Beekeeping - An Adventure into the Hives!

Imagine you are a beekeeper, and you are checking your hive! The white wooden hive box is buzzing with bees around the entrance! After removing the lid, you see inside the box, where there are 10 wooden frames. On those frames, the bees are crawling around, seeing who the new visitor is! 

When you pull out a frame, you see the many bees walking across the beeswax with the hexagon-shaped cells. Did you know that honeybees have the instinct to make their comb into hexagons? It’s the best shape for the worker bees to store their honey and pollen in!

On the frame, you also see a bee bigger than the workers with a broader body, large eyes that almost take over their whole head, and doesn’t have a stinger. That is the male drone bee! You see a worker bee feeding the drone with her tongue, which is called a proboscis, since drones cannot feed themselves.

As you continue looking at the frames, you come across one that appears to have tiny rice-grain-like eggs inside the comb, and nearby, you see the queen bee laying them! She has a larger thorax and abdomen, and she lays 1000-2000 brood eggs every single day! She’s a very busy bee! 

All of the worker bees in the hive, the drone bees, and the queen work together inside the hive box, and it is so fascinating watching it happen. You look forward to seeing them again in one to two weeks, where they will have made more honey, collected more pollen, and have brand new adult worker bees!

~Princess Emilia

Tools of a Beekeeper

Every job has tools that are used in special ways; beekeepers do too. These tools make it easier and safer for the beekeeper to do their work.

Beekeepers in full beekeeping suits.

One of these tools is the veil or helmet. The veil or helmet helps keep the beekeeper safe from possible honeybee stings in the head or neck. Even though honeybees don't want to sting, sometimes they do to protect their beehives. The veil is usually white or light in color because dark colors are more alarming and the same colors as other animals that like to take honey from the beehive. Some beekeepers will also wear a beekeeping suit or jacket and gloves for the same reasons as the veil is worn.

Different types of hive tools.

Another tool a beekeeper uses is the hive tool. It is used to open the beehive and to break some of the seals in the beehive. The hive tool is a piece of metal that has a sharp side and sometimes it also has a hook and the end. The honeybees seal their hive with propolis, a mixture of tree sap and pollen grains. It is really sticky and makes the beehive wind and waterproof. The propolis is the glue that the honeybees put in every crack of the hive. Beekeepers use a hive tool to pry open the hive boxes and remove frames. 

A beekeeper's smoker.

The last tool that most beekeepers use is the smoker. Smoke helps keeps the honeybees calm. When the beekeeper puffs the smoke into the beehive, the honeybees go and eat as much honey as they can. If their beehive was on fire, they would have energy to find a new place to live. The honeybees are distracted by eating the honey, so there are less honeybees flying around as the beekeeper takes care of the beehives.

What do bees do in the winter?

When it comes time for winter, all of the bees have different jobs to prepare! The queen is laying eggs for all of her winter bees, which will keep her warm and protect her during the winter months. The drones, who get kicked out for the winter, will quickly die off. The workers have one of the most important jobs during this time: to keep the queen alive! When the temperature drops, the workers will cluster around their queen to keep her warm. 

They will switch places to make sure everyone stays warm, and some bees will leave the cluster to get nectar, pollen, and honey to feed themselves and the queen. Once the weather warms up, they will leave the hive in small spurts to ensure that there is not too much waste inside the hive. Even though they are not leaving the hive, these little pollinators are still very busy inside their home. 

Honey Bee Holiday

 

As the Holiday season approaches, and snow starts to fall, honey bees embrace their Holiday by taking a break from collecting pollen and nectar from flowers. In the chilly weather, they choose to stay inside their hive and focus on two essential tasks: keeping warm and conserving energy. This way they will be strong and energized to visit flowers in spring time.

Honey bee hives during winter.

As we cozy up indoors with a fireplace or heater creating warmth during the winter, honey bees have to create their own heat to survive. By huddling together in a cluster, they generate heat through the vibration of their wing muscles. This clustering technique helps them maintain a cozy temperature inside the hive.

Honey bees clustering to keep warm.

