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Buzzworthy: Company Offers Custom-Made Beehive Rentals

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A bee on a honeycomb
A bee tends to a honeycomb. (Image credit: Africa Studios, Shutterstock)

If you dream of dabbling in beekeeping, but aren't sure if you're ready to commit to owning your own hive, how about renting one? Eco Honeybees, a Virginia-based company, loans beehives to individuals, businesses and schools in and around metro Washington, D.C., suburban Northern Virginia and Maryland, reported TreeHugger.

For a monthly fee, Eco Honeybees helps set up the fully stocked beehives at a home or business, and then returns every three to four weeks to check up on the health of the hive. The company's hands-on approach is designed to foster interest in beekeeping, while also providing flexibility for amateur hobbyists who may not have all the know-how to maintain their own backyard hives.   

"What we've done is create a new school of beekeeping," company co-founder Larry Marling told TreeHugger. "In the past, if you had a beehive, you were a beekeeper. With Eco Honeybees, our clients are hive owners. We do all the work and our clients get to sit back in lawn furniture and enjoy watching their bees knowing all the while that they are doing something very positive for the environment."

More information about Eco Honeybees can be found on the company's website.

Follow Denise Chow on Twitter @denisechow. Follow LiveScience @livescience, Facebook & Google+.

Denise Chow
Denise Chow
Live Science Contributor

Denise Chow was the assistant managing editor at Live Science before moving to NBC News as a science reporter, where she focuses on general science and climate change. Before joining the Live Science team in 2013, she spent two years as a staff writer for Space.com, writing about rocket launches and covering NASA's final three space shuttle missions. A Canadian transplant, Denise has a bachelor's degree from the University of Toronto, and a master's degree in journalism from New York University.