Today, many utility buildings, businesses, offices, and schools (yes, schools!) are incorporating beekeeping into their facilities. In doing so, they not only provide the bees with a safe space to work but also normalize urban beekeeping as a profitable activity. As a result, they help overcome the irrational fear of bees and foster a deeper understanding of these essential pollinators.
However, not everyone is ready to roll out the red carpet. Often, a rooted fear of bees or intense fear of being stung by a bee keeps people from saying yes to an urban beekeeping project.
Some individuals may even have a specific object phobia, called melissophobia, where they experience persistent fear that can severely impact their day-to-day life.
This kind of anxiety is sometimes triggered by negative personal experiences or learned behavior from past encounters with these insects. Fortunately, following a few simple guidelines can help reduce this perceived danger and turn a simple beekeeping experience into an incredibly inspiring adventure.
What most people don’t know about bees
Bees rarely sting
Let’s start by stating an important fact: most bees are not prone to sting. Why? Because they die immediately afterward. When they sting as a last resort to protect their colony, their stinger generally gets stuck, tearing off and fatally injuring them.
Understanding this can help ease the common bees fear, as these insects are not aggressive and only sting in self-defense.
Bees aren’t after your food
To top it off, honey bees much prefer nectar and pollen to humans and their food. Yep – bees are vegan! Given their short life expectancy of about 30 days, the primary objective of honey bees is to provide food throughout the day to their colony to ensure its development. They can fly up to five kilometres away from their hive to do so.
What does that mean? Bees tend not to stick around a property when an urban beekeeping project is installed. (By the way, the troublemakers trying to steal your lunchtime sandwich are other insects, like wasps, not bees. They’re super important to the local ecosystem, but let’s face it, they can be rather disturbing.)
Although typically docile, honey bees are not prone to sting and are not interested in human food. Like any animal (including us humans!), they can become defensive when they feel threatened.
Wasps are often to blame
More than 90% of bee stings reported in urban settings are actually caused by wasps, not honey bees.
Read: 7 surprising facts about bee stings
Why bees might act defensively near a hive
Around the hive, three main factors can cause honey bees to become defensive:
1. Poor hive placement
The location of Alvéole hives is always carefully chosen to ensure that their entrances are positioned in the ideal place for bees and humans, with each hive facing away from activity areas. This design leaves enough space for the bees to come and go as they please while foraging on nearby flowers.
When the entrance to the hive is located away from busy areas, the bees’ defense mechanisms will not be accidentally triggered.
2. Bad weather can startle bees
Bees can adapt to just about any environment, from a windy rooftop to a busy patio. But if the weather suddenly changes, they might briefly become defensive if someone opens their hive. (You would probably have the same reaction if the ceiling in your house heaved when it was raining heavily!)
This rarely happens, however, and as a rule, people stay indoors to protect themselves from the rain, so there’s no real risk.
3. Improper hive management
Urban beekeeping is based on an approach that focuses more on education than on mass production. This is why it is essential to choose a qualified supplier like Alvéole. By partnering with an experienced local beekeeper, you’ll be guided by experts who know the ins and outs of bee behavior.
This includes managing hives according to strict schedules and choosing the right type of honey bee (we work with an Italian variety renowned for its mild temperament). This approach helps ensure that the beekeeping experience is as safe as it is rewarding – no protective gear necessary!
“The first time [when I approached a beehive] I stayed away, but I saw that the beekeepers weren’t scared at all and they later invited me to leave. involve more. First of all, you have to be comfortable – that helps a lot. Then other people see you and it shows them that there is nothing to worry about. »
– David Le Brasseur, Animator, Leisure and Culture, City of Dorval
Read: Is beekeeping dangerous?
Let experts help shift into curiousity
One of the reasons why beekeeping has seen such a surge in popularity is the availability of professional beekeeping services, like Alvéole, that prioritize safety. From setting up hives to extracting honey, we ensure that every aspect of urban beekeeping is handled with care. This is why we emphasize education and promote urban beekeeping as an excellent way to reconnect with nature in the heart of the city.
We’ve found that when we communicate the right information, we eliminate fear at its source and spark curiosity. And curiosity leads to interest, which ultimately leads to love, and humans want to protect what they love. Do you see where we’re coming from?
“For the participants who were scared and reluctant, [the beekeeping workshop] helped to understand the distinction between bees and wasps: bees just don’t want to sting.”
– Geneviève Dubé, Advisor, Environmental Systems and Services, Air Transat
Workshops make a difference
Aimed at employees, students, and tenants, Alvéole’s workshops provide information and educational activities that allay the fear of bees many people have while highlighting the vital role bees play as pollinators in our environment.
Having delivered workshops to over 50,000 people since our founding in 2013, we’ve discovered that a beekeeping experience is a surprisingly powerful vehicle for reconnecting people with nature.
Its effectiveness is astounding because many people feel nervous the first time they hold a beehive frame, but it’s precisely this initiation that allows the powerful charisma of the honey bee to operate at its fullest.
When fear runs deeper (bee phobia)
For some, the fear of bees, called melissophobia, can severely impact daily life. Individuals may experience physical and behavioral symptoms like rapid heartbeat, sweating, or panic attacks when encountering even a single bee. This specific object phobia often arises from negative experiences and becomes part of a pattern similar to mental disorders as defined by the American Psychiatric Association in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders.
The diagnostic criteria for melissophobia include a disproportionate reaction to a feared object that persists over time and disrupts daily functioning. While only a small percentage of the population is affected this severely, it can lead people to go to extreme lengths to avoid bees.
There are several treatments that can help. Exposure therapy and relaxation techniques, such as stay calm breathing exercises, are commonly used to reduce anxiety. Mental health professionals might also use cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) to treat phobias by challenging irrational beliefs and replacing them with more accurate perceptions. CBT is used to help individuals change their thoughts and behaviors related to their fear. In more serious cases, medications may be prescribed.
The key to effective treatment lies in understanding that each person’s response depends on individual factors and that support, patience, and education go a long way.
How can you help change perceptions
Ready to help us overcome the fear of bees and spread the word about their importance? Explore our programs to find one suited for your employees, tenants, or students.
