happy  :bee:

Jokes aside , It is probably a good idea too check out any roof if it will bee able to support the extra weight. 

In the winter of 1998-99 we had a lovely snow storm that started on Thursday approx 60cm of snow , by Sunday it had snowed over 2 meters = 90 inches , Last year we had over 3 meters of snow throughout the winter.

In colder regions where roofs are designed to withstand the extra weight of snow in the winter , the extra weight of the hives in the fall bee for harvest should not present a problem , or even a slightly overweight beekeeper  :-D

The roof in question is of sheet metal with a layer of gravel a least 10 cm thick . If the  roof needs to bee snow shovelled in the winter extra care will bee needed so the bees will not bee disturbed .

           edward  :-P