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How to Make Money with Beekeeping

https://www.thebalancecareers.com/making-money-with-bees-125660
Beekeeping has skyrocketed in popularity in recent years, and it continues to be a profitable
endeavour for many hobbyists and professionals. While honey is the obvious source of income for
beekeepers, you might be surprised to learn that there are many other streams of revenue
connected to beekeeping. Here are some of the many ways you can make money with bees:
Selling Honey From Beekeeping
Honey is the most obvious yield from beekeeping and it enjoys a high level of popularity with
consumers, making it a highly marketable product. Each hive of bees can produce anywhere from 20
to 60 pounds of honey on average per year (depending on a variety of factors such as geographic
location, weather, temperature, pests, local flora, and more). Some hives can produce much greater
amounts under ideal management conditions.
Marketing Beeswax
Beeswax can be converted into many different products including candles, soap, and lip balm.
You’ve probably heard of Burt’s Bees, a highly successful company that began with the creation of
beeswax-based candles and lip balms. Beeswax prices can vary widely based on the quality and
colour of the wax. Handmade beeswax-based products have been particularly popular in recent
years, both in retail stores and online craft markets such as Etsy.
Bee Pollen
The benefits and need to protect pollinators like bees and other flying insects are drawing the
attention of many industries and government organizations like the Environmental Protection
Agency. Bee pollen granules are cited by many health food enthusiasts as a “super food” that can
boost immunity and provide other health-related benefits such as minimizing seasonal allergies,
treating osteoporosis, and acting as an antioxidant. Bee pollen is usually available at natural food
stores, health stores, and some drugstores.
Selling Propolis
Most people have never heard of propolis, a sticky and resinous substance that bees use to seal
small gaps in the hive. It is purported to have a variety of medical uses including the treatment of
sores, acting as an antioxidant, and boosting immunity. It is also used in commercial products like
cosmetics, car wax, and chewing gum.
Commercial Pollination Services
Many agricultural producers will pay to have hives temporarily relocated to their fields to provide
pollination services. Hives are generally contracted for service for a period of three to five weeks.
Most commercial pollination service operators are located in California, followed by Texas, Florida,
North Dakota, South Dakota, and Montana. Almond crops have the highest demand for commercial
pollination, followed by sunflower and canola.
Starter Hives or Replacement Bees
New bee operations always need stock for starting their hives, and established beekeepers may
need replacement bees due to swarming or disease. Many beekeepers establish a profitable sideline
for their own honey making or pollinating businesses—providing bees (and custom-built hives or
kits) to others in the industry.
Bees can, in fact, be shipped through the U.S. Postal Service, making for an interesting visit to the
post office for a new hobbyist (and you can be sure everyone will want to get out of your way when
they hear the buzz of that shipping container).
Beekeeping can be a fun and profitable hobby or business venture, and it is fairly affordable to start
up. With proper management, a hive can turn a profit relatively quickly, especially if the beekeeper
is willing to consider all the potential streams of revenue. It may be an unusual animal business idea,
but beekeeping is certainly something to consider for aspiring animal professionals.

