{"id":196108,"date":"2026-04-13T22:51:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-13T22:51:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/196108\/"},"modified":"2026-04-13T22:51:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-13T22:51:11","slug":"a-shoe-box-of-12000-flying-singing-venomous-creatures","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/196108\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018A Shoe Box of 12,000 Flying, Singing, Venomous Creatures\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>Andrew Cot\u00e9 distributing bees outside his UWS shop, Andrew\u2019s Honey, last Friday. Photos by Scott Etkin<\/p>\n

By Scott Etkin<\/p>\n

At just past 6:45 a.m. on a chilly Friday, Andrew Cot\u00e9 started unloading boxes of bees from the back of a white rental van parked on the Upper West Side.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Beekeeping apprentices, some dressed in protective bee suits, others in sweatpants or jeans, brushed stray bees from the outside of the boxes, and then brought the wooden containers into Andrew\u2019s Honey on the corner of West 75th Street and Columbus Avenue.<\/p>\n

The shop, which sells many types of local honey, was the site of this year\u2019s distribution of live bees to dozens of beekeepers in the city. Cot\u00e9 has held this event \u2013 affectionately called \u201cthe running of the bees\u201d \u2013 for the past 20 years in various locations, including Bryant Park and Columbus Circle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

A group of beekeepers and onlookers gathered around the store, taking photos and talking about their hives. Each box contained its own queen, though she was kept in a smaller, separate enclosure while the worker bees got used to her scent.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Getting the bee containers ready for distribution.<\/p>\n

The containers of bees \u2013 \u201ca shoe box of 12,000 flying, singing, venomous creatures,\u201d in Cot\u00e9\u2019s colorful description \u2013 were attached together in groups of five. Cont\u00e9 used a reciprocating saw to separate the boxes from one another for distribution.\u00a0<\/p>\n

More than 60 people had signed up to collect a fresh bee colony. \u201cI\u2019m the only guy that I know of in New York City\u201d who sells live bees, said Cot\u00e9, a fourth-generation beekeeper and founder of the New York City Beekeepers Association.<\/p>\n

Cot\u00e9 maintains hives on rooftops and outdoor spaces throughout New York City, including some at landmarks such as Madison Square Garden and the United Nations. But the bees distributed on Friday morning were bred in Georgia, where it\u2019s warmer.\u00a0<\/p>\n

On a phone call with the Rag, Cot\u00e9 energetically explained that \u201cbees are sold by weight, like cheese or cocaine.\u201d A package of three pounds of bees, including a mated queen, is listed on Cot\u00e9\u2019s website for $210.<\/p>\n

Pennie Morgan, director of Hephzibah House, a Christian guest house on West 75th Street, started keeping bees<\/a> on the building\u2019s roof last spring, with help from Cot\u00e9\u2019s team. She said that she has become \u201cobsessed\u201d with the bees.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The bees are relatively low-maintenance, she said. Someone from Cot\u00e9\u2019s team checks up on them around every six weeks, and their honey is harvested in the fall.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If you\u2019re surprised that beekeeping is allowed in New York City, you\u2019re not alone. Cot\u00e9 acknowledged that it catches people off guard to learn that the city legalized beekeeping in 2010 (hives have to be registered<\/a> with the NYC Department of Health).\u00a0<\/p>\n

As you might expect from someone who spends his life around bees, he downplayed concerns. \u201cPeople are allowed to reproduce humans, and have dogs, and drive cars, and all of those things are much more dangerous than honeybees,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Containers with some of the bees sold at last week\u2019s \u201crunning of the bees\u201d on the UWS.<\/p>\n

Like baking sourdough bread and watching \u201cTiger King,\u201d beekeeping gained in popularity during the pandemic. There were more than 400 registered hives in NYC as of 2023, NY1 reported<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n

If the proliferation of hives in the city has gone largely unnoticed, it\u2019s maybe because the bees are too busy searching for nectar and making honey to bother people. Over the course of a year, a colony can produce up to 100 pounds of honey, Cot\u00e9 said.<\/p>\n

Morgan said around 15 jars of honey were harvested from her rooftop hives, which she split with Cot\u00e9 and also shared with neighbors.\u00a0<\/p>\n

An average bee lives six weeks, though queens live three to four years on average. Morgan\u2019s bees didn\u2019t survive the winter, which was especially cold. Theoretically, though, the queen can produce new queens, meaning the colony can survive in perpetuity, as long as the queen is healthy.<\/p>\n

Cold weather, diseases, and mites can be fatal to bees, but city life is actually quite hospitable, Cot\u00e9 explained. New York provides a diversity of nectar sources, such as the various wildflower meadows in New York City\u2019s parks (conversely, honeybees that are trucked from farm to farm subsist on a monoculture diet). There\u2019s also \u201clittle to no spraying [of pesticides] here,\u201d he said, compared to suburban and rural areas that often use chemicals on golf courses, lawns, and farms.\u00a0<\/p>\n

There are more than 200 bee species<\/a> in New York City, and \u201chaving a diverse bee population is important for the city\u2019s ecological health,\u201d according to the NYC Department of Health.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Honeybees may compete with native bee populations for resources, so a good way to support local pollinators, including butterflies, is by planting native plants and reducing the use of pesticides.<\/p>\n

Subscribe to West Side Rag\u2019s FREE email newsletter\u00a0here<\/a>. And you can Support the Rag\u00a0here.<\/a><\/p>\n