SERVICE UPDATE: Starting on Monday, May 25, for approximately 2-3 weeks, we’ll be making significant updates to spaces in our Eastside Branch. During that time certain services will be unavailable and there may be an increase in noise. For a full list of impacted services, click here.

Teaching Beehive

Our teaching beehive at the Eastside Branch provides plenty of learning opportunities. Enjoy watching the bees at work, exploring our nature space, and programs and workshops about environmental stewardship.

A close up of a slat full of bees and honey from the beehive at the Eastside Branch
Beekeeper Dave - from Backed by Bees - helps a child in a bee suit hold up a frame of honey bees.

Our Hive

We have two beehives at our Eastside Branch, adopted in partnership with Backed by Bees, a local beekeeping and mead‑making company that works closely with nature and the seasonal rhythms of bees.

Over the course of the year, each hive grows and changes as the queen leads the colony through cycles of expansion, foraging, and honey production – starting at around 30,000 bees and growing to 60,000 – 80,000 bees at its peak as flowers bloom and food becomes available.

Hosting hives at the library supports pollinators in our community while creating opportunities for environmental literacy, shared learning, and conversations about sustainability and our connection to the natural world.

Upcoming Pollinator Programs
Outdoors

Family Gardening

July 9th: 06:00 PM - 07:30 PM
Eastside Branch
Age Group: Families
Registration required

About the Program

Get your hands in the soil and enjoy a fun, outdoor gardening experience for the whole family! We'll be in the Naturespace to plant summer flowers, explore the garden, and take part in simple, creative activities together.

Learn more
Outdoors

Meet the Bees

July 25th: 02:00 PM - 03:00 PM
Eastside Branch
Age Group: Families
Registration required

About the Program

An engaging, up-close introduction to the world of bees. Learn about hive life, pollination, and the vital role bees play in our ecosystem. Observe a working hive while being guided in a safe and approachable way.

Learn more
Outdoors

Family Gardening

August 19th: 03:00 PM - 04:30 PM
Eastside Branch
Age Group: Families
Registration required

About the Program

Get your hands in the soil and enjoy a fun outdoor gardening experience for the whole family! Join us in the Naturespace to explore, create, and spend time together in the fresh air.

Learn more
Lifelong Learning

Honey Extraction

September 30th: 07:00 PM - 08:00 PM
Eastside Branch
Age Group: Families
Registration required

About the Program

A hands-on demonstration of how honey moves from hive to jar, revealing the tools and techniques used by beekeepers. Witness the extraction process and gain a deeper appreciation for the care, effort, and natural rhythm behind every harvest.

Learn more

Bee Informed

Learn more about our hive, urban beekeeping and the safety protocols for keeping a working beehive in our Naturespace.

  • Advantages of Urban Beekeeping

    Honey bees are just one of a number of pollinators like butterflies, bumble bees and wild bees with whom we already share our urban space.

    Urban beekeeping creates the opportunity to educate citizens about the environment, repurpose unused spaces within our cities and produce hyper-local honey.

  • Bee Safety

    Coexisting with bees in our environment is easy and natural, there are just a few best practices to keep in mind when working around a beehive.

    Honey bees are very docile, focused mainly on bringing floral resources back to their colony. Bees are not aggressive, but they can be defensive, and it’s best to give the bees a bit of space to allow them to carry out their duties without interference.

    Our hive has an entrance located at the front of the bottom box about six inches off the ground. You may notice bees congregating here in the summer months in an effort to cool off. It’s at this entrance that you’ll likely see bees entering and exiting the hive, carrying nectar or pollen, following their upward flight path.

    We ask that you always stay 5 feet back from the hive entrance.

  • Honey Production

    Each year, honey will be harvested from our hive. Flowers and other pollinator plants affect the taste and colour of the honey. Experience the sweetness of the wildflowers within Waterloo.

    Honey produced from the hive will be shared with the community in various ways.

    Facts About Honey

    • To make one pound of honey, it takes a bee the equivalent of 3 trips around the world (144800km).
    • A bee can produce 1/12 of a teaspoon of honey in its life.
    • One hive can collect around 66 lbs of pollen/year and 300 lbs of honey/year.
    • Honey bees aren’t hardwired to make honey – they are actually taught by older nestmates.
    • Workers can carry up to 80% of their body weight in honey or pollen back to the hive.
    • Honey is the only naturally occurring product that has all the necessary nutrients to sustain life.
  • Hive Facts

    Did You Know?

    • In a worker bee’s life time, she can fly a distance that is equivalent to 1.5 trips around the world.
    • Each nectar trip, the bee will visit between 50-100 flowers and will not jump between flower/plant species.
    • The Queen can live up to 5 years.
    • Honey bees move their wings at 12000 beats/min (200/second).
    • Each bee has 170 odor receptors (and their sense of smell is 50x more powerful than dogs).
    • A Queen can lay up to 2500 eggs a day at her peak production.
    • Bees can be trained to locate landmines.
    • The bees are called the colony, the physical box they live in is the hive.

The Buzz on Bees

Browse a selection of books that celebrate bees, pollinators, and the vital role they play in our ecosystems.

The Buzz on Wild Bees: The Little-known Pollinators That Keep Our Planet Humming
Kira Vermond; illustrated by June Steube
Honey: Recipes From a Beekeeper's Kitchen
Amy Newsome
Green Jolene and the Backyard Bees
Wendy Mass; illustrated by Billy Yong
Bumblebee Season: A Novel
Eileen Garvin
The Bee Connection
Ben Newman
A Garden for the Rusty Patched Bumblebee: Creating Habitat for Native Pollinators
Lorraine Johnson; illustrated by Ann Sanderson
The Dog Who Saved the Bees
Stephanie Gibeault; illustrated by David Hohn
Common Sense Natural Beekeeping: Sustainable, Bee-friendly Techniques to Help Your Hives Survive and Thrive
Kim Flottum
I Saw a Bee
Rob Ramsden
Before the Seed: How Pollen Moves
Susannah Buhrman-Deever; illustrated by Gina Triplett & Matt Curtius
The Honey Trap: How the Good Intentions of Urban beekeepers risk ecological disaster
Dana L. Church
They Work: Honey Bees, Nature's Pollinators
June Smalls; illustrated by Yukari Mishima
Cultivating Native Plants for Pollinators : A Comprehensive Guide to Attracting Birds, Bees, and Butterflies
Helen Yoest
My Pollinator Garden: How I Plant for Bees, Butterflies, Beetles, and More
Jordan Zwetchkenbaum; illustrated by Kate Cosgrove
Bee People and the Bugs They Love
Frank Mortimer
Pollinators & Native Plants for Kids: An Introduction to Botany
Jaret C. Daniels
Heart of the Hive: Inside the Mind of the Honey Bee and the Incredible Life Force of the Colony
Hilary Kearney; photography by Eric Tourneret
Honey Bee: A First Field Guide to the World's Favorite Pollinating Insect
Priyadarshini Chakrabarti Basu
The Lives of Bees: The Untold Story of the Honey Bee in the Wild
Thomas D. Seeley
Beekeepers and What They Do
Liesbet Slegers
Queenspotting: Meet the Remarkable Queen Bee and Discover the Drama at the Heart of the Hive
Hilary Kearney