LA CROSSE, Wis. (WXOW) – With Spring less than a month away, creating a friendly environment for bees can help with an existing decline in numbers.
Associate Professor in Entomology at UW-L Barrett Klein says that there are some ways we can help make a small, but mighty difference. “Beekeeping is fun, it’s a great pursuit,” said Klein. “As long as beekeeping doesn’t transcend a threshold that swamps out native bees, it’s a help.”
Even though it’s a small scale, creating a backyard beehive hangout can actually make a difference.
“Even a backyard hive can be very valuable, and you think ‘huh they’re just going to my flowers and my neighbors flowers’, but those two centimeter long bees can fly miles and in some cases up to six miles to a food source,” said Klein. “So they might have much larger rippling impacts than we might presume.”
If the complex operation of a beehive is intriguing to you, Blain’s Farm & Fleet can help make your dreams take flight. Associate Store Manager at Blain’s Farm & Fleet in La Crosse Dane Thompson says that they have everything you need to get started with beekeeping. Including live bee packages that get shipped directly to your house. “In each three pound package you get one queen. It’s going to be an Italian queen and 10,000 bees to go with it,” said Thompson.
You might think that’s a lot of bees for a neighborhood setting, but that’s where Thompson says they thrive.
“A lot of people have found that urban beekeeping especially is good for bees because people with their urban gardens have really diverse flowers,” said Thompson. “Those diverse flowers will pollinate at different times of year which will help the bees.”
Beekeeping also comes with a sweet tradeoff.
“I know the first year I did hives I was not expecting to get honey, but I ended up getting like 50 pounds of honey,” said Thompson.
There are a few guidelines to follow when choosing where you want to place your hive, but most importantly it’s being mindful of your neighbors.
“Generally the rule is you want the front of the hive at least 20 feet away from your neighbors backyard,” said Thompson. “The way bees work is they fly straight out of the hive up to 20 feet away, and then they fly up in the air.”
Also, be sure to check you local city ordinance, so you don’t have any un-bee-lievable complaints.
If you plan on buying live bees from Blain’s Farm & Fleet, the deadline is on February, 27 which is only a few days out. Some local farms sell them as well.
As far as cost goes, there are bee kits that run around $199 for a queen bee plus 10,000 other bees. If you just want a queen bee they are $45 and up. The cost for a hive is another $50 to $100. To view a list of products, click here.
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