> On Jul 20, 2020, at 9:00 PM, BEE-L automatic digest system <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> 
> From:    Peter Armitage <[log in to unmask] <mailto:[log in to unmask]>>
> Subject: Rent-a-hive businesses
> 
> I’m interested to know whether there are frictions between rent-a-hive businesses and already established beekeepers in a given area...  

Hi Peter, I started Urban Bee Company in Seattle in 2008 with the hive-hosting model in mind. We no longer use hosting as a business model; in fact we have even changed the name of the company to "Survivor Bee" with an emphasis on bee health and ecological restoration (with a nod to my own cancer diagnosis). I'd be happy to talk with you in real time to share any details as background for your writing.

For this thread, and to answer your specific question, the only conflicts we encountered were mainly with neighbors who were allergic or had other fears. We avoided this problem by having our clients stipulate in the contract that they had spoken with their immediate neighbors and received no objections. (Sometimes we greased this process with a few jars of honey to share). We also had a zero-tolerance for complaints policy... i.e. if a neighbor complained, we would do one visit or educational conversation, and then move the hives if everyone wasn't satisfied. Of the many dozens of clients over the years, I only removed the bees one time.

Swarms similarly were not much of an issue. Between the public education done by our local Puget Sound Beekeepers Assoc, and good communication on Facebook and other social media, people seem to know how to identify swarms and get help. Beekeepers share info and take turns, and follow a good code of fairness.

My own greater concern was honey bee saturation. In 2008 or 2009 I did an inventory of green space in the city, and some research on hive distribution. At that time, Seattle had a favorable balance of bees and habitat. I don't believe this is the case any longer, which is one reason we prefer people to keep their own bees, rather than have them for educational or pollination reasons (which can be satisfied in other ways). I HAVE heard other beeks who used to keep bees in the city voice their opinion that the honey potential is tapped out... so they concentrate on the suburbs and farther out of the city. (Incidentally, Marla Spivak told me—in 2015!—that she though Minneapolis was oversaturated with honeybees... this helped me investigate again our inventories locally and how the "Urban Beekeeping" trend might be too large.

My second concern—also primarily self-instigated—was about the transfer of disease between honey bees and Bombus and other genera. At the same time I was running Urban Bee, I was also conducting surveys of wild bees at Sea-Tac Airport (where I also had HB's) and under power corridors for Seattle City Light. The surveys were illuminating, in that we proved that increasing habitat and forage for wild bees (duh) would result in greater species diversity, even-ness, and richness. I have since left the project but Evan Sugden PhD has carried on the surveys and is hoping to publish the findings soon. Please forgive the anecdotal nature of this note, but in work with Dave Crowder's lab at WSU and what I gleaned from Evan, I understood that it's possible for HB's to out-compete wild bees, when forage becomes scarce. This is such a tricky research question because "forage" has so many characteristics. Often the bees are working completely different blossoms. I concluded that when people suggested that my honey bees were taking nectar from their wild bees, that they were barking up the wrong tree... why not go after golf courses, for instance, or simply promote more wildflower planting? There is plenty of room to grow more forage.

On the other hand, disease and parasite transfer between species worried me more. I haven't heard much "complaining" in this regard, but fair-minded wild-bee advocates have voiced their concerns, and I think this one has validity.

Finally, over the past few years it has become painfully clear through my own observation that too many people are simply not dealing with mites. The biggest problem between beekeepers in proximity is this: mite transfer. In fact, I gave up teaching in a classroom because I needed to see with my own eyes that my students could count and treat mites. I'm almost loath to sell bees to the same customer in consecutive years, because so often they can't understand that their non-treatment protocol creates mite bombs for everyone else. ("No bees for you!") It's an uphill battle to get hobbyists to take the time.

The last note I'll add for the entrepreneurs in the group is that this model does not scale up at all. It's totally dependent on skilled beekeeper labor... at one point I had three FTE's, which I paid between $12-25 an hour. The business was diversified as much as possible... hive hosting, bee gear, bees, education, consulting... and all of our brand equity was easily robbed by very large companies with fancy graphics and claims of "local" honey. While others in Seattle are still offering the hive-hosting model, we're finding a new avenue.

Bob Redmond, Proprietor
Survivor Bee, LLC
[formerly Urban Bee Co.]

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206-786-5715












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