Legalizing Beekeeping in Torrance – Questions

Hi All,

I’ve got a number of questions for this group but first some background.

We’re trying to get beekeeping legalized in the city of Torrance. There was a council meeting last Tuesday where the draft ordinance was addressed. There are concerns that some members of the city council and mayor have that I’d like to address and would appreciate input.

The major concern is that allowing beekeeping in single family residences will increase the risk of people and pets getting attacked by swarms of bees. I think some headway is being made in helping them understand that the perceived risk is much greater than the actual risk and any risks that do exist can be mitigated in a variety of ways, but there is still work to go.

I made the point that it actually decreases public risk to have experienced beekeepers managing hives in a backyard setting as the bees in the managed hives compete for resources with the feral bees that already exist in our neighborhoods. The more managed hives we have in a given area, the less forage for feral hives to become established. Feral bees increase risk because they can swarm and setup new hives close to public spaces and/or in private residences where they are unwanted and in many cases can be more aggressive than bees in managed hives. Also, the managed hives are under inspection by beeks and any issues can be addressed, as opposed to the feral hives which are obviously not managed. Anyone see holes in this logic? Anything you would add?

Another point made is the large start-up cost to become a beek in terms of time and money so there is not going to be a huge rush of people becoming beeks, and the people that become beeks are by and large responsible, prepared and competent. Legalizing beekeeping will increase public safety because clear regulations will be put in place to address safety concerns and those that want to keep bees will need to follow those regulations. Anyone that is currently keeping bees illegally can become legal by making sure they follow the regulations. Illegal hives that might be risky in some manner, will be made less risky. Part of the regulations will include demonstrating you have training and are competent to keep bees.

So, my questions:

1) What are the typical start-up costs financially (on average) to become a beek. A breakdown on costs would be appreciated at whatever granularity makes sense.
2) How much time do people usually take to get trained before they can manage hives safely and competently by themselves?

A final point I made is that there is a large community of beeks that exist that love to mentor and train new beeks, so there would be opportunities for the city employees that inspect hives and private citizens that want to keep bees to be trained. So, if we get bees permitted in Torrance, prepare for new folks wanting to be mentored (yours truly included 😉 ).

Thanks for your input. The city is going to be revisiting this ordinance in October and I want to get info back to them by next Monday as time is of the essence.

thanks much,
Jim