Kiara McQuaker and Cam MacDonald might become the first homeowners in Cochrane to keep bees in their yard.
McQuaker and MacDonald became intrigued by the idea thanks to a chance encounter at the Calgary Stampede. The couple met a man with the Calgary and District Beekeepers Association.
“We got into talking about how one begins with having a couple bee boxes in their backyard. All in all, he told us it’s a very easy process and that quite a few homeowners in Calgary have them,” McQuaker explained.
The two consider themselves to be relatively self-sustainable. They keep a garden in their front yard and are avid hunters.
“What caught me as a honey lover is that each box produces about 100 lbs of honey in a year,” McQuaker said.
The pair then set out to see if beekeeping was a feasible hobby in Cochrane. McQuaker made a call to the town’s municipal enforcement office and left a message in regards to the town’s bylaws.
McQuaker said she and her fiancé’s intentions are to keep one or two bee boxes on their property for personal use – they do not intend to sell the honey or wax.
“I had looked on the Cochrane bylaw website and even though it said something about agricultural livestock it didn’t say anything specifically about bees,” McQuaker explained.
A bylaw officer returned McQuaker’s call the next day to answer her question.
“She was very helpful – she did say that we weren’t allowed to have bees because they did fall under agricultural livestock.
McQuaker was skeptical of the answer because bees are already everywhere naturally, unlike traditional livestock like chickens or cattle.
Her next step was to speak with the town’s development office.
“The worker there said that bees in fact were allowed and that the bylaw was “silent” on bees,” McQuaker said.
McQuaker said as per her request, the two offices had a discussion and concluded that bees were in fact allowed within town. While the pair is happy with the news, they intend to hold off on starting the process because they want time to adequately prepare for keeping bees.
“The Calgary and District Beekeepers Association offers free courses on how to start and care for your bees. As well, they offer monthly meetings so we’re going to attend those sessions for about a year because we really want to do our research first. We want to see what kind of bees we can bring in and what’s going to be best for our community,” McQuaker said.
“My number one thing that I’m concerned about is when people hear a residential owner is going to have a beehive they’ll think ‘Oh no, I’m going to have a swarm of bees in my backyard every day.’ We plan on talking to our direct neighbours and making sure no one has an extreme allergy,” McQuaker continued.
McQuaker explained that there are a lot of misconceptions about beekeeping but the practice actually shouldn’t hinder neighbours in anyway.
“Honey bees are extremely docile to the point where you have a 60 per cent chance of not getting stung. And they tend to stick very close to their hives,” McQuaker explained.
As for beginning the process, McQuaker and MacDonald are choosing to hold off a year or two before purchasing bees. McQuaker explained it is recommended to start the process during the spring but the pair are busy planning their wedding for spring 2017.
