A growing percentage of beekeepers do make money from their beehives.
Obviously when the hobbyist increases the number of hives he manages, the potential for making money also increases.
Some people who make a portion of their income through beekeeping have dozens of hives.
Income earned from beekeeping can include honey sales, rental of the hives to farmers for pollination of their crops, candles made from beeswax, etc (The Catholic church is the largest consumer of beeswax candles in the world) A successful commercial beekeeping enterprise will require managing 100's of hives and millions of bees.
In fact, the commercial beekeeping industry is responsible for at least a third of the pollination of the majority of crops raised in the United States, according to the USDA.
Over the last 40 years the die off of wild bees has brought the demand for managed hives by farmers looking to increase their crop yields to a historic high and as a result the industry has become increasingly migratory.
Commercial beekeepers now move hives from farm to farm, around the country to pollinate different crops as these crops begin to mature.
The only crops that are not highly dependent on bees are grains like wheat and barley.
These crops are wind-pollinated which do not require bees.
But fruits like strawberry, blueberry, cantaloupe and watermelon, fruit trees such as orange, lime, avocado, and other flowering vegetables totally rely on bees for pollination and to reproduce more abundantly.
Everyone has probably heard the expression "busy as a bee" well in fact, bees work so hard bringing nectar back to the hive which they use to make honey, that after about 35 days of life, they actually wear out their wings and their usefulness to the colony and die.
During their short life spans, the bee will forage over 2 million flowers collecting nectar and pollen.
They carry this load of nectar in their honey stomachs and their legs have special pouches that they use to carry the pollen collected back to the hive.
The honey is stored in the hive and used as food for the worker bees and to feed the brood and the queen.
During times of drought when flowering plants may not be as abundant the bees consume a lot of this stored honey.
However during a good growing season and flowering plants are plentiful the bees collect a lot of nectar and make and store much more honey than they will ever be able to consume, allowing the beekeeper a good harvest of honey and profit when the harvested honey is sold to the public.
Both Commercial and smaller private beekeepers can make a profit from two types of honey that can be sold.
Honey that is easily removed from the honeycomb is known as liquid honey removed from the honeycomb by using a honey extractor, a type of centrifuge device.
Liquid honey is more likely to be used as a sweetener when mixed in tea or used in cooking.
The other type is called 'comb honey'.
This is honey that is still on the wax honeycomb, cut into pieces and sold.
Not usually used in cooking, some people enjoy its more natural flavor.
A fact not widely known is that honey comes in many different flavors and colors.
Different flowers from fruits, vegetables and just plain flowers have different scents.
Soil content gives the flowers' nectar their tastes and color.
Nectar from Alfalfa for example is usually grown in dry alkali soil, the honey made from this nectar may come out clear or white and conversely nectar from Buckwheat usually makes honey that has a dark color.
Honey can also be red, yellow, golden, or green.
Also the honeycomb quality the bees make is also a factor that determines the taste and color of the resulting honey.
It must be understood, that while beekeeping maybe a small endeavor for some, it does not matter whether small or large all honey that is packaged and sold to the public as is all food handling and processing, its important that all state and federal regulations be followed to protect the safety of the public.
Obviously when the hobbyist increases the number of hives he manages, the potential for making money also increases.
Some people who make a portion of their income through beekeeping have dozens of hives.
Income earned from beekeeping can include honey sales, rental of the hives to farmers for pollination of their crops, candles made from beeswax, etc (The Catholic church is the largest consumer of beeswax candles in the world) A successful commercial beekeeping enterprise will require managing 100's of hives and millions of bees.
In fact, the commercial beekeeping industry is responsible for at least a third of the pollination of the majority of crops raised in the United States, according to the USDA.
Over the last 40 years the die off of wild bees has brought the demand for managed hives by farmers looking to increase their crop yields to a historic high and as a result the industry has become increasingly migratory.
Commercial beekeepers now move hives from farm to farm, around the country to pollinate different crops as these crops begin to mature.
The only crops that are not highly dependent on bees are grains like wheat and barley.
These crops are wind-pollinated which do not require bees.
But fruits like strawberry, blueberry, cantaloupe and watermelon, fruit trees such as orange, lime, avocado, and other flowering vegetables totally rely on bees for pollination and to reproduce more abundantly.
Everyone has probably heard the expression "busy as a bee" well in fact, bees work so hard bringing nectar back to the hive which they use to make honey, that after about 35 days of life, they actually wear out their wings and their usefulness to the colony and die.
During their short life spans, the bee will forage over 2 million flowers collecting nectar and pollen.
They carry this load of nectar in their honey stomachs and their legs have special pouches that they use to carry the pollen collected back to the hive.
The honey is stored in the hive and used as food for the worker bees and to feed the brood and the queen.
During times of drought when flowering plants may not be as abundant the bees consume a lot of this stored honey.
However during a good growing season and flowering plants are plentiful the bees collect a lot of nectar and make and store much more honey than they will ever be able to consume, allowing the beekeeper a good harvest of honey and profit when the harvested honey is sold to the public.
Both Commercial and smaller private beekeepers can make a profit from two types of honey that can be sold.
Honey that is easily removed from the honeycomb is known as liquid honey removed from the honeycomb by using a honey extractor, a type of centrifuge device.
Liquid honey is more likely to be used as a sweetener when mixed in tea or used in cooking.
The other type is called 'comb honey'.
This is honey that is still on the wax honeycomb, cut into pieces and sold.
Not usually used in cooking, some people enjoy its more natural flavor.
A fact not widely known is that honey comes in many different flavors and colors.
Different flowers from fruits, vegetables and just plain flowers have different scents.
Soil content gives the flowers' nectar their tastes and color.
Nectar from Alfalfa for example is usually grown in dry alkali soil, the honey made from this nectar may come out clear or white and conversely nectar from Buckwheat usually makes honey that has a dark color.
Honey can also be red, yellow, golden, or green.
Also the honeycomb quality the bees make is also a factor that determines the taste and color of the resulting honey.
It must be understood, that while beekeeping maybe a small endeavor for some, it does not matter whether small or large all honey that is packaged and sold to the public as is all food handling and processing, its important that all state and federal regulations be followed to protect the safety of the public.
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