During wintertime, honey bees rely on the honey reserves they had carefully stored within their hive weeks earlier before it got too cold to fly. It serves as their nourishment and ensures they have enough energy when the warmer days of spring arrive. While staying warm, all the honey bees, including the worker bees, are resting to conserve energy. After almost a year of their busy activities, the honey bees take a well-deserved “stay-cation” in preparation for the upcoming spring season.

The Journey of Honey: from Flowers to your Kitchen

Have you ever wondered how that jar of honey ended up in your kitchen? Honey bees are the incredible creatures behind the making of honey, and their process is quite fascinating. Let's take a closer look!

To make honey, honey bees start with an important ingredient: nectar. Flowers produce nectar, and honey bees collect it and bring it back to their hive. Inside the hive, they store the nectar in hexagonal cells made of beeswax.

Honey bee collecting nectar from a flower.

Nectar in beeswax cells inside a honey bee hive.

Next comes a special step called "fanning." Honey bees fan their wings over the nectar-filled cells, creating a gentle breeze. This breeze helps to dry out the nectar. This drying process is what transforms the nectar into honey. When the nectar's moisture level drops below 18%, it officially becomes honey.

Once the honey is ready, the honey bees seal the cells with beeswax. This ensures that the honey is stored safely for a long time because honey has a low water content and a high sugar content, making it difficult for bacteria to grow. That's why honey never spoils as long as it remains sealed, just like the jar of honey in your kitchen.

Capped honey cells inside a honey bee hive.

When beekeepers harvest honey, they take frames filled with capped honey cells. They carefully scrape off the beeswax caps using a bread knife or an uncapping tool, revealing the honey inside. These frames are then placed in a machine called a honey extractor. The centrifuge spins the frames rapidly, and the honey is separated from the cells. It collects at the bottom of the machine and is drained into a bucket. Once in the bucket, it's ready to be bottled.

Beekeeper using a tool to scrape off beeswax cappings.

Honey frames in a honey extractor.

Did you know that there are more than 300 varieties of honey in the United States? The only difference between them is the flowers the honey bees choose to visit. Depending on where you live, you may have different honey varieties to choose from. For example, orange blossom honey, made from the nectar of orange blossoms on orange trees, is popular in Florida and California.

Honey is not only delicious but also precious. It takes the entire lifespan of 12 honey bees to produce just one teaspoon of honey. So when you enjoy honey, make sure to savor every drop and appreciate the hard work of those amazing honey bees.

The Inside Scoop on Beekeeping Tools

 

Happy Spring! As beekeepers are opening up their honeybee hives to prepare for another year of pollination and honey making, let's learn about the handy everyday tools that beekeepers use to check on their hives. Beekeepers across the United States utilize different methods of hive maintenance. Some of which have existed for centuries! There are a variety of ways to keep bees, but generally all beekeepers would agree that there are three vital tools required for going into a beehive. Let's explore the inside scoop on the essential tools of a beekeeper!

Hive Tool

A hive tool is used to separate frames inside a honeybee hive.

Hive tools come in different styles. This is one of the most common.

            First, is one of the most essential tools, the hive tool. The name and current common designs of a hive tool have been utilized for at least a century, which demonstrates the desirability of its' multifunctional use across generations. The main reason beekeepers use a hive tool is because honeybees create a substance called propolis, made from tree resin and beeswax. Honeybees use this to seal up their hive to keep it safe from bad weather and pests. The hive tool allows beekeepers to pry open the hive's lid and separated the frames for inspection. The generic hive tool has other functions as well. Personally, I find new uses for it every day. It may be used as a hammer, a shovel, a nail remover, a crowbar, and of course, a hive beetle squasher. When the tool becomes coated in propolis, it is easy to clean by using another hive tool to scrape it off. Remarkably, this instrument is so useful that there are even travel-sized versions available for beekeeping on-the-go.

           Bee Veil or Suit

Beekeepers wearing a full-body bee suit which protects them from potential stings.

The next essential tool provides protection from stings. Some beekeepers use a cap and vail, which protects the face, along with long-sleeved and pants when working with a colony that they are familiar with. Other beekeepers wear a full body suit with thick layers of mesh that prevent bee stingers from reaching their skin. This is great for inspecting unfamiliar colonies. The downside to this full-body bee suit is that you could be mistaken for a giant marshmallow. However, during the hot summer, the hot weather may have you feeling more like a s'more in these bee suits. To complete the picture, all we need is a campfire, which brings us to the last tool of this inside scoop.

