Are bees coming to the garden?

Native/Wild bees come to the garden all the time. But what I’m talking about are the managed honey bees.  Back in April 2008 I contacted the Illinois Bee Keepers Association expressing interest in adopting a colony and allowing someone to place an apiary in or near my garden.  I traded emails with the President and he promised he would spread the word.  I didn’t hear anything until last week.  It sounds like he put my contact information in the state newsletter and I’ve had two local beekeepers contact me! This morning I had Pete Wohld come over and look over the possible locations and he picked a spot he thinks would work.  However, there is still a bit of leg work involved.

I need to:

• Contact the city of Wheaton and make sure no ordinance issues are involved
• Research / learn everything I can about bees
• Contact the nearest neighbor to make sure they do not object to the placement
• Really think hard about putting them in the garden since I have a dog, two kids and a fairly active outdoors. Which may not fit well with bees that want to be left alone.

It would be unfair to Pete to let him put bees on the property and then ask him to come back in two weeks and take them away.  If I give Pete the go ahead I want to make sure our family has committed to allowing them to stay long-term.

Pete says he wont be ready with a new apiary until early spring so there is still some time. But when he’s ready timing will be everything.

Eric over at GardenFork TV is starting his own colony and has a discussion forum started.