Beekeeper cares for 22 hives inside Green-Wood Cemetery

Among the endless tombstones and Gothic mausoleums throughout Green-Wood Cemetery, tucked beside Dell Water, sit 22 white boxes elevated one foot off the woodchip-covered ground on metal, four-legged stands. Move a little closer, and the lives of 385,000 honey bees can be seen.

“That number is going to greatly increase over this month,” explained Nick Hoefly, who has attended to the beehives in Green-Wood for the last nine years. “They're building up for this big nectar flow that happens in June. So they're really keyed into the timing of the season and when things are ready.”

The linden tree, which is common in Brooklyn, typically blooms in June and is one of the main sources of sustenance for these bees. The “nectar flow” is when bees forage nectar and pollen from locally blooming plants.

Asked why he likes bees, Hoefly said, “Bees are endlessly fascinating. If you learn one new thing about the bees, you always have two more questions.” Plus, as a beekeeper, he’s always interesting to talk with at parties.

Why do the people who manage Green-Wood Cemetery want to have bees?

“The honey bee is a great general pollinator,” Hoefly said. “They work across all kinds of different plants.”

If the native pollinator is not available because of many issues in a modern urban environment, “The honey bee may be able to pollinate the flowers that depended on that other pollinator,” said Hoefly.

Green-Wood has also been moving toward sustainable practices and reducing its carbon footprint. Bees are part of this effort, Hoefly explained.

“The hives are kind of an interesting setting next to all of the tombstones, and it's a great way to start a conversation about not just bees, but pollination and conservation.”

Within each hive live thousands of worker bees (all female), one queen (yes, female), and drones (male).

“The worker bee is going to live for about 6 to 8 weeks in the summertime. She might live upwards of four or five months in the wintertime.” Their jobs include foraging for nectar and pollen and guarding the hive.

The queen lives three to four years.

“She's going to be laying about 2,000 eggs per day at the height of the season.” If she stops laying eggs to make more bees, which is her primary purpose, “They [worker bees] will just replace her as they need.”

The queen is larger than the other bees in the hive, and emits a pheromone, or scent, to help bond the thousands of bees together as a hive.

How does the queen produce these thousands of eggs per day?

After the queen hatches and is able to fly, she goes out on mating flights for about a week.

"The plan is to go out and find what's called a drone [male bee] congregation area, which is where drones from other hives have collected,” Hoefly said.

She then flies through a cloud of these male bees.

“They're going to all jockey for position, and one of them is going to connect with her and they will mate in the air. Once he's done and he's shot his shot, he will fall away and die.”

The queen repeats her mating with 15 to 25 drones within a week, then returns to her hive to spend the next years laying eggs. This is how beehives keep their gene pool mixed and how the hive stays populated.

Hoefly started keeping bees in 2016 on his roof in Astoria as a hobby. His day job was creating 3D graphics and animation as a freelancer. Soon, he installed two more hives and started selling honey locally.

“I was getting stopped on the street by people I didn't even know who were asking if I was the honey guy and if they could get in on the next batch of honey.”

In 2017, through a chance meeting, he was asked to take over caring for some of the Green-Wood Cemetery hives, along with another beekeeper. It was his first paid gig as a beekeeper.

“Basically, I was doing this all as a side hustle,” Hoefly said.

In 2020, COVID hit New York City.

“It was just a very easy time for the beekeeping business to function, but it was not an easy time for the video business to function. So I kind of went all in on beekeeping in 2020.”

As a beekeeper, Hoefly was classified as an essential worker, so he was free to travel around the locked-down city. He later opened a shop in Astoria called Astor Apiaries and made a go of being an urban farmer in the apiary sphere.

“We found out real quick that honey's expensive from the city, and it's also very difficult to produce a lot. So we couldn't really scale that.”

As an urban beekeeper, Hoefly found a mix that worked. Selling apiary gear in his store, giving demonstrations and caring for hives owned by others became his full-time work.

“If we were out in the suburbs or out in the country, we might be able to get away with just honey or just pollination contracts.”

Honey bees are not aggressive, but they should be respected, Hoefly warned. They can sting, and he knows well, having been stung more than 1,000 times throughout his apiary career.

People are welcome to come by the hives in Green-Wood Cemetery next to Dell Water and have a look at the beehives. While they are not dangerous, Hoefly recommends keeping a respectful distance.

On a monthly basis when it’s warm, Hoefly hosts “hive tours” for the public to get a close-up look at the hives and what’s inside.

To sign up for a tour, go to astorapiaries.com.