There’s a real buzz in the air about beekeeping. It’s especially loud on the roof of the Public Works building at Lombard and South Boulevard, where two hives are home to over 90,000 bees.
There are many reasons for the resurgence of beekeeping: the realization that pollination is essential for plant life, concerns about a disease that is causing bee colonies to collapse, and a trend toward people wanting to produce their own food. That’s why many towns, including Oak Park, have allowed residents to own hives.
However, the village has set the bar higher by raising bees on the roof.
These bees fit in with the environmental friendliness of the facility, which was constructed using green technology. The hives are not far from the rooftop garden. The bees inside are tended to by Robert Sproule, forestry superintendent, who was already responsible for all the village-owned trees.
“We thought it would be really cool to have bees on the roof,” Sproule recalled. “We were looking for a company to provide the hives, equipment and bees.”
Through word-of-mouth, Sproule came across The Hive, “Chicago’s Beekeeping Supply Store,” located at 3414 W. Roosevelt Road in the North Lawndale neighborhood. It was started by Naaman Gambill and John Hansen, who began operation in March 2016. It is the only store of its kind in the city. The village signed a contract with The Hive in April.
“They brought two hives and shipped the bees,” Sproule said. As part of the contract, Gambill inspects the hives every 10 days. He also educated Sproule and other employees about the wonders of these tiny creatures and how to care for them.
“The role of the beekeeper is doctor and landlord,” Sproule said. His 90,000 tenants work hard to produce about a hundred pounds of honey each year.
Honey, however, is far from the only benefit they provide to Oak Park. The hives disperse bees thoughout the local environment.
“Bees can fly in a five-mile radius,” Sproule said, “so they can essentially pollinate the entire village.” He and his staff find the bees fascinating.
“They’re a very complex insect,” he noted, “with a strong social structure.” When they’re off hunting for nectar, bees “navigate by the position of the sun.” This GPS guides them back to the hive, where they perform a dance to give worker bees directions to the nectar.
At the heart of every colony is the queen.
“She gets fertilized by drones and lays eggs the rest of her life,” Sproule explained, “These eggs can become workers, drones, or a new queen, depending on what they’re fed.” The Hive shipped live bees to Sproule in a screened box. “The queen was in a small separate box. I dropped the queen into the hive and the other bees flocked to her.”
Sproule describes honey bees as being “very docile.” He has yet to be stung by one of them. They are also low-maintenance. He has a water bowl near the hives, with wine corks floating in it, to give the bees footing.
The bees are thriving and producing large batches of honey. This is because Oak Park is a particularly good environment for them. The village has a large number of Linden trees, which are like “meat and potatoes” for the tiny fliers.
“Their honey has a mint taste due to the Linden trees,” Sproule noted. When enough honey has been produced, Gambill comes to collect it. He first calms the bees with smoke, before using a centrifuge to extract the honey from the hive. As part of the contract, The Hive gets to keep half of the honey.
Gambill processes the honey and ships it to the village in jars. The first harvest was 50 pounds and Sproule is hoping for another harvest before the cold weather arrives.
Bees can survive extreme cold. “During the winter, they huddle together,” Sproule explained, “Their mass of bodies keeps the temperature at 80 degrees.” The bees face their greatest threat from mites, which inflict open wounds and spread deadly viruses. If these mites are not managed, they can cause the colony to collapse. Their other nemesis is wasps.
Wasps attack the hive and are repulsed by guard bees. “People have a fear of bees because they equate them with wasps,” Sproule observed. “Bees don’t get into your pop at a picnic. They don’t want to sting you.”
Stinging is a suicide mission for a bee. “Wasps don’t lose their stinger. Yellow jackets are the worst.” There is a wasp nest inside a metal railing not far from the hives and Sproule has been stung by one of them. He plans to eradicate the nest.
Raising bees on the roof has also raised awareness about them. The hives are right outside the lunchroom windows and workers gather to watch when Gambill takes the hives apart to inspect the occupants.
Gambill has beekeeping in his blood. His family raised them on their small farm near Terra Haute, Indiana. He took education courses, though, planning to teach and coach at a local high school, Hoosier-style. He spent five years teaching social studies, a job that drew him to the Chicago area.
“After I moved to the city, I started volunteering during the summer at Garfield Conservatory.” The former farm boy was so savvy about plants, he was hired part-time and then promoted to greening programs coordinator.
Part of that job was taking over the beekeeping program. The conservatory has hives throughout its outdoor gardens. After five years, Gambill left the conservatory and joined forces with Hansen to hatch The Hive. Neither of them have business backgrounds.
“We’re more on-the-fly kind of people,” Gambill said. Hansen has been a veteran beekeeper on the West Side. That is where they decided to launch their operation: inside a former beauty shop, in one of Chicago’s neediest neighborhoods.
“We didn’t want to open up a store in an affluent neighborhood,” Gambill said, “We wanted to provide economic empowerment for the West Side.”
They have already hired two workers and had seven students in their summer work program. “We don’t just teach beekeeping,” the former teacher said. “We teach related skills, like carpentry, skills that are transferable to other vocations.” Gambill fabricates the hives at the store and hopes next year to hire a local crew to assemble them.
He also hopes beekeeping will expand on the West Side.
“Working with bees has a lot to offer in an urban environment,” he said. For that reason, The Hive offers classes for beginners and more advanced courses for established beekeepers. The store has books, equipment and, of course, honey and candles. They’ve provided honey to shops like Sweet Comb Chicago, Bee Smooth Skin Care, and Scratch Goods, which sells lotions and beauty products.
Honey has many uses.
“It is very healthy,” Hansen said. “It’s anti-bacterial, anti-oxidant and healthier than artificial sugar. It never goes bad. Honey found in Egyptian tombs was still good.” Hansen enjoys honey but Gambill “doesn’t want to eat the profits.” This prompted his wife, Ashley, to complain, “How can I be married to a beekeeper and have no honey in the house?”