Bees becoming Beehive State pastime

The trend of raising backyard bees continues to wax stronger in the Beehive State as hundreds of residents swarm to raise their own hives, and biologists and city officials tout the benefits.

"I'm just shocked by how many beekeepers we have," Salt Lake City Councilman JT Martin said.

Although there are 53 registered beekeepers in the city's boundaries, Martin said he suspects another 50-plus are raising bees without registering.

What was once considered a rural activity only meant for those with spacious acreage has become somewhat of a suburban hobby for many Utah households seeking the next step in self-sustainability — especially during still uncertain economic times.

A Utah County-based beekeeping business, Neighborhood Beekeeping, has doubled its clientele this year from 100 to more than 200, according to co-owner Mark Ellingson.

"A lot of folks say they haven't seen a honeybee in a couple years," Ellingson said. "So they're just thrilled when we come by."

Neighborhood Beekeeping's services have become so popular that the Highland company isn't accepting any more clients this year — or the next or the next. A waiting list more than two years long is full of folks wishing to host a couple of the company's beehives in exchange for 10 percent of its honey yield.

But Lehi resident Mark Ellis, one of Ellingson's clients, doesn't share his yard with 100,000 bees for a mere harvest of eight or so gallons of honey. Ellis understands that growing fruit and vegetables in his 40-tree orchard and quarter-acre garden largely depends on keeping quite a few of the buzzing pollen dispensers around.

A neighborhood hive can mean as much as a 50 percent larger garden crop, Martin said.

Pollination is directly responsible for between 15 percent and 30 percent of U.S. consumer food. But in the past few years, that responsibility has been increasingly neglected due to a decrease in the world's honey bee population, known as Colony Collapse Disorder.

"All of the beekeepers across the U.S. are experiencing difficulties in maintaining healthy bees," said Rosalind James, USDA bee biology research leader at Utah State University.

James noted that beekeepers are losing about 30 percent of their hives each year.

"It's definitely a serious problem," she said.

As the population falls, the cost of pollinating crops has risen.