How to Raise Honey Bees

Raising honey bees and harvesting honey can be a lucrative business or even a part-time sideline. Honey bees require care and maintenance but a lot less than other farm animals or pets. Another good reason to raise honey bees is to pollinate your crops. Honey bee populations are declining across North America and if this trend continues, farm crops that require pollination will decline. Keeping honey bees near your crops ensures a greater harvest. Setting up your hives requires a modest upfront investment in hives and equipment but your first honey crop will offset those costs. Read on to learn how to raise honey bees.

Things You'll Need

• Bee hives
• Hive tools
• Protective beekeeper clothing

Instructions

1. Decide how many hives you want to keep. If you are keeping bees as a hobby, you may want only one or two hives. If you are keeping bees as a business, you could have 10 or more. Each hive will ultimately produce 50 to 100 lbs. of honey per year depending on the size and number of supers. Purchase enough hives plus an extra or two so that when the bees swarm, they have a new home to go to. You can purchase hives and other beekeeping equipment from many established online sources. Choose one in which the owners have a history of beekeeping themselves, so that they can assist you if you have any questions or run into trouble along the way.

2. Purchase the auxiliary beekeeping tools and equipment you'll need. At a minimum, you'll need a smoker to calm the bees, beekeeper protective clothing, which will consist of a bee-proof veil, hat, gloves, and a full length jumper, and a hive tool to separate and lift the honeycombs. Purchase a good introductory book to keeping bees if you have never done so before. This will give you in-depth answers to hive management. Read the book thoroughly before purchasing your bees as they will need to be cared for properly upon arrival.

3. Find a location for your beehives. Hives should be set up where people will not get in the way of the bees' flight paths into the hives. The location should also be far away from loud noises and vibrations as these things agitate bees and could make them sting. Hives do not need to be located directly in pollinating crops as bees will fly for several miles in search of pollen and nectar. The hives should be located on study flat ground and the hive opening should face east or south so that the hive is warmed by morning sunlight.

4. Now it's time to order the bees. There are several types of honey bee you can order. Your local extension office can help you decide what's best for your area of the country. Always order your bees from a reputable breeding source. Some states require bee breeders to be licensed so if that is the case in your state, check to make sure the breeder is licensed. You can sometimes obtain bees from a beekeeper who eliminates swarms for homeowners. It is recommended to stay away from that source as the sward could be feral and runs the risk of being populated by Africanized bees. African bees are highly aggressive and are easily offended. They tend to swarm offenders and sting all at once, creating an overload of venom in the victim. That is why it's important to choose pure strains of European bees from a reputable breeder.

5. Introduce your bees to the hives as per the instructions of the breeder. You will have to provide the bees with sugar water while they begin to build up honey in the combs. The bees will begin navigating their pollen routes within a few days. Check on the bees frequently in the first few weeks to make sure they are getting successfully established. In the first year of honey production, the bees will require most of the honey produced for their own needs. You may harvest small amounts but let the hive store sufficient honey for the winter. After the first year, you will be harvesting substantial amounts of honey from each hive. The quality and taste of the honey will be different depending on the types of flowers the bees have harvested honey from. Some beekeepers move their hives into fields of specific flowers in order to obtain a certain flavor and character.

Resources

• Read this Article in Spanish