Note: please note that this issue overview should (a) contain links to additional information on this topic that is focused either the local, state, national, or global level, and (b) be neutrally presented, based on facts, and include footnotesfor each of the items.  See the Research Guide and Information Sources to assist you. 

Goal Statement

•  To inform citizens on the crucial role the honey bee plays within our environment and the U.S economy. As well as, taking a deeper look into the growing subculture of "urban or backyard" beekeeping throughout the U.S. and examining best practices and model programs in order to combat the declining bee population in the U.S.  

Policy Options / Model Programs

• Urban Beekeeping as a Re-entry Jobs Program
• Sweet Beginnings- Sweet Beginnings is a wholly owned subsidiary of the North Lawndale Employment Network which began in 2004 and offers full-time transitional jobs for formerly incarcerated individuals and others with significant barriers to employment. This program teaches beekeeping 101 as well as, the commercial and manufacturing aspects of making beeline® products, i.e honey, beeswax, candles, and byproduct that the bee produces.
• The Sustainability Project- Olympia, Washington, is a partnership of the Washington State Department of Correctionsand The Evergreen State College. Our mission is to bring science and nature into prisons. We conduct ecological research and conserve biodiversity by forging collaborations with scientists, inmates, prison staff, students, and community partners. Equally important, we help reduce the environmental, economic, and human costs of prisons by inspiring and informing sustainable practices.
• Apiary Project- South Carolina Program began in the early 1990’s under the lead of Clency University, program was initiated in order to increase pollination for the 10 acres of farming. Training for inmates is 6 months and they earn a degree called Master Beekeeper. Approximately 1-2 inmates are choose to directly deal with the bees. Once a year, the inmates collect all the honey and use it for food services through the prison systems and the rest is sold.
• Inmate Beekeeping Program- This program started in July 2011 and has expanded to four prison facilities in Florida. The training process is led by Florida’s department of agriculture, Dave Menendez. Approximately 20 inmates per year have gone through this program. Once training is complete, and released from prison. Inmates are provided the opportunity to attend a job interview, and work as a beekeeper under the supervisor of Mr. Menendez. 

• Best Practices/Implementation 

Basically in every state implementation varies, for example in New Jersey you must register your hives with the NJ Department of Agriculture. Some states require permits, and registration if you are interested in beekeeping look up the local ordinances for your county and state and follow the local procedure. For example, the City of Chicago has no regulations regarding beekeeping in backyards or rooftops but, if it becomes a nuisance to neighbors the beekeeper will be forced to remove it. Once the registration process is over the best time to start the process is the winter, to gather, assemble, build and paint the equipment. Typically packages of honeybees are ready middle of March, early April. To start it’s important to begin with no less than 2 hives. 

Education

It’s best to thoroughly educate yourself on beekeeping so either take a class, read some books on the subject or reach out and find a mentor. Taking on beekeeping does require time and effort, this is really similar to owning a pet.  Some important steps are listed below. 

Education Options in New Jersey

• Rutgers University http://www.cpe.rutgers.edu/courses/current/ae0401ca.html
• Scholarship Program done through N.J beekeepers  http://njbeekeepers.org/Site_Docs/SP/NJBA%20SCHOLARSHIP%20PROGRAM%202012.pdf
  

Education Options in New York 

• Brooklyn Botanic Gardens "BEE-day Party" bbg.org
• Gotham City Honey Co-op- gothamcitybees.com
• The New Palz Apiary- honeybeelives.org

Ask Your Neighbors

Before bringing in thousands of bees, ask your neighbor, it may take some explaining and education but once people understand more about honey bees, their minds can be changed.

Hive Location

Hives should be placed in a quite area and not directly against a neighboring property unless solid fence of dense barrier of six feet or higher forms the property boundary.  Hives should be kept as far as possible from the roads, sidewalks and right of ways. 

Hive Densities in an Urban Setting 
Beekeepers are advised to keep closely observe their apiary locations to determine the carrying capacity of the area- both the immediate area and roughly three miles in all directions- and to limit the number of hives accordingly. Signs of over saturation in an area include slow colony growth, poor honey production, and excessively defense behavior.

