Bees on roof

We are interested in putting two beehives on the roof of our brownstone. It’s a flat roof, with many layers of old roofing under a new rubber roof (installed last year).

Total weight for the hives would be 600 lbs (likely much less depending on honey production). Based on our understanding, that’s probably too much to just stick on the roof.

We’ve spoken to a few folks including an engineer who said the best thing to do is run steel from parapet to parapet and put the hives on top of that. We don’t think it’s a good idea to use the party walls so are thinking of putting the hives on the extension. Unlike the main body of the house (with brick party walls), the build-out is just wood. Using the extension would allow for a smaller surface area, contain any damage/leaks to one area of the house, and avoid messing up our neighbors’ houses.

One idea is to get fiberglass grating and put it on the parapets. The idea is this is lighter than steel and something we could buy and install ourselves (husband is carpenter).

Does anyone have any ideas here? Would this be conside red a “roof deck” by DOB standards even though it’s not really for recreational use/hanging out? It’s more like storage and the closest example I can think of would be putting an A/C compressor on the roof.

P.S. The bees themselves are legal.

Guest User | 8 years and 1 month ago

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bklyn.nighthawk | 8 years and 1 month ago

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Registering your bee hives with the City is not a “should”, it’s a “have to”. Since beekeeping was made legal a few years ago, the City requires you to register your hives. Occasionally, you might even have to deal with an on-site inspector. That person will need to see that the bee hives are in good condition and that you have a water source for them. Here’s a link to the registration form: https://www1.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/description/beekeeper-registration

Maintaining good relations with your neighbors is essential. Although beekeeping is legal, now, if your bees are creating a “nuisance”, your neighbor has every right to report you to the City. And, you give all the other beekeepers in the City a bad reputation, making it that much more difficult for us all to keep a good relationship with our nabes.

Having a water source for the bees is essential…even if it’s a birdbath or a watering gizmo that’s made for chickens, etc. You MUST make sure there are methods for bees to get out of the water source, if they fall in. Rocks, a few floating pieces of wood, etc . BEES CAN”T SWIM and you don’t want a lot of drowned bees in your Watering Hole.

This will also reduce having your bees wander into your neighbors’ yards looking for a drink from their pool, birdbath or fishpond, etc.

Managing the hives to reduce the occurrences of swarms is a matter of experience and timely, hands-on care. It’s a real challenge and the bees may swarm, despite your best efforts. Although the bees are actually not aggressive when they swarm, the sudden appearance of thousands of swirling bees and then a huge cluster of bees hanging on anything from a tree limb to a bicycle handlebar can really freak people out (and, again, makes all the other beekeepers look bad).

If you’ve never kept bees before, I STRONGLY recommend that you take some beekeeping classes and shadow an experienced beekeeper, if at all possible. There are also a lot of good, basic DIY videos on You Tube. But, look at a lot of them, not just one or two…there are many good videos and also many bad ones.

Good luck! Beekeeping is endlessly fascinating, but is also a responsibility…you have 30-60,000 little lives in your hands, as well as your relationship with your neighbors.

bklyn.nighthawk | 8 years and 1 month ago

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Registering your bee hives with the City is not a “should”, it’s a “have to”. Since beekeeping was made legal a few years ago, the City requires you to register your hives. Occasionally, you might even have to deal with an on-site inspector. That person will need to see that the bee hives are in good condition and that you have a water source for them. Here’s a link to the registration form: https://www1.nyc.gov/nycbusiness/description/beekeeper-registration

Maintaining good relations with your neighbors is essential. Although beekeeping is legal, now, if your bees are creating a “nuisance”, your neighbor has every right to report you to the City. And, you give all the other beekeepers in the City a bad reputation, making it that much more difficult for us all to keep a good relationship with our nabes.

Having a water source for the bees is essential…even if it’s a birdbath or a watering gizmo that’s made for chickens, etc. You MUST make sure there are methods for bees to get out of the water source, if they fall in. Rocks, a few floating pieces of wood, etc . BEES CAN”T SWIM and you don’t want a lot of drowned bees in your Watering Hole.

This will also reduce having your bees wander into your neighbors’ yards looking for a drink from their pool, birdbath or fishpond, etc.

Managing the hives to reduce the occurrences of swarms is a matter of experience and timely, hands-on care. It’s a real challenge and the bees may swarm, despite your best efforts. Although the bees are actually not aggressive when they swarm, the sudden appearance of thousands of swirling bees and then a huge cluster of bees hanging on anything from a tree limb to a bicycle handlebar can really freak people out (and, again, makes all the other beekeepers look bad).

If you’ve never kept bees before, I STRONGLY recommend that you take some beekeeping classes and shadow an experienced beekeeper, if at all possible. There are also a lot of good, basic DIY videos on You Tube. But, look at a lot of them, not just one or two…there are many good videos and also many bad ones.

Good luck! Beekeeping is endlessly fascinating, but is also a responsibility…you have 30-60,000 little lives in your hands, as well as your relationship with your neighbors.

randolph | 8 years and 1 month ago

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my neighbor has like 5 colonies in his back yard and it is super annoying, they swarm my yard and get in my house and are too dumb to fly back out the open door. or they die on the deck and i step on one barefoot and get stung.

i know it is their right to have bees but it is frustrating for us.

Arkady | 8 years and 1 month ago

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Be sure you have a decent supply of water for them. I’m invaded every year because a bee-keeping neighbor of mine does not. You should register w/ www.bees.nyc & NYCBA. Dept. of Health makes inspections to evaluate conditions.

resident2 | 8 years and 1 month ago

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Anything that is “put on the roof” A/C condensers, bee hives, decks what ever.. needs to be set on steel girders from parapet wall to parapet wall.
This is part of Fire codes: If there is a fire and the top floor ceiling burns through the fireman do not want an avalanche of Roof items descending on them, so everything needs to be set up on fireproof structures, IE Steel beams..

greenworks | 8 years and 1 month ago

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We got our bees from Hudson Valley Bee Supply in Kingston upstate. Good temperaments (yes that’s a thing) nice bees for overwintering here and a nice excuse to visit upstate. Really helpful staff too.

Bee pickup night is quite the experience too. http://www.hudsonvalleybeesupply.com

Guest User | 8 years and 1 month ago

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@mozeeatupu – you actually can order bees “packages” (about 3 pounds of live bees including a queen) which are delivered in a box via USPS! We have chickens and similarly, you can buy mail-order baby chicks. For the actual hive boxes, you can buy them online.

mozeeatupu | 8 years and 1 month ago

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Where/how are you getting the hives?

daveinbedstuy | 8 years and 1 month ago

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300 lbs is less weight that two men standing next to each other. Even if you simply build a five foot square platform out of 2×4′ s it’ll spread that weight out but it’s overkill. Just make sure yoy protect your roof surface with some thick rubber mats of some sort.

Guest User | 8 years and 1 month ago

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I’ve read that estimate as well – the largest estimate I found online was 200-300 lbs for a big, full hive. Figure better overestimate than under.

daveinbedstuy | 8 years and 1 month ago

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Not sure where you get that estimate of weight. “A deep hive body full of bees, brood, and honey should weigh about 80 lbs.”

RobertGMarvin

in General Discussion 8 years and 1 month ago

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I’m not an engineer, so take this with a grain of salt, but 600 Lbs., spread over 20 or 30 square feet, doesn’t seem like an awful lot of weight.