There’s a buzz around a certain house in Bonnyville. Town resident Donna Busque was in council last Tuesday as she presented the idea of having a single beehive in her backyard on 45 Street. The hive would be registered with the provincial Beehive Act and Busque has already taken the steps of notifying her neighbours of the idea. She says the bees should not be much of a bother to nearby homes.
“Honeybees tend to go up and then out. They forage at a distance. They can forage as far as six miles away from the actual hive. At different times of the day, there may be clusters of bees around the hive but if you don’t bother them they won’t bother you.”
Busque says if the single hive gets too big she has plans to move bees to a rural property in the MD. She says she’s hoping her openness on bringing the bees to her backyard will make for an easy startup.
“When I spoke to the neighbours about the application, I made sure they were aware that if they were not comfortable with contacting me directly that they could contact the peace officer in the town of Bonnyville, so they can see that it’s not something I need to be an adversary on.”
Council later approved the application.