• N.J the limit of bee hives allowed is 3.

Water on Site

Bees use large amounts of water to control temperate and humidity within the hive. They prefer sunny place with surface moisture, such as gravel/ a sponge set in a dog water bowl or the edge of a bird bath, where they will not drown. The water should be kept fresh and clean so as not to become a breeding ground for mosquiotes. Beekeepers should establish such water sources near the apiary to encourage bees to forage for moisture near the hive. In hot weather, honey bees use large amounts of water to control the temperature and humidity of the hive. It is particularly important in an urban environment like New York City to provide a fresh and consistent source of water for the honeybees, to prevent them from seeking water from other sources such as air conditioners where honeybees would be considered a nuisance

Colony Temperament

A colony’s temperament is determined by its queens’ characteristics, its heath, environment factors and proximate activities. Every effort should be to maintain a docile and non-defensive colony. Guidance on selecting queens, maintaining hive health and mitigating environmental impact follows.

Considerate Hive Management

Beekeepers should take into account that weather conditions influence bee behavior and plan to work bees when conditions are favorable. Beekeeper should make sure that neighbors are not working or relaxing outdoors when they open hives and should perform hive manipulations as quickly as possible with minimum disturbance to bees. Extended hive manipulations particularly when removing honey should be carefully planned to accommodate neighbors’ activites. Smoke should be used when working bees. Hive entrances should be smoked before mowing or trimming the hive area. Clipping and exhaust should be directed away from the hive areas. Consider using the manipulation cloth to cover the top of the open hive in extreme heat or to otherwise minimize disruption.

Swarm Prevention

Swarming is a natural honeybee behavior, but it should be prevented or minimized especially in urban settings. Two cause of swarming are congestion and poor ventilation in the hive. To avoid these conditions beekeepers should consider

• Appropriately timed addition of supers for brood rearing and honey storage
• Use of screened bottom board
• Brood chamber manipulation and/or colony division
• Replacement of old or failing queens
• These and other swarm management practices are explained in detail in most good beekeeping textbooks. When a swarm occurs efforts should be made to collect the swarm. Swarms captured from areas of interstate transportation or heavily populated areas or other locations where the origin of bees may be questionable should be monitored frequently for abnormal defensiveness. Recommendations for dealing with a defensive colony are coved in the final section of the document. 

Queens

Queens should only be obtained from the most reliable sources. Local sources, where available are preferred to reduce the changes of introducing Africanized honeybees and to ensure that the queen is well suited to the climate. A queen less than two years old is recommended, each beekeeper should evaluate their queens on a regular basis for performance and hive gentleness. Desirable characteristics include:

• Gentle disposition
• brood viability
• low swarming instinct
• colony build up
• disease and pest resistance
• pollen hoarding
• Any colony exhibiting unusually defensive behavior or excessive swarming tendency should be Re-Queened as soon as possible.

Robbing Behavior

When nectar is scare, honeybees may rob other hives. When they do, they tend to appear more defensive. Under such conditions, beekeepers should work for only short periods of time and only if really necessary. Exposing honey can encourage robbing. For this reason, we do not recommend the use of hive front boardman feeders except for watering in the summer months. All honey and syrup spills should be cleaned up immediately. Areas used for honey extraction should be bee proofed to prevent robbing situations.

Disease Control

There are a number of honeybee diseases and pasts for beekeepers to be concerned with. It is critical that beekeepers be educated to recognize and respond to disease. Some diseases like, American Foulbrood and extremely contagious beekeepers should be cautious about mixing hive equipment and purchase used equipment for this reason. It is incumbent on beekeepers to manage all diseases and pets including parasitic mites the ensure colony health and honey quality.

Record Keeping

Good recordkeeping should be a priority.  A written record of colony manipulation and observation should be maintained for each hive. Your colony management log should include a catalog of equipment used a record of inspections and findings, a history of actions (adding removing supers) and any relevant information or observations regarding the hive.

