The Buzz Around National Urban Beekeeping Day!

National Urban Beekeeping Day is observed annually on July 19th. For a long time, “backyard beekeeping” in most cities was prohibited but more recently, these bans are being overturned as its environmental and economic benefits are being better understood. Urban beekeeping promotes pollination in urban green spaces, encourages bee diversity, and urban honeybee colonies can even be a sign to apiarists about the ecological conditions in an urban environment. The main challenge is swarming but members of the Colorado State Beekeeping Association (CSBA) can be called upon to safely rescue swarms.

This is something that Gregg McMahan (a.k.a The Bee Guru) handles as part of his involvement in the local bee community. Through the CBSA, he is a Swarm Dispatcher.  Gregg told me that he has helped to rescue 400 swarms this year in Denver, Westminster, and Arvada combined by relocating swarms to bee sanctuaries across the Front Range. Gregg is also the owner of Rocky Mountain Bee, President of the Westminster Bee Club, and co-founder of The Mile Hive Bee Club. Gregg has been a beekeeper for the past 20 years and for the past 18 years, has been teaching beginner beekeeping classes in our community.

I got to speak with Gregg about the benefits of Urban Beekeeping, how to best get up to speed as beginner beekeeper, and how to best support local beekeepers!

For some information around Urban Beekeeping city regulations in CO, you can visit the CSBA website here. The CSBA states that prospective beekeepers should still check with their municipal code to determine if bees are allowed in their area.

The Colorado State Beekeepers Association’s (CSBA) statewide bee swarm hotline is 1-844-779-2337 (844-SPY-BEES).

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Photo  Credit: The East Bay Echo, Shawn Caza, The Westminster Bee Club