10 Places To Keep Bees When You Have No Yard.

When I started keeping bees, I lived in a studio apartment in downtown Philadelphia. I put the hive on the roof of a parking garage, and it was great! No neighbors complaining my bees in their pool or stinging their dog. They were far away from foot traffic, and they did well!

There are lots of places you can keep bees other than your home. If you're in a city, you'll have even more opportunities. Here's a few that either worked for me or for a beekeeper I know. 

Places you Can Keep Bees Other Than Your Backyard

Businesses

I've never met a business that didn't want to boast that they were helping the bees. B Corps are businesses that go through a certification proving that they help the environment. If you have one near you, start with them. 

Resorts and Hotels

I keep bees for a hotel near me. They pay for the equipment and pay me a monthly fee. They keep all the honey. It's works out well. They love being able to say that they use their honey in the kitchen and they give away honey to guests. If a hotel doesn't have the outside space for the hives, see if they have a rooftop you can easily access.

Office Parks

Office parks usually have a lot of unused outside space. Just make sure you can access it at night and that they don't spray herbicides.

Botanical Gardens & Parks 

I had bees in an ethnobotanical garden. Any kind of garden would be happy to host bees. When I contacted the garden they said they  always wanted bees but no one on staff had the time to learn how. 

You may be able to get your hives into a park or community garden. However, this can be tricky. Often they're owned by the city or county and they can be difficult to get a hold of.

Cemeteries

Cemeteries are a great place to put your bees! I know someone who did this and it was genius. There's hardly any foot traffic and lots of flowers. 

Schools

I know beekeepers with hives on the roof of a school. Some schools have a campus where you can keep bees. Depending on if you have the extra free time, a school may let you keep bees there in exchange for teaching the students about bees. Another possible option is to have the school pay for the hive and you work with the students to care for the hive. Some schools have a garden program and would love it if a beekeeper was willing to put a hive on their campus.

Photo of my first beehive on the roof of a parking garage.

Rooftops

Any building with a rooftop you can access by stairs is a possible place you can keep bees. There were bees on the roof of Notre Dame cathedral up until their recent fire. The possibilities are endless in the city.

Zoo

Many zoos have beehives. There is one zoo in New York that has bees by the bird section because the bees are food for the birds! Not exactly what the beekeeper is looking for, but hey, everyone has to eat.

Farms

My bees are on farm land. They have the acreage for the hives and it's far enough away from the house that it doesn't bother people. The neighbors are far enough away that they don't even know there are bees nearby. Here in Hawaii, people with ag land will get a tax break if they have at least 5 hives for every acre on their property.

Retreat Centers & B&B's

What's better than having honey from your own yard on the table at your B&B? I almost kept bees at a retreat center outside of Philadelphia. I decided to choose a place closer to my home, but this center would have been a great home for bees. They had a garden where they grew veggies that they used in their meals and even old bee equipment they offered to let me use. 

Tips to Finding a Place to Keep Your Bees

Look for places that are a B Corp, member of a sustainable business network, are organic or mention that they use produce from local farms. These businesses are already employing environmentally sustainable business practices and are more likely to want bees on their property. The retreat center that wanted bees at their property also had a huge greenhouse where they grew veggies for their kitchen. It's no surprise that they were thrilled about the idea of someone keeping bees on their property. 

Places with large, freshly mowed lawns are not great places for bees. Lawns are food deserts for bees unless you let it grow tall and give the flowers a chance to pop up. They are also often places that have landscaping companies spraying herbicides which can poison your bees. 

The easiest way to start is with the people you know. Ask friends who work at businesses like the ones above if they would be willing to ask their boss about the possibility of hosting beehives. Once you can say you've been keeping bees for so many years and have bees at other businesses, then finding new locations will get easier. Some of these businesses might even be willing to pay you to keep bees for them! 

Here's What I Did

1. I started out by asking the superintendent of the building I lived in if I could put 2 beehives on the roof of the parking garage. He knew me and said "Ok as long as the owner doesn't find out".
2. Then, I talked to a friend who worked for a retreat center. His boss loved the idea. They even had old beekeeping equipment and offered to let me use their wood shop.
3. Then, my boyfriend's landlord let me put bees on his property and a couple years later, his client asked if I could put bees at the hotel he worked for (a paid gig!)
4. The bee association I started always had people emailing them looking for a beekeeper to keep hives at their place.
5. When I was looking for a very specific area to keep bees, I bought a couple cases of 1oz honey jars, wrote a letter explaining my situation and offered some honey in exchange. Only 2 people contacted me, but one of them ended up working out. 

Make Some Rules

Before you put bees on someone else's property, make sure everyone is on the same page. This is so important. Avoid headaches later on or someone telling you at 4pm on a Saturday they want your bees gone ASAP. A beehive is very heavy when full.

Step 1 Their Terms

Do they want honey or are they just happy to help the bees and get free pollination? What's in it for them and what do they expect? What do you think is fair? I will give someone 2 - 16oz jars of honey if they ask every year, but I won't share more than that since they are getting a tax break and pollination on their farm. Some people will offer more if places are harder to find. I'm also putting 20 hives on their property so 32oz of honey is no big deal. If there's just one hive, 32oz of honey is a lot more to give away.

Step 2 Your Terms

Usually you will check your bees once a week. However, sometimes you see a problem and have to go back the next day. If you need to move bees, you will do this at sunset. Make sure they're ok with you coming as often as needed and later in the evening occasionally. 

I have one customer who makes me call and schedule an appointment with the bees. I really hate doing this, but they pay me, so I put up with it. I would stay away from places that want you to call before you come. Not just because of the extra hassle, but these people usually end up adding more rules later on and I end up just moving the bees to another location so I never have to talk to them ever again.

No spray! You cannot put bees on a property that sprays RoundUp or any other herbicide or pesticide. It doesn't matter if it is organic. I've had quite a few students lose their hive because their neighbors sprayed their garden, and it killed the hive. 

In Conclusion

Beekeeping is possible no matter where you live. Don't let your lack of yard stop you. There are quite a few businesses with rooftop access or acreage interested in having bees on their property, especially if they get free honey and don't have to do anything! I don't keep bees at my home anymore, and I prefer it. Having them away from my kids, pets and any visitors that come by, makes beekeeping less stressful and more fun. I've kept bees on a rooftop, on other people's farms, and at a hotel and botanical garden, so don't be afraid to give it a shot!

 You can read my story about how I got started keeping bees in Philly on the About page.

While you're working on a spot to keep honey bees, make a bee hotel and keep mason bees! You can't harvest honey from solitary bees, but if you want to help the pollinators, a bee hotel is a great place to start and it's easy to do. You can learn how to make a bee hotel and what to plant to help the bees in our blog.