What Is Beekeeping?

Beekeeping can be called apiculture, it is about maintaining two or more honeybee hives. It is the beekeeper who collects the honey and maintains the bees and hives. The location where the hives are kept are called the apiary. In the history of the ancient Egyptians, there were records showing that beekeeping was already being practiced as early as 13,000 B.C. Honey is considered very important in the ancient Egyptian civilization.

Thinking about it, there are several types of beekeepers, there are those who do beekeeping as a hobby, while there are some who keep bees for additional income. They can be called sideliners. Commercial beekeeping is their only source of income.

Hobbyists find beekeeping very interesting, relaxing and rewarding. Beekeeping is an activity where you could involve your family. You could educate your family and neighbors about bees so they would not be afraid with bees all the time. With beekeeping, you can expect to harvest about 40-60 lbs. of honey every year. With a good location, you could get about 100 lbs. Having jars of honey could go a long way, you could sell it or even exchange it for some produce.

Honey is not the only thing that can be collected from the hives. You could collect beeswax to make candles and cosmetics. Royal jelly is a popular dietary supplement. The beekeeper can get propolis which is a resinous substance that can be used in alternative medicine.

Beekeeping would entail work. One colony ever season can keep you busy for 40 hours. It is not just getting honey, a beekeeper would need time to inspect, assemble, extract and interact with the bees. You would need to check the bees health. Medications and treatment could be needed by the bees. A beekeeper should at least inspect the bees twice a week and it is best to log all the things that you have observed.

The months of July to September is the month when honey is frequently yielded in the Northern Hemisphere. In warmer climates, harvesting season can be longer. The rest of the year is for inspecting and keeping hives free of pests and diseases.

When venturing into beekeeping, it is important to keep some protective gear, like gloves, hooded suit, hat and veil. There are some beekeepers who prefer not to use gloves when handling bees, since they tend to become clumsy or can even transmit diseases from one hive to another. Another important equipment for beekeeping is a smoker. A smoker helps calm the bees and can encourage the other bees to feed by thinking that they need to abandon their homes.

If you are decided to enter beekeeping, then you could get an information from beekeeping association. They would require fees, but it would not cause too much. They even hold teaching classes for novice beekeepers. Aside from that, a beekeeper should be reasonably fit since beekeepers would need some heavy lifting to do. Stings could be painful or brought by poor handling of bees. This would help you become a beekeeper, that is If you are genuinely interested.