More Than 60,000 Bees Call This Manhattan Park Home

MIDTOWN MANHATTAN, NY — New Yorkers have some new neighbors. More than 60,000 bees moved into two hives situated in the northwest corner of Bryant Park this April, and will continue to make the park their home as they produce urban, locally-sourced honey.

Beekeper Andrew Coté — who runs hives in four of five New York City boroughs — heads up the hives in a partnership with Bryant Park. He checks on the hives about once every two weeks and told Patch that the two hives will produce a combined 80 pounds of honey this year, which is greatly surpasses expectations for a first-year beehive.

"Now that it’s August and the year is winding down I might come every two weeks because they don’t require as much maintenance after the spring," Coté told Patch.

(Video by Marissa Duhaney/Patch)

Coté told Patch that in June an estimated 75,000 to 80,000 bees could have been living in the Bryant Park hives. As winter approaches the queen bee lays less eggs in anticipation of the harsh conditions, Coté said. About 12,000 to 15,000 bees are expected to survive the winter.

The beehives saw a population spike in June when Coté helped corral 30,000 honey bees that swarmed 1 Times Square — the same building where the ball is dropped on New Year's Eve.

"We combined that strong swarm with one of the hives which was a little bit weaker than the other — it wasn’t weak but it had some room to grow — and we installed them, so those bees had a happy home here in Bryant Park and I don’t think they could be happier," Coté told Patch.

Bryant Park organized summer beekeeping classes where people could learn more about the hives and honey production. The next beekeeping class will be held on Friday, September 8. During the class Coté describes the roles each type of bee — queen, worker and drone — perform for the colony.

During classes visitors are also able to taste and buy honey from Coté's company Andrew's Honey. Honey is the third most faked food in the United States behind olive oil and fish, Coté told attendees during an August beekeeping class.

During the summer months Coté did not run into any trouble while maintaining the Bryant Park beehive. Despite the fact that Bryant Park is heavily trafficked during the day — and the hive is about 20 feet away from high-energy ping pong games — people are generally hesitant to approach or bother the bees.

"The staff here are incredible and people are very respectful of the signs about the bees," Coté told Patch. "And most people aren’t going to kick a beehive. Most people have some innate common sense to stay away from 75,000 to 150,000 flying, stinging, venomous insects — one would hope."

You can check out a live stream of action at the Bryant Park beehives below:

Photo/video by Patch