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About Us
Our Story
Lord Batzenbys was created with two main focuses in mind: Positive Pollination and Mozzie Mitigation. Lord Batzenbys initial intentions are to start building the foundations to the shifts we are seeing in urban cultures. As major cities grow exponentially, new burdens present themselves. Our goal is to provide urban dwellers with the tools to help navigate the shifts in a seamless, yet very responsible manner. Beginning with custom bat houses, and expanding to beehives and beyond, our product line promises to help promote the population growth of our two most important pollinators. With the people population booming, we have seen food shortages everywhere. With the higher demand for food, backyard gardening has seen an uptick. Along with community gardens and Controlled Environment Agriculture (CEA) facilities, supplemental farming methods have become an ever-growing component to urban landscapes worldwide. Around 90% of flowering plants on earth need help with pollination, and thus need pollinators. Lord Batzenbys will help build the infrastructure needed to sustain this growth. In addition to the need for more food, rapid growth in urban areas has fueled the rise in the pest population. Mosquito numbers have risen significantly in the densely populated and warmer environments that are present in urban areas. Mosquitos, and other flying pests, thrive without being kept in check. Colorado is home to 18 different species of bats and 946 different species of bees. We are determined to help urban areas become a haven for both bats and bees. Also, Lord Batzenbys believes in maintaining a healthy community through interpersonal interactions, and we believe that we can contribute catalysts to these connections. As we continue to grow, we will offer customized community food banks, community book shares, and other functional yard accoutrement that allow us to better connect with our neighbors whilst also complementing our own homes. Based in Denver, Lord Batzenbys has many advantages that are unique to our location. However, Lord Batzenbys hopes to create a model for other urban areas with similar circumstances and expand accordingly.
Seriously? Bats?
Why would anyone want a bat house? Won’t I get rabies? Are they going to try to suck my blood? There is a plethora of misinformation surrounding bats. Part of Lord Batzenbys’ mission is to dispel misinformation and help to educate folks on our amazing little furry friends. Bats are everywhere, whether you live in a rural area, the suburbs, or even in the city. Most bats are nocturnal and are generally only seen at dusk when just enough natural light is available. During the day, they find a place to roost until the next evening comes. Most options in urban areas include attics, chimneys, garages, awnings, and so on. Lord Batzenbys wants to provide housing for bats to coexist with them while remaining at a safe distance. Having bats nearby is beneficial for pest control, but also great for pollination. Bats will normally eat one third of their body weight each night…equivalent to around 1,000 insects EACH NIGHT. Bats will drink nectar from flowers that are open at night. In doing so, their hair collects pollen which then travels with them and spreads to other plants they feed from and around. As for rabies, less than 1% of bats carry rabies. Only one to three deaths from rabies occur annually in the U.S. 99% of rabies transmission to humans worldwide come from domestic dogs. Precautions should still be made to avoid contact with bats, and knowing where they are will help that. Vampire bats are the only “bloodsuckers” of the 1300 species of bats. While there are three species of vampire bats in North America, there has only been one recorded specimen found in the United States…in far south Texas. Vampire bats are even more uncommon in urban areas, as they generally feed off the blood of livestock and other wildlife.
The Bees Knees
Bees need little introduction; we’ve all encountered them at some time. Beehives aren’t self-sustaining like bat houses. They require care and maintenance on a regular basis. More on that when Lord Batzenbys starts production of beehives this winter. What’s the story with bees? Bees’ main food source is pollen and nectar of flowering plants. When feeding, pollen attaches to the hair that covers their body. When a bee travels to the next plant for feeding, the pollen is left behind on the stigma and the pollination cycle is completed. Imagine this happening over and over any given day by a single bee, then imagine how many bees are in a hive at any given time (healthy hives average around 30,000-50,000 bees). One cannot fully emphasize the complete importance of bees to our food supply, but there is so much data available to at least understand the basics. 75% of food crops depend on pollinators to survive, and that includes crops consumed by animals that are consumed by humans. One of every three bites of food we eat is available thanks to honeybees. As a result of pollination, bees also provide honey and propolis. In addition to nutrients, the health benefits of both honey and propolis are endless: antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, and beyond. Without bees, humankind could not sustain itself. Bee populations have steadily been declining worldwide. Beekeepers across the U.S. lost 45.5 percent of their managed honeybee colonies. The point is, we need more bees AND more beekeepers. Lord Batzenbys is dedicated to providing resources and partnerships to help maintain hives purchased through us.
The Future
Through partnerships, grants, and education, Lord Batzenbys intends to be a leader in helping the pollinator population grow exponentially in the metro areas throughout the U.S. and abroad starting with Denver. Lord Batzenbys will be active in urban farming efforts including CEA facilities, community gardens, and beyond. Lord Batzenbys intends to expand the movement of pollinators to the far reaches of metro areas through networks of "Pollination Parkways." With the ecosystem as a whole in mind, our product line will continue to expand. We want to provide content that allows people to independently create their own pollinator palaces, as well as educate people on the importance of pollinators and community in general. Ultimately, we want to help save the world...simply put.