Feb 12
22
How To Be A Beekeeping Hobbyist
Beekeeping can help you earn big bucks if you do it as a business, and doing it as a hobby can be just as rewarding. You can also have it as a hobby as taking care of bees and producing honey can be a lot of fun.
How to Get Started with Beekeeping
To be an expert in this trade, educating yourself about honey bees, collecting honey, and beekeeping equipment is paramount. Buy a reliable book that’s all about how bees live and how to take care of your hive. Also, get advice from professional beekeepers.
The next thing to do is find the perfect location. Your backyard will suffice, but there should be lots of trees and flowers within a radius of two miles.
To do this beekeeping stint right, you need to have the right equipment.You’re going to need hives, a protective suit, honey extractors, and last but not the least, honey bees.
Where to Get Your Hives
If you’re good with your hands and woodworking, maybe you can construct hives yourself instead of buying commercially made ones. If you want to buy commercially produced hives instead, you had better choose beginner’s kits since you’re a newbie at this. Once you learn more about beekeeping, ramp up the size of your beehives.
Usually, beginner kits contain all the essential items you need to start beekeeping, all of which costs about $500. You’ll find a log book, hive tools, leather gloves, copper smoker, and protective suit.
What about the Bees?
Once your beehives are ready, purchase your bees and make sure to buy from a trusted local beekeeper. There’s also the option to buy from an online seller.
Although it’s cheaper to buy bees taken straight from another beekeeper’s beehives, you increase the risk of releasing bee infections. There’s also the danger of introducing African bee hybrids. Africanized bees are very aggressive compared to their European counterpart – when they are disturbed, they have the tendency to attack their victims with stings and poison.
Your safest bet is to buy from a trustworthy source that can guarantee your first hives are pure.
The Setup
Make sure the hives face east as these creatures are more active in the morning. They consider the early morning sun as their alarm clock, and they can produce more when there’s still a lot of nectar and pollen.
Most importantly, treat your bees with care. Bees change their honey making routine throughout the whole year, so inspect the hives every on a regular basis. Check whether or not the queen bee is still alive and producing eggs. Inspect if the space for nectar is sufficient and make sure there’s enough ventilation.
It’s Harvest Time
Before collecting honey, ask other beekeepers to find out the best time of the year to harvest in your area. Honey extractors can get pretty expensive, so borrow as much as possible.
Best honey extractors release honey without damaging the combs. This machine is comprised of a drum and frames that hold the honeycombs in place. The frames spin at very high speeds so that the honey flings out of the combs and gathered into the drum. Centrifugal force is what drives the honey into the drum.
Reuse the honeycomb so that you’ll spare your bees the trouble of rebuilding another one. Or you can melt the beeswax to make candles and other crafts.