Beekeeper Career Profile and Job Outlook

Beekeepers, also known as apiarists, manage and maintain colonies of honey bees that produce
honey and provide pollination services. The primary duty of a beekeeper is to keep hives healthy and
productive, so they can yield honey and related by-products such as beeswax.
Beekeeper Duties
A beekeeper is responsible for assessing the health of the hive, checking for mite infestations,
monitoring and treating the hive when health problems arise, and maintaining detailed records of
health, medication administration, and honey production.
A beekeeper may also be responsible for preparing bees and equipment for pollination activities,
feeding bees, cleaning and constructing hives, raising and replacing queen bees, dividing colonies
when necessary, and replacing combs. Some beekeepers may work directly with honey processing
and bottling equipment.
Beekeepers must work long hours during the warmer months, spending most of their time outdoors
in variable weather conditions. Work may be required on nights, weekends, and holidays.
Beekeepers must wear special protective clothing such as veils, gloves, and suits. They also must
properly use bee smokers and other hive tools to safely access the hive.
Career Options
Beekeepers can have small hobbyist operations or be a part of large commercial production farms.
Beekeepers may also specialize in a specific area of interest such as honey production, pollination
services for fruit and vegetable farmers, or bee breeding.
Beekeepers may also find work with some elementary schools or 4-H programs, where children have
the chance to learn beekeeping skills. There are additional opportunities in education at the college
level, with employment available through animal science departments and university extension
agencies.
The bee industry is especially strong in countries such as China, Argentina, Turkey, and the United
States, according to the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO). There are
many international opportunities with major commercial operations if a beekeeper wishes to travel
and work overseas.
Education and Training
New beekeeping enthusiasts can gain valuable experience by apprenticing with experienced
beekeepers before venturing out on their own. Large commercial bee farms also may offer evening
or weekend beekeeping classes that are open to the public.
There are a number of beekeeping events across the country, but one of the largest educational
events is the North American Beekeeping Federation Conference & Tradeshow put on by
the American Beekeeping Federation (ABF). This popular national event is held each January and
boasts a regular attendance of over 600 beekeeping enthusiasts. The conference features a variety
of educational sessions for novices and professionals, a trade show, and the American Honey Show.
Many colleges and universities offer short course seminars on beekeeping for novices or master
courses for professionals. Two such programs can be found at Cornell University and the University
of Florida. Cornell University offers beekeeping workshops at the apprentice, journeyman, and
master levels. The University of Florida offers a two-day “Bee College” seminar as well as the Florida
Master Beekeeper Program (MBP) as part of their Honey Bee Research and Extension Lab. The MBP
consists of four levels, the highest being Master Craftsman Beekeeper. There are also a variety
of insect-related internships that could be of use.
While a degree is not required to work in this profession, many beekeepers have an undergraduate
degree in animal science or a biological field. It is also possible to pursue a graduate-level degree
related to beekeeping. Groups such as the Foundation for the Preservation of Honey Bees
offer graduate scholarships to be applied to a student’s bee research. A master’s or Ph.D. degree
related to beekeeping can be pursued in areas such as agricultural management and entomology.
Salary
Income for a beekeeper can vary widely based on experience, education, and type of employment
(i.e., hobbyist or commercial producer). Sokanu cites an average salary of $25,000. There's also the
opportunity for part-time or hobbyist beekeepers to make money, generally tending to their bees on
nights and weekends while primarily holding a job in another field.
Additional income may be earned if a beekeeper produces and markets honey or beeswax products.
Another earning option is selling starter or replacement bees to other beekeeping operations.
Job Outlook
The number of beekeepers is expected to show continued growth over the next decade, as more
and more backyard beekeepers are expected to enter the field or increase the size of their
operations. While the industry must continue to deal with threats such as Africanized bees, mites,
and Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), interest in beekeeping and by-products such as honey and wax
should remain strong.

https://beekeepinginsider.com/how-much-honey-does-a-hive-produce/

Will bees swarm without a queen?

