Bee Keeping

Becoming a bee keeper can be an exciting an rewarding hobby. And in many cases very profitable. Bees also make honey. But you won't find the honey from bumble bees. Honey is made, of course from honey bees.

Bee keeping in your local area may be governed by local laws and climate concerns. 

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Beekeeping As a Profitable Money Maker

Whilst it is true that most beekeepers around the world are amateurs, and keep bees as a hobby rather than a business. It is also true that beekeeping can be very profitable using modern methods. In a normal season it is quite possible to achieve a profit over costs of 100% or even more.

Also in beekeeping's favour is the fact that you do not need acres of land, or any great physical strength to do it. Making it a great hobby for almost anyone with an interest in the subject, and a love of the outdoors.

Four square feet of land is quite enough for a hive, and a small plot of twenty-five square feet could hold from 25 to 50 hives. No heavy labour is required. In fact for five or six months of the year there is very little to do at all. And for the rest of the year probably a quarter of an hour a week would be all you'd need to spend on one stock (hive). So even if you had twelve hives that's only three hours "work" a week.

It's only light work as well, out in the fresh air. There are even schoolchildren keeping bees and contributing to the family income. There are many so called "sideline" beekeepers making a profit of $20,000 from around 90 hives. O.K. I know what you're thinking. "That sounds like a lot of hives and work doesn't it".

Hey, most things require work of some sort, and if you are enjoying what you do it's not really like work anyway. 90 hives would require you to spend less than 24 hours a week on them at the busiest time. Now just think how many hours a week you watch TV. Probably being thoroughly bored most of the time!

So just imagine how much money you could make if you wanted to be a full-time beekeeper, beekeeping for a living. Of course you'd need to build up slowly and steadily over a period of time, but even a few hives could make you a useful addition to your finances.

Let's work from the figures above as an example. 90 hives bringing in around $20,000. Let's say you have just 12 hives. So we can say that should make you around $3,000. Of course you are only actually "working" with your hives for about three hours a week, and that's only for six months in the year. Making a total of 72 hours actual beekeeping ("work"). Now by my reckoning that works out at over $40 per hour.

Now I don't know about you, but I think that makes beekeeping well worth considering.

Chris Haycock is a successful information publisher with many more hobbies and interests. One such interest is the fascinating world of beekeeping. If you would like to find out more you should go to http://secretsofbeekeeping.com

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Beekeeping History - 4 Interesting Facts For Bee Lovers

Bee keeping dates back to the 13th century BC when it was practiced by ancient Egyptians. Once it was introduced by John Harbison to the United States, it became more modernized with updated techniques and became the main profession and financial sustenance for beekeepers. There are other by products that are derived from honey which is propolis and royal jelly which are used for medicinal purposes. Not much has changed since ancient times in the use of products derived from beehives.

1. Different varieties of bees brought into the US
Bees of different species were brought from various countries like New Zealand and Europe. This was more of a hobby for those who lived on farms than a main means of earning their keep. Farming was the main occupation and beekeeping was just a side hobby that was followed by the relatives of the farmers, who had access to space on the farm and found it easy to keep bees. This hobby then was passed from generation to generation.

2. From honey and bee wax the bee hive changed with science 
In early days, bees were maintained just for their honey and for the bee's wax that they produced for their hives, and which was used for making candles and various other products. Later L. L. Langstroth an American scientist brought more scientific methods into bee keeping and brought into practice the beehive frame that was removable. Later it was found that bees could be influenced into building their own frames that were straight by giving them some wax as a foundation. The bees would then make use of this foundation and build their own honey comb with holes that were octagonal in shape to keep their larvae in until they had developed enough and hatched. The methods for beekeeping kept getting more and more developed and a helpful and practical invention was the smoker, which assisted the beekeepers as a safety device.

3. The art of beekeeping
For any successful beekeeper, this art should be second nature to them and they should know all that there is about bee keeping. It is always easier for those who are born into beekeeping families to work on such projects as this has been their life from the time they were born. With beekeeping being the family business the new generation will have no problem in picking up the strings as easily as it would be to learn how to walk and talk!

4. Apiculturists are agriculturists who are bee keepers
Bee keepers are agriculturists of sorts as their profession is closely related to the farmer's profession, who breed cows and grow food side by side on the same farm. The same way, many farmers have bee keeping as an additional source of income and a hobby for the others in the family to carry on some trade and earn some extra money. Of course bee keeping is also a full time profession for some. The Department of agriculture refers to bee keepers as apiculturists.

Beekeepers who know about entomology and biology are more successful in their bee keeping business and can advice those who are in need of some more know how on bee keeping. They can help many a bee keeper with their knowledge and if they pass it on to other apiculturists they will be helping them with their business too.

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