Save the Bees

There's no doorman, but Toronto's iconic Fairmont Royal York Hotel is hoping a new structure will attract thousands of wild bees to its rooftop.

The "bee hotel" as the Fairmont is calling it, is a light green, freestanding wooden structure that looks like a large bookcase. On its shelves are bunches of sticks, soil and other materials that wild, pollinator bees — which normally live alone — can seek shelter in.

The bee hotel complements the hotel's already buzzing honeybee apiary, which has been in operation since 2008 and includes six hives. The hotel said the hives produce around 360 kilograms of honey each year, most of which gets used in the hotel's restaurant.

The wild bees that will live in the structure don't produce honey, but are still crucial for plant life across the city because they're better pollinators than their honeybee cousins. Unfortunately, experts across Canada are warning the pollinators are in decline.

Fred Davis, beekeeper to the hundreds of thousands of bees who live on our roof, entered this season’s harvest into the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair amber honey competition this year. The honey took first prize, with a score of 96 points out of a possible 100!