Local/State/National Information    additional information on this topic at the local, state, national, global level

• Beekeeping is legal in most states. Each state has their own set of statues that pertain to beekeeping. Here's a list of cities where beekeeping is illegal 

New Jersey Guidelines via New Jersey Dept. of Agriculture:

1. Register Bee with the NJ Department of Agriculture ( no permit required) 

1. Choose location where there are flowering plants that produce nectar and pollen 

2. Choose a site which is discrete and sheltered from winds and partially shaded (avoid low spots in a yard where cool weather circulates) 

3. Provide a water source in your yard.

4. There must be no more than three hives of honey bees per lot size of one quarter acre or less.

5. No hive of honey bees will be maintained within 15ft feet of a boundary line of the property on which the hive is located.

6. All colonies must be located at least 25ft from a public sidewalk, alley, street or roads.

7. All apiaries must have on site an adequate source of water within 25ft of the hives at all times especially between March 1-Oct 31.

8. A 6 feet high solid fence or hedge must be erected if the colonies are within 10ft. of the neighbor’s property 

9. All bee equipment and hives must be maintained in good condition

10. All colonies must be kept in movable frame hives in accordance with N.J.S.A.4:6-10

11. All colonies must be inspected by the beekeeper or his delegate no less than three times between March 1- Oct 31st of each year

12. A substantial barrier/fence must be erected to prevent animals and children from coming into close contact with hive. 

New Jersey Contact Information:

 Tim Schuler, State Apiarist, tim.schuler@ag.state.nj.us 609-406-6939, Willing to teach a lecture to NBFA, list of subjects to talk about and date, he is also a bee inspector for diseases.
For contact information in regards to Swarm Collection: please visit this site :http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/pdf/swarmcollectors.pdf

Beekeeping Associations New Brunswick can join:

•  2 State
• 10 National

U.S States Beekeeping Associations 

• Minnesota 8
• Texas 5
• Alabama 5
• Alaska 5
• Texas 5
• New Jersey 2

Glossary of Terms   key words or phrases that the layperson needs to know to understand this issue 

• Colony- a single nest of bees containing combs, a queen, and a supporting population of workers, typically contains 40,000 or more bees
• Hive- a man made structure that contains a colony of bees
• Queen: A completely developed female bee (with functioning ovaries) who lays eggs and serves as the central focus of the colony. There is only one queen in a colony of bees. A queen's productive life span is 2-3 years.
• Worker bees- majority of the population, are sterile female bees. Their jobs include: caring for the queen and new young, defending the hive, control the hive temperature, building new comb, collecting nectar and pollen and making honey
• Drones: Male bees, whose main function in the colony is to fertilize the queen. Drones make up a very small percentage of the total colony. In the Autumn drones are expelled from the hive by the female worker bees.
• Swarm- used when a fraction of bees, a queen and possibly a few drones leave to search for a new home.
• Brood- young developing bees
• Supers- stacked boxes which make up a bee hive typically come in three sizes:  a deep super is 9 1/2 inches tall a medium is 6 5/8 inches tall, and a shallow super is 5 3/4 inches tall. 
• Beeswax: waxy material produced by worker bees and used to build combs.
• Foundation: Thin sheets of beeswax imprinted with a pattern of honey comb. The beekeeper installs these sheets into wooden frames as "starters" for the bees in making uniform combs.
• Frames: The removable wooden structures which are placed in the hive. The bees build their comb within these frames. The removable quality allows the beekeeper to easily inspect the colony.
• Hive Bodies: The first one or two wooden boxes of the colony. The hive bodies contain the brood nest of the colony.
• Larva: The grub-like, immature form of the bee, after it has developed from the egg and before it has gone into the pupa stage.
• Nectar: Sweet fluid produced by flowers is 60% water and 40% solids. This is collected by the bees and converted into honey at 17 -18% moisture content.
• Pollen: Very small dust-like grain produced by flowers. These are the male germ cells of the plant.
• Propolis: Sticky, brownish gum gathered by bees from trees and buds and used to seal cracks and drafts in the hive. Also called "bee-glue".
• Pupa: The immature form of the bee (following the larval stage) while changing into the adult form.
• Royal Jelly: The milky white secretion of young nurse bees. It is used to feed the queen throughout her life, and is given to worker and drone larvae only during their early larval lives.

