Best Bees' beekeeper Roman Pham attends to BC's urban hive atop Fulton Hall. Photographs by Gary Wayne Gilbert
Earlier this year, Fulton Hall became home to some new residents – somewhere between 10,000 and 15,000 of them – but administrators, faculty, staff and others in Fulton are unlikely to have noticed.
That’s because these recent arrivals don’t spend any time in Fulton’s offices, classrooms, or hallways. Instead, they hang out on the Fulton roof, buzzing around or inside a three-tiered structure that resembles a file cabinet, where instead of research they produce...honey.
Yes, they’re bees.
Thanks to a donation from the parents of a current undergraduate, Boston College is a recent addition to a local firm’s “urban beehive” program. University administrators say the initiative reflects BC’s strong interest in sustainability issues and solutions, and offers a potential educational resource.
“There has been a lot of concern about the world’s bee population, and the numbers of beehives dying out,” said Office of Sustainability Director Robert Pion. “We felt that hosting a beehive would be a symbol of BC’s concern for the environment.”
There are benefits for BC, too, Pion and others note, since bees promote the pollination of flowering plants.
And, of course, there’s the honey, which once collected will be the property of the University. Administrators are discussing potential uses and how it might be made available.
The beehive’s arrival at BC came at the behest of Fred and Donna Seigel, parents of a current sophomore and a 2013 graduate. Fred Seigel is president and COO of Beacon Capital Partners, which has installed beehives on building rooftops at its properties, locally and elsewhere in the U.S., in collaboration with the Best Bees Company, a leading researcher of honey bees that is seeking to address the decline in the bee population.
The Beacon Capital urban beehive program reflects its support for bee research, noting that bees pollinate more than 130 crops; widespread devastation to the bee population, the company has stated, carries “the potential for significant repercussions to our ecosystem and food supplies.” Urban beehives produce more honey than suburban or rural ones because there are less pesticides and fewer predators, according to the company, which estimates that each hive will produce some 30 pounds, or four gallons, of honey per year.
Many major hotels in Boston have beehives, as does the Prudential Center and Hancock Tower.
A donation by the Seigels will support the oversight and maintenance of BC's beehive by Best Bees, which sends a beekeeper once a month to check the bees’ health and wellbeing. On a recent visit, beekeeper Roman Pham observed that the hive was well-established and had a good chance of surviving. (He later reported that the bees had decided to “give themselves a new queen,” and he expected the choice to be made very shortly. Pham reorganized the space in the hive to ensure the new queen would have room to start laying new eggs.)
If all goes well, Pham said he would be able to harvest honey toward the end of August.
Although nothing has been discussed as yet, Pion said that the beehives on Fulton could be a useful curricular or extracurricular tool in examining sustainability, environmental or other scientific-related matters.
One other important thing about honey bees, note Pion and Pham: They won’t bother you if you won’t bother them.
—Sean Smith | News & Public Affairs