Bees in the City

Many people keep bees on city rooftops today. The bees fly from garden to garden and find many flowers. City honey often tastes sweet because gardens have different plants. Bees are important because they help flowers and fruit trees grow. Without bees, apples and berries would be rare. Some people worry that too many hives hurt wild bees. They ask beekeepers to plant more flowers and keep fewer hives. In this way, honeybees and wild bees can live together in the city. Beekeepers wear white suits and use smoke to keep the bees calm. They open the hive, lift out the frames, and look for the queen. The queen is longer than the other bees and has a small dot of paint on her back. In summer the bees work from morning to evening. In winter they stay inside and eat the honey they saved. City beekeepers must tell the council where their hives are, and they put water near the hives so the bees do not visit swimming pools. Children visit the roofs on school trips and learn that a bee sting is rare when people move slowly. The best honey comes from many different flowers, so a city with gardens and parks is a good home for bees.