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Boston bees healthier than their country cousins
By adamg on Wed, 02/21/2018 - 10:29pm
The BU News Service surveys the state of urban beekeeping in the Boston area, notes the increased vitality of our local bees:
Hives in Cambridge and Boston have a higher honey productivity rate than rural bees, producing about 30% more honey. City bees are also more likely to survive the winter. Scientists are still speculating why urban bees show increased resilience and productivity - perhaps their success is due to less pesticide use, more varied diets and an urban heat-island effect that keeps bees warmer during cold winter months.
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Comments
Yay
Yay bees!
I'm deathly allergic (but was a bee keeper in 4H), but I understand the great value of honey bees.
This is good news! We need more urban hives.
I spent much of my youth (and
I spent much of my youth (and into adulthood) being terrified of, and borderline hating "bees" because of my allergy to them. It turns out--like a lot of children I'm guessing-- that when my parents said "bees" they meant yellow jackets. So I had a (somewhat rational) fear of something that posed no harm to myself, and was completely vital to our survival. I think we largely do a poor job in teaching about the differences between bees, wasps, and the like, and as a result there's a general "meh" about the plight of bees. Maybe it's gotten better since I was in grade school, but I'd hope this is one of those librul things we can indoctrinate the children with at a younger age, as their future depends on it.
Bee keeping
That's why my parents were into having me do beekeeping. I will admit it was my Dad's idea, but I helped and got 4H credit for it. But it helped me get over my fear of bees.
I learned all about bees and the different types of bees. Frankly, hornets and wasps are just nuances mostly and provide no eco benefit like honey bees do.
Honeybees generally are docile and only go on the attack when you try to get to the hive. That's what smokers were for, helps stun the bees some so we could get at the hive.
Once the bees were stunned some, they were very calm. We used to "pet" them.
Anyways, because of that I know the difference, and I know the importance of honey bees.
If I ever had yard big enough, I would do have that service come and put a hive in my backyard.
I often pet them when they're
I often pet them when they're on flowers. If it's a tasty enough flower, they won't even get annoyed enough to fly away. :-)
How big of a space do you
How big of a space do you need? Asking for a friend.
Boston Bees
But the Bees left town for Milwaukee decades ago!
Hey, that guy on the right
is Vince Dimaggio, Joe's big bro.
joe
Joe? Who's that? You mean Dom, right?