With reports of the North American honeybee population in decline, some organizations are getting involved in urban beekeeping as a sustainable way to aid the species and keep the honey flowing.

Records from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs show that there are more than 100 registered beehives in Toronto. It might come as a surprise that a number of these hives are situated in commercial and institutional properties such as the Toronto Botanical Garden, University of Toronto and Fairmont Royal York Hotel. In fact, Fairmont operates more than 20 bee-inhabited rooftops throughout North America.

Starting a beehive

Before starting a beehive, interested parties should note that there are specific guidelines. Ontario’s Bees Act states that beekeepers have to place hives at least 30 metres away from a neighbour’s property line. This tends to limit urban beehives to large properties and rooftops.

Every Ontario apiary is required to obtain a certificate of registration, which is handed out by the provincial apiarist. While registration is free, an application must be submitted to the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture and Food. And once created, hives are subject to regular inspection.

A typical starting cost is about $600 for one hive. That figure includes hive tools and materials, bee suites and a starter colony of bees.

Bee enthusiast Jozef Winter, who started an urban beehive initiative at Toronto’s Evergreen Brickworks, says that getting the hives up and running was relatively simple. “It wasn’t very challenging, there are many good resources out there either in the form of books, online sources, enthusiasts groups and other beekeepers,” he says.

The time commitment varies largely depending on the season. Beekeepers need to check on their hives approximately twice a month during the spring, summer, and sometimes in the fall to inspect the hive and ensure things are running smoothly, and to pull off honey for extraction. In contrast, few visits are required during the winter.

Getting the community buzzing

According to Liz Hood, director of education at the Toronto Botanical Garden, there are a number of benefits to beekeeping. “They help make our gardens more productive; easily we have a much better production in our kitchen gardens and all of our vegetables-growing gardens because the bees are there,” she explains. “They’re actually providing those pollination services.”

And then there are the advantages of producing honey. There are opportunities to sell it or give to tenants as a courtesy each season. Last year, Hood’s hives (which are meant for educational purposes as opposed to production) were able to turn out 200 pounds of honey.

Hood’s urban beekeeping initiative started in 2011. At the time, there were just 12 participants in the program. However, the class size has been steadily increasing, reaching 30 students this year.

“The unexpected part of the program was that we have, through our three years now of graduates, created a community of really invested city beekeepers who are really active about bee issues and obviously want to be very involved with our bees, which is wonderful,” she says.

Creating a local beekeeping community to educate others and promote sustainable practices can be important for the species. A report published by the Canadian Association of Professional Apiculturists suggests Canada lost 28.6 per cent of its honeybee colonies during the 2013 winter season.

Hood is the first to admit that bees, like many other insects, don’t always have the best reputation.

She says that honeybees are often confused with other insects that are more likely to sting or bite. Additionally, the increased awareness of bee allergies hasn’t done the species any favours.

“Bees have become kind of a maligned insect in our regular lives,” she says. “And yet as we can see with all of the media that’s coming out now about the bees in fairly serious trouble, their population being in decline, that we know our lives are intimately reliant upon bees and other pollinators.”

Experts like Winter and Hood assure that the benefits to the environment are worth the work involved in maintaining an urban beehive. And the honey doesn’t hurt, either.

Ilan Mester is the online editor of Building Strategies & Sustainability.