           Smoker

A smoker puffs smoke on the hive to mask alert pheromones.

          The smoker, or as I like to call it, the travel-sized campfire, is used to puff smoke onto the beehive to mask the alert pheromones (which smells like bananas) honeybees may produce when their hive is opened. This way they are more likely to behave calmly, allowing for an easier hive inspection. The smoker requires a flame and some fuel such as grass clippings, cotton, hay, pine needles, or other kinds of fuel that do the trick without harming the bees. It's very important that beekeepers ensure the smoke remains cool to prevent hurting the honeybee's wings. Once you're finished using the smoker, you'll need to scoop out the remaining fuel. Scooping out the remaining fuel can be challenging without the proper tool. That's where the hive tool also comes in handy, with its long, metal stick perfectly suited to the task. Ultimately, a beekeeper's toolkit would be incomplete without the hive tool, protective attire, and a smok
er.

Can you spot all three essential beekeeping tools mentioned earlier in the photo below?

Spot the tools of a beekeeper! 

Background of the Bee Suit

A fundamental piece in a beekeeper's toolkit is the bee suit. The classic all-white jumpsuit with mesh veil is the first thing someone thinks of when the word beekeeper is mentioned. The bee suit has been optimally fitted for beekeeping. Let's take a look at some of the different elements of the bee suit and the purpose of the design. 

beekeepers working in the hives while wearing their bee suits

Bee suits are light in color, most commonly seen in white. Predators of the hive such as bears, raccoons, and skunks all have dark fur. Because of this, darker colors alarm bees more than very light colors do. 

Bee suits can be made in a thick canvas material. The canvas suit is effective in keeping bees out and preventing stings, but can get extremely hot. Spending hours a day working in hives during the spring and summer months can be a very physically taxing job. Now, the popularity of mesh suits has risen. These new suits have layered mesh, which allow airflow while also protecting the beekeeper from a potential sting.

Another facet of the bee suit are gloves, in order to avoid stinging in the hand. A beekeeper's gloves are typically made out of goat leather. Goat leather is not as inpenetrable as leather from cows, but it is softer and thinner, giving the beekeeper more ability to move. Beekeeping can be incredibly delicate work, so free range of motion is important. Bee suits are specially designed for being in beehives and around honeybees. They are useful for any beekeeper!

Bees Like to Clean

This is what propolis looks like in a beehive.
It glues the frames together and seals all cracks.

Do you know the first thing a female honeybee does when she is born? She crawls out of her honeycomb cell, turns back around,  and begins cleaning. Honeybees like to keep their home clean. Have you ever heard it said honeybees keep their hives cleaner than a hospital? They do this through their use of propolis and cleaning each other.

Propolis is made of sap from trees mixed with beeswax and enzymes (special substances which give cleaning and medicinal properties). Beekeepers like to call it “bee glue” because it is a sticky substance the honeybees use to seal up cracks so no dust or debris can come in the hive. Just like a lot of the other products of the hive, propolis has cleansing properties. It cleans the air and any substance it comes in contact with. In fact, the air is so clean that it is considered sterile.

This nasal spray has propolis in it to boost
your immune system.

Just like honeybees love propolis for cleaning, a lot of medicine companies like to make cough drops with propolis. You can also find propolis in tinctures (propolis in liquid form that you can take a drop of if you’re getting sick), lip balms, toothpaste, mouthwash, and nasal spray. You can use propolis just like the honeybees do to stay healthy!

The second way honeybees keep the hive clean is through their behavior. If a hive is infected with a disease, the worker bees will remove everything infected and it will not be allowed back inside the hive. This is especially important to prevent spread of diseases. Once they remove it, they clean everything again with propolis. The honeybees even help clean each other and the queen to keep the hive as clean as possible. 

These bees are cleaning off a bee who came 
home from a day foraging.

By using propolis and having careful behavior, honeybees keep the hive extremely clean. 