Swarms are nature’s way for honey bees to reproduce and expand. If the season is good and a
beehive’s population has grown, a single colony can become overcrowded. So much so that bees
start to have difficulty understanding whether or not there’s a healthy laying queen in the hive. So
the queen decides to find less cramped living conditions and absconds with half of the colony! But
recently I heard about a beekeeper that discovered a queen-less swarm. To be honest, I didn’t think
this was possible. But it begs the question:
Will bees swarm without a queen? The short answer is no, a swarm contains thousands or even
tens of thousands of worker bees and one queen. But on very rare occasions it is possible to come
across a queen-less swarm, or what appears to be a swarm without a queen.
So what are the circumstances where you might come across a swarm without a queen?
Queen-less Swarms
Most beekeepers try to avoid swarming. Swarming breaks the brood cycle and on a whole reduces
productivity. And you can quite simply lose the larger part of your colony. That being said, swarms
can happen. It’s not always easy to control. And when they do, most of us want to catch those bees
and relocate them in a nice cosy new beehive.
But sometimes you can catch a swarm and it appears to be queen-less. Logically, it doesn’t seem
possible. After all, you know that swarms leave the hive with a queen… Right?
So what’s going on?
It was an after swarm
When a colony swarms it may do so more than once. After the first swarm leaves the hive with the
reigning queen, you can sometimes see a phenomenon known as after-swarming.
In preparation for swarming a colony will begin the process of raising a new queen. The objective
being to leave the original hive with a virgin queen so that the original colony is preserved and can
continue to function. A number of queen cells are built for this purpose which can result in several
virgin queens. After the old queen leaves with a large part of the colony you can sometimes see a
second swarm quit the hive. This secondary after swarm is usually smaller in number and includes a
virgin queen.
So it could be that what you’re seeing is an after swarm. Now, because you have a virgin queen, this
new colony will be slower to progress. If you’re checking for the presence of a queen by looking for
laying activity and don’t see any, it could just be that you have a virgin queen rather than no queen
at all. Give her a chance to get settled! It can take a further 5 or 6 days for the new queen to become
sexually mature. That’s before she mates and starts laying, so be patient! Wait 10 to 14 days to
check for brood laying.
If you still suspect your swarm has no queen, you could try to help them raise a new queen by giving
them a frame of brood from another hive. The worker bees can use the larvae to make a
replacement queen. It’ll take a further 16 days for the queen to hatch.
One thing to look out for is unusual laying, such as more than one egg in the comb cells or eggs laid
randomly in places other than the cells. This could mean that worker bees are laying eggs. If this is
the case then find a replacement queen as soon as possible!
Lost bees
Another possibility is that you’ve simply stumbled across a bunch of lost worker bees. During the
normal swarming process, the swarm leaves the hive with the queen and they find a temporary
resting place until they decide upon a new nest location. Scout bees fly off in search of a potential
new nest site and return to the temporary swarm cluster to report their findings.
The majority of the scout bees will return to the swarm by the evening. But if in the meantime a
beekeeper comes along and collects the swarm, there can be a large number of absent honey bees
out exploring. These bees will return to the original cluster site where the scent of the queen bee is
strongest. Only to find their queen has disappeared!
In a similar way a swarm might split. Part of the swarm goes off with the queen to the new nesting
site but for some reason you get a bunch of lost bees that didn’t get the right information! Again,
you’ll find them hanging where the original queen-right swarm used to be.
This is one example of what might be termed a queen-less swarm.
These lost bees can be pretty angry! After all they’ve lost their queen. You can often tell this because
they will be buzzing angrily and will probably behave aggressively toward anyone who approaches.
Angry bees like this are usually a good sign that the “swarm” has no queen.
If you are the one who collected the original swarm, then simply gather the remaining grumpy bees
and reunite them with their queen and all their other buddies! If the swarm has happened in your
own apiary, you could try to catch them. In general, if for some reason the swarm finds itself without
a queen, you don’t need to worry. They will simply return to their original hive.
The Queen is lost during Swarming
Well, maybe you did have a queen but you don’t have one anymore. If you think about it, swarming
can be a dangerous moment for bees. They are taking the risk of exposing the queen to potential
danger, even if the worker bees cluster around her for protection. But now and then an accident can
happen. It’s possible the queen got damaged or lost somewhere along the way. Or even eaten by
birds!
And so you might have collected a queen-less swarm.
I’ve heard it said that a queen can get lost somehow in the course of swarming. For example when a
queen bee is clipped (a procedure beekeepers sometimes use to try to prevent swarming). But again,
if the swarm finds itself without a queen, it usually just goes back where it came from.
Alternatively you may have been clumsy, and you killed the queen. A sorry day indeed. Or maybe
you just left the queen behind when you caught the swarm.
In either case you can setup the swarm in a new hive box and wait to see what happens. If the bees
go back to the old hive then all is well. If the bees remain, then you need to help them launch a new
colony.
How to tell if the Swarm is Queen-less and what to do?
Faced with what appears to be a queen-less swarm, what can you do? If you’re not sure of the origin
of the swarm you might want to be careful. Your own bees have traits of character that you’ve come
to appreciate so you probably don’t want to take on a colony that is aggressive, swarmy, etc. The
following approach might be useful:
1 Catch the swarm and install them in a hive box with some spare comb.
2 Look for obvious signs of queen-less activity. If the colony looks disorganized, if they are
aggressive and noisy, then these could be signs they are missing a queen.
3 Check for the presence of eggs after one week. Remember the queen may have a virgin
queen. If the bees’ behaviour seems normal, then you can wait a further week and check
again for brood rearing.
4 Be sure to check for unusual egg laying such as more than one egg in the comb cells. This is a
sign of laying worker bees and means the queen needs replacing immediately
5 A good course of action is to give the bees a frame of brood with a good mix of brood in
various stages of development. Even if there is a queen this does no harm. If the queen is
missing then bees will be able to start raising a new queen.

If you’re pretty sure your captured swarm has no queen, some beekeepers prefer to reinstall a
queen immediately, rather than letting the bees raise a virgin queen. It helps to control the
temperament of your colony if you are sure about the origin of your queen.

HoneyDay Bee Farms Private Limited

No. 7, Ground Floor ,
No. 27/2, Santosh Layout,
Kadabagere Village Bangalore North,
Mutthuraya Swamy Temple,
Near Shivamoga Greens,
Bengaluru-562130, Karnataka, India
Phone: 094817 21022

Sri Shankar Industries

Address: SM-44, Ngef Ancillary Industrial Estate,
Garudachar Palya,
Mahadevapura,
Bengaluru,
Karnataka 560048
Phone: 098803 15577
[email protected]

EFGC Biological Farm

12, Rajiv Gandhi Street,
Pudhu Nagar,
Sembakkam,
Selaiyur Post,
Chennai-600073, Tamil Nadu
Phone: 044-22274921, 044-29708705