Feed: Beekeeping Information – An Introduction to Beekeeping - AggScore: 14.0

Beekeeping Information – An Introduction to Beekeeping

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Beekeeping is the management of raising bees in hives to produce honey. Beekeeping has been known since long ago as a profitable business as well as a great hobby. It is an amazing hobby that needs a certain level of knowledge and skills to be successful and get the benefits out of it. As a matter of fact there are lots of things that you should learn before you start beekeeping. Before you get started you have to prepare and make available all the needed beekeeping equipment. The short list is a hive or hives, the bees, a protective gear for the beekeeper and a beekeeping smoker. A hive is the honey factory, a natural or artificial nest where the bee colonies are doing its activities. Since the natural hives were not productive in producing commercial honey, hives has been developed artificially to get the utmost of honey production. At present hives are available in various designs that you can choose from and meet your requirement. As a beekeeping novice it is best if you buy packaged bees. This will be the most practical way to start your business or hobby. A bee package is a colony that consists of a queen and bee workers which you can simply put into your hive. Varieties of packaged bees are available which you can purchase online. Other ways to get your bees is to buy an established colony or collect the bees by swarms, but this is for the more experienced beekeeper. The beekeeper protective gear is the tools that are used when managing the honey. This usually includes a beekeeper suit, hat, gloves and veil. This is to cover the body as a protection against bee stings. Actually, honey bees will not sting if they do not feel being offended by something. While the beekeeper is doing his best to handle the honey carefully, there is still a chance that one or two bees are hurt, and start to sting. A beekeeping smoker is used to produce smoke. The objective is to control and suppress the bees, so that the beekeeper can work in a more suitable condition. Smoke will also provoke the bees to leave the hive. Another effect of the smoke is the alteration of pheromone released by the guard bees as a response to a threat from an intruder. Honeybees are considered as social insects. They live in a colony of thousand of hard working bees that build a nest and are responsible for collecting food and raise the younger bees. A beekeeper should be able to adjust himself to the bees natural instinct, in order to collect the honey that are of great money value and very profitable. It is very important to collect the honey at the right time. Avoid to leaving the honey for too long in the hive, since prolonged time will alter the honey's color to be darker. It will also leave no spare room for the bees to store new honey. From the consumer's point of view, light colored honey is more preferred than the darker one. On the contrary, harvesting the honey too soon is also something you should avoid. Too soon harvesting can cause too much water content in the honey and there is also a possibility that honey might spoil or become fermented. The right harvesting time is indicated by the bees. So watch the bees. The clear sign is the presence of a wax cap on top of the honey cell. The best time of the day to collect the honey is on a sunny morning, the time where the bees are busy. Prior to starting your beekeeping activities, check whether beekeeping is allowed in your area. Although the presence of bees in an area provides tremendous benefits to the community, but checking if you need a permit is worthy. A benefit of the presence of bees is that destructive and aggressive insects like hornets and wasps are kept away from that area. Another benefit is that bees are known to be useful for many plants. Bees are playing a vital role in natural plant breeding. With these benefits provided by bees, it is best to place your hives in open areas with lot of plants and some trees, far from the housing and recreational areas. In this way you definitely get the best results from your beekeeping, and you will gain a lot of experience and skill as well. Uno Birawan is a writer and wrote a lot about Beekeeping. You can find more on Beekeeping Information [1] or visit his site www.TheHoneyBeekeeper.com [2] Article Source [3] [1] http://www.thehoneybeekeeper.com/beekeeping-information/ [2] http://www.thehoneybeekeeper.com [3] http://www.articlesbase.com/small-business-articles/beekeeping-information-an-introduction-to-beekeeping-3222435.html