Other than honey, find these in the hive!

Everyone who enjoys honey loves it for the taste and the unique, sweet flavor it possesses. We use it for cooking, as a natural sweetener, and even for medicinal purposes! However, many people don't know about the other products honeybees use and produce in the hive!

Honeybees make beeswax to form their hive. The bees create hexagonal shaped cells with the beeswax to store honey and pollen in. The cells also serve as a temporary home for the larvae (the developing bees). People may purchase beeswax with the honey still inside the cells, which is known as comb honey.

Comb honey is the most natural form of honey because it is bought exactly as it comes from the hive. Other than comb honey, there is chunk honey, which is a chunk of comb honey in a jar of liquid honey. Beeswax is used in plenty of cosmetics because of its soothing and healing properties. Beeswax may also be used to create candles; the candles have a very fresh, delicate honey smell, and they last quite a long time!

Propolis is what honeybees use to seal the cracks of their hive; the propolis makes the hive safer and more sanitary. Propolis is very beneficial for not only the honeybees, but also humans. Propolis contains anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, and anti-bacterial properties. It is so rich in beneficial properties because it is made from sap in trees and resin from the tops of leaves and plants along with honeybee saliva and beeswax.

Pollen is a powdery substance honeybees carry from flower to flower to successfully pollinate. To gather it, honeybees collect the pollen on the backs of their legs in their pollen baskets. Then they bring the pollen home to produce bee bread. Bee bread is a mixture of honey and pollen that is fed to the larvae. Humans may also consume pollen; it contains plenty of nutrients and a lot of protein. People may buy it to use on salads and in smoothies. Pollen is a great source of protein for vegetarians.

There are so many different amazing products of the hive people may purchase and use in their life. Make sure you talk to a local beekeeper and try some for yourself!

What is a Beekeeper?

To most people, the common definition of a beekeeper is simply a person who raises honeybees and sells honey. While that is the general idea of what a beekeeper is, it doesn't encompass the entire complexion of who a beekeeper can be.

A beekeeper can be anyone that has a single hive in their backyard as a hobby or can be a beekeeper that has hundreds to thousands of hives working for their livelihood. To many beekeepers, beekeeping is a family tradition or business, an educational experience, a hobby, or a lifestyle. Many beekeepers are successful at what they do and are able to support themselves from beekeeping alone. While they may have bad years or good years, beekeeping is like any other agriculture commodity where there is a lot of unexpected obstacles throughout the year for the beekeepers to overcome.
In beekeeping, there are several different careers a beekeeper can have.

The beekeeper can be a salesperson and sell the products of the hive or beekeeping equipment. If they are selling products of the hive, they can sell honey, beeswax, propolis, royal jelly, or pollen and products made with those items as part of their ingredients. Another career aspect in beekeeping is pollination. Pollination in the United States normally involves beekeepers from several different states as they travel from coast to coast following the pollination needs. Beekeepers will travel to California to pollinate the almonds, Washington for the apple blossoms and Wisconsin for the cranberry blossoms. In order to get many of the food sources we have, we require the help of these beekeepers throughout the country!

Other areas in beekeeping that beekeepers make a career at are involved in the making and selling of new bees. In states like California and Georgia, beekeepers will spend their springs making new honeybee queens to sell to people across the United States. Along with those queens, beekeepers will also split the bees they have in their hives to make packages. This is where they will put 2-3 pounds of bees into a package along with a queen bee. They will then be shipped all across the United States to their new home. Once the new owner receives them, the honeybees will be transferred from their package into a hive.

Other careers in beekeeping are research and education. Several places across the United States are actively hiring people to research new ways to improve the health of honeybees. Research is crucial in helping to find new ways to help honeybees. Education to the public is another area that actively employs beekeepers. While beekeepers believe our industry is the sweetest in the world, not everyone knows how important our industry is, or ways the public can help improve the health of honeybees.

When it comes down to it, a beekeeper is very sweet and loves their honeybees. While beekeepers do keep honeybees, they also become masters at several different jobs along they way and began beekeeping for many different reasons. If you are looking to learn more about beekeepers, talk to a  local beekeeper. I'm sure you'll be amazed at the different stories they'll tell you about what it means to be a beekeeper!

