Want to try beekeeping?

Want to try beekeeping for a change? This is one of the oldest and most traditional practices that have spanned centuries and continues to be one of the most popular pastimes around.

Having a worldwide repute that spans the globe, beekeeping , also known as apiculture, traces its history back in the Middle East where it was believed to have originated.

Early Egyptians were believed to have kept bees for the production of honey and beeswax, which they used to trade with other basic commodities along the East African coast for thousands of years.

This was the primary trading tool for Egyptians, who maintained the beekeeping practice over the years, however, the ancient practice of harvesting honey and beeswax was a destructive one that involved having to kill the bee colonies and destroy existing bee habitats.

It was a tedious and wasteful process that has been in practice for thousands of years until in 1851, when an American beekeeper or apiarist known as Lorenzo Lorraine Langstroth discovered that there was actually a much safer and simpler way of harvesting honey and beeswax.

Langstroth discovered that colonies actually adopt a principle which he called "bee space", wherein bees leave a space of 0.6 centimeters between wax combs , which would avoid having to destroy the colonies in order to harvest the honey and beeswax, thus preserving the colonies and their habitats.

This later on led to the creation of artificial bee hives using the bee space principle, which was responsible for simplifying the procedures in collecting honey and beeswax and in the process, preserving the existing colonies which resulted to not only effective and cost-efficient, but also environmentally friendly as well.

Aside from the fact that apiculture or beekeeping is a productive and enriching hobby, it is does its major contribution to the economy and the environment since it greatly aids in the pollination of vegetables, pasturage and fruits.

Other countries, on the other hand, consider beekeeping as a treasured and economy enhancing venture that they beekeepers are being subsidized or getting paid by the government to sustain their operations.

Today, among the major honey producing countries that rely on beekeeping are the United States, Argentina, China, Turkey, Mexico, Russia and Ukraine and among the leading exporters are Mexico, Argentina, China and Germany. Among the countries leading in honey imports are the United States, United Kingdom, Germany and Japan.

Want to try beekeeping? By all means, go ahead and enjoy it.