Keeper of the Bees

Beekeeping can become a great hobby once you learn the basic rules of setting up and keeping a hive. You may want to keep bees for the delicious honey they produce, their benefits as pollinators, or maybe just to learn about one of nature’s most interesting insects.

Honeybees are social insects, which means that they all cooperate in building their nest, collecting food, and raising the larvae. Several thousand bees live together in a single colony and each bee has to do its job or else the colony wouldn’t be able to survive. A colony usually has one queen and in the peak of honey production in late spring and summer, it can have up to fifty or sixty thousand worker and drone bees. 

To get started raising bees, you need to have the basic parts of a hive, an established colony of bees, protective gear, and the equipment to handle the bees.  

The hive is usually a manmade structure in which the bees live. You can buy a new or used hive that’s already put together, or you can build a new hive. It’s also important to have bee veils to protect your face and neck from being stung, and canvas or leather gloves to protect your hands. Wearing light, tan, or white clothes is best when handling bees. A bee smoker and hive tool are necessary tools to have on-hand when working with bees. 

There are also many ways to get your colony of bees to fill a hive. You can buy established colonies, collect a swarm of bees, or move a colony from a wall or tree in your area. Most hives have two colonies, or families.

Beekeeping takes a lot of work and can be pretty hard, so you really need to study before you start your own hive.