Three Tools of a Beekeeper

As beekeepers, we have three very important tools that make working our bees easier: the veil/suit, the smoker and the hive tool. When all the tools are used properly, you can work your bees and can do so without being stung. 

Before doing any job you always want to have the proper safety gear. In beekeeping, you always want to protect your face from being stung. With the veil, your entire head is covered and safe. Some beekeepers choose to have a full suit that covers their entire body so they are covered from head to toe. The veil is attached and only the hands and feet are exposed. This suit can come in a variety of materials such as nylon or cotton and can be a little heavy, but it’s great at protecting beekeepers from bee stings. There are also special gloves made of leather or thicker material that protect a beekeeper's hands. 

Beekeepers use a smoker to calm down the bees when they open the hive. A fire is started in the can using wood chips, leaves or sticks. Then, you pump the bellows to force smoke from the spout. The smoke masks the bees alarm pheromones and could simulate a fire response for them--filling their stomachs with honey to prepare to leave their "burning" home.

The hive tool is a mostly flat scraper made of steel. Beekeepers use the hive tool to separate the hive boxes and honey supers, loosen frames and scrape propolis and beeswax from boxes and frames. Honeybees secure their hive with these sticky substances and it would be very difficult to open the hive without your trusty hive tool.

Love and Beekeeping

Happy Valentines Day! Did you know that Saint Valentine is the Patron Saint of Beekeeping? Valentine's Day is all about love and cherishing those around you. This is the same concept Saint Valentine shares with beekeeping. Being the Patron Saint of Beekeeping means Saint Valentine watches over the beekeeping industry, protecting the beekeepers and the honeybees.

This love for beekeeping is still cherished by many today. During winter months in northern states, beekeepers have to provide their bees with extra love to help them survive the winter.  The winter months of the north mean temperatures and snow are constantly falling. Beekeepers either keep their bees in the North or send the honeybees to the warmth of the Southern states.

Wintering in the North

Hives snowed in for the winter

Temperatures in the North can get as low as -30°F or colder. While the temperature of the air outside is that cold, the inside of the bee hive will be as warm as 98° throughout the entire winter! The honeybees are their own heating system. Honeybees will be in constant motion creating heat with their bodies, and then they fan their wings to move the heat around! To ensure the safety and warmth of the queen bee, she is at the center of the cluster of honeybees. 

A common path of states visited by Migratory Beekeepers

Migratory  Beekeeping
Migratory beekeepers move their honeybees throughout the United States to help pollinate crops. A migratory beekeeper might go to California to pollinate almond crops in the winter and then to Washington in the spring to pollinate apple blossoms. Summer could be spent in Wisconsin pollinating cranberries or North Dakota pollinating sunflowers. Migratory beekeepers are always on the move and help advance agriculture from coast to coast! 

Kid-Friendly Honey Recipes

Everyone loves a good honey recipe, but sometimes they're a little too hard to do on your own. I found some delicious recipes that are great for kids! Before starting, always have an adult in the kitchen with you, but let us know how you liked making these yummy spring honey recipes!

Honey Bear Lunchbox

YIELD:  Makes 1 serving

INGREDIENTS

1 1/2 tsp. - honey

2 slices - whole-grain bread

1 T- peanut butter

1/4- honey-crisp or granny smith apple, thinly sliced

Fresh berries and veggies for the lunchbox

DIRECTIONS

Place bread on a flat surface and spread peanut butter onto both slices of bread. Place apple slices onto one side, drizzle with honey and close sandwich.

Serve with freshly washed berries and veggies.

No-Bake Chocolate Honey Brownies

YIELD: Makes 16 servings

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup - honey

1/4 cup - coconut oil

1/4 cup - almond butter

1/4 tsp. - sea salt

1 tsp.- vanilla extract

1 tsp.- ground cinnamon

1/2 cup - chopped almonds

1/2 cup - chopped walnuts

1/2 cup - semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup - sunflower seeds

1/4 cup - dried cranberries

1 cup - rolled oats

1 T- butter

DIRECTIONS

In a medium-sized saucepan, heat honey, coconut oil, almond butter, sea salt, vanilla and cinnamon over low heat.

Next, in a large bowl combine chopped almonds, chopped walnuts, semi-sweet chocolate chips, sunflower seeds, dried cranberries and rolled oats. Add the honey mixture from the saucepan into the bowl and mix.

Using your hands or a spatula, grease an 8" x 8" pan with the butter.

Press the brownie mixture into the pan and refrigerate until hardened. Cut into 16 bars and serve.

Recipe courtesy of Fitness Expert Bárbara Trujillo Gómez

Honey-Yogurt Popsicles

YIELD: Makes 8 servings

INGREDIENTS

2 cups - plain yogurt

1 cup - milk

1/3 cup - honey

1 tsp. - vanilla extract

1/4 lb. - cherries, pitted and quartered

1/4 cup - blueberries

DIRECTIONS

In a large bowl, stir together the yogurt, milk, honey and vanilla extract. Taste the mixture and add a little more honey if needed.

Divide half the fruit among 8 ½-cup popsicle holders.

Add ¼ cup of the yogurt mixture to each popsicle holder, then add the rest of the fruit. You'll need to press the fruit down a bit to distribute it evenly in the popsicle. Top off with more yogurt mixture if needed, leaving at least ¼ inch of space at the top of the popsicle holder because it will expand as it freezes.

Freeze the popsicles for several hours, until completely solid.

You can find more amazing kid-friendly honey recipes here.

Honey is More Than a Sweet Treat!

Honey is an amazing substance. It is a health-conscious sweetener, the only never-spoiling food, and is full of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Honey comes in more than 3,000 varietals worldwide, depending on the nectar source from the honeybee! This causes each honey varietal to have a unique color, flavor, and chemical makeup. While most people know honey as a sweet food, many do not know about honey’s other uses.

Honey comes in over 3,000 varietals worldwide.

One of the most remarkable things about honey is that it is antibacterial. With Spring just around the corner, more and more folks are outside to enjoy the fresh season! However, between gardening, hiking, and other outdoor activities, there’s bound to be some scraped knees here and there. An incredible and natural way to care for minor wounds is honey! Some years ago, my dog Chuck ran away from home. When we finally caught up to him, he had a large cut on his paw. We took Chuck to the veterinarian, and after getting a number of stitches, she asked us to put honey on his wound. Because honey is only 17% water, bacteria cannot live in it. Additionally, honey is so viscous and thick that when it covers a wound it not only blocks bacteria from entering the wound, but it actually draws bacteria out. At the same time, it secretes a minute amount of hydrogen peroxide which actually promotes the healing process. Today, Chuck has minimal scarring and his paw is just fine. Honey works the same way on humans as it did on Chuck. Many hospitals now order honey in bulk for its medicinal purposes.

Chuck wearing a veterinarian- recommended honey cast for his wound.

Honey and other hive products are also often used in natural cosmetics. Being allergic to many artificial substances, I opt for all-natural cosmetic products, which typically feature honey. For example, the honey in my shampoo creates beautiful iridescent bubbles and develops a natural sheen to my hair because of its many vitamins and minerals.

Honey is truly a miracle substance. While many people only see honey as a delicious sweet treat, it is so much more than just a food!

Honey's Top Ten for 2018

Happy New Year, Honey! A new year equals a new you, and 2018 promises to be the sweetest yet. Start your year off right with these TOP TEN honey tips and tricks!

TEN
You're going to need a lot of energy to make it a great 2018! Try this recipe for Honey Energy Bars. Honey is often called "nature's perfect energy." Whereas refined sugar simply has empty calories, honey contains small amounts of proteins, enzymes, amino acids and minerals.

NINE
Sadly, it's likely you or someone in your family will get sick this winter. Try this recipe for Honey Cough Syrup to soothe your sore throat.

EIGHT
Homemade slime, putty and play dough is all the craze among young people! Try this easy recipe for Honey Play Dough.

SEVEN
There are more than 300 varieties of honey in the US. It all depends on the flower the bee got the nectar from! Make a goal to try at least two new kinds of honey in 2018. Buckwheat honey is great in BBQ sauces and wildflower honey would be delicious