Farmers

Chicago Honey Co-op Finds New Home For Bees in Back of the Yards

The former location in North Lawndale.
The former location in North Lawndale. Photo: courtesy Chicago Honey Co-op

The Chicago Honey Co-op, a familiar sight at farmer’s markets, has found three new homes for its beehives after the North Lawndale lot it had produced honey on for eight years was put up for sale. According to a report by Katie Drew at ChicagoWildlifeNews.com, the primary new home for the bees will be the new, environmental award-winning distribution facility of Testa Produce on an industrial site in the Back of the Yards neighborhood; others will be at a landscape company near the Chicago Center for Green Technology nearby and in Columbus Park. Moving the bees was quite a feat, according to co-op director Michael Thompson:

After strapping the hives closed the night before, the beekeepers returned the next morning to move the boxes, each weighing 80 to 100 pounds. The last step, after securing the hives on cinder blocks at the new location, is to undo the straps, pull out the screen - and run.

[ChicagoWildlifeNews.com]

Chicago Honey Co-op Finds New Home For Bees in Back of the Yards