Summary

     Honey bees are among the most popular and economically beneficial insects throughout the course of history. This insect has provided mankind with products such as honey, beeswax, pollen, venom and other products commonly used as dietary supplements. They also pollinate a wide variety of agricultural crops. In fact, the most important pollinator for agricultural purposes is the honey bee. However, honey bees are steadily declining in the United States due to insect and bacterial parasites, making it extremely rare to find natural colonies. Making backyard beekeeping an essential activity, and a growing subculture within urban areas. Honey bees pollinate about one third of the food Americans eat, as well as a wide variety of flowers and trees species. Pollinators play a crucial role in the production of more than 150 food crops in the United States. In New Jersey alone apples, cranberries, cantaloupes, cucumbers and watermelons all benefit from bee pollination. Urban beekeeping or “backyard beekeeping” as some refer to it has become a solution for many areas to combat the steady decline of the bee population.

Understanding how a Hive Works 

A typical honeybee colony comprises one queen, about a thousand male drones whose only job is to inseminate the queen upward of 60,000 sterile female worker bees that are responsible for building cells, feeding larvae, regulating hive temperature and collecting nectar. To make honey a worker bee flies to a flower and extracts nectar using her proboscis, a straw-like tongue. Bees forage 20 or more times a day, carrying up to 50% of their body weight in nectar. The bee returns the nectar to the hive in her "honey stomach." Inside the hive, the bee splits the nectar into the mouth of another bee. That bee in turn splits into the comb a series of hexagonal cells composed of a sturdy wax secreted by worker bees. Other bees flap their wings against the nectar to force dehydration. When only 205 of the water remains in the nectar, honey is born. The bees cover each honey filled cell with a wax cap and move on to the next one. Typical hives hold 9 or 10 frames' worth of honeycomb. When the frames are full of white capped honey its harvest time. The keeper cuts the caps off the harvest-able cells with a hot knife then runs it though an extractor and drains it into jars. A well kept hive in optimal conditions can yield in excess of 100 pounds per year. 

Guide to Choosing the Best Native Bees

Native Bee Benefits: How to Increase native bee pollination on your farm and simple steps: for New Jersey and Pennsylvania Farmers: 
http://www.extension.org/sites/default/files/w/1/15/NativeBees2009.pdf

Bibliography   

• "Florida Department of CorrectionsKenneth S. Tucker, Secretary." Press Release: 08/17/2011. Florida Department of Corrections, 17 Aug. 2011. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. <http://www.dc.state.fl.us/secretary/press/2011/08-17RMCBeekeeping.html>. 
• "New Jersey Beekeepers Association." New Jersey Beekeepers Association. New Jersey Beekeepers Association, n.d. Web. 03 Oct. 2012. <http://njbeekeepers.org/>. 
•  Bernard, Sarah. "The Everything Guide To: Urban Honey." New York Magazine 31 May 2010: 44-49. Web. 10 Sept. 2012.
•  http://www.state.nj.us/agriculture/divisions/pi/pdf/NJBEELAW.pdf
•  http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/pdf/beeguidelines.pdf
•  http://www.nj.gov/agriculture/divisions/pi/pdf/ApiaryRegistrationForm.pdf
• http://njaes.rutgers.edu/spotlight/beekeeping.asp
• https://docs.google.com/document/d/1St5_jpPo-bD0P9i3xJkmMjjrlX6C3Eq4_0UAbN9maH0/edit
• http://www.doc.sc.gov/institutions/PerryCBU.pdf  
• http://www.nlen.org/programs/index.php
• http://www.doc.sc.gov/institutions/PerryWeb.pdf
• http://www.thedailygreen.com/environmental-news/blogs/bees/illegal-urban-beekeeping-0602
• http://www.extension.org/sites/default/files/w/1/15/NativeBees2009.pdf
• Portland, Oregon Backyard Bees- http://www.portlandoregon.gov/bps/article/362065