Urban bees in Toronto

Map of the Week: Urban bees

via Map of the Week by Toronto Star on 7/10/08

For most city dwellers, beekeeping is pretty much out as a hobby, at least pursued close to home. Ontario law forbids hives within 30 metres of a property line on the other side of which is a dwelling, park or place of public assembly, or within 10 metres of a highway. For most city dwellers, that pretty much crushes the idea of a back yard hive, as appealing as the idea might seem (or appalling, to the neighbours).

But two sites near the city's downtown (map link) are home a total of 22 working beehives: the roof of the Royal York Hotel (which Daphne Gordon wrote about in June) and the Brick Works near Bayview Ave. and Pottery Rd. The Brick Works site is much the largest, with 19 hives. At the seasonal peak, that means about 880,000 bees.

The area surrounding a beehive necessarily plays host to the bees. The distance bees fly to gather pollen varies, but a 1992 study found that they readily fly four kilometers in all directions, which means that gardens from Flemingdon Park to the CNE grounds are being visited by working bees.

So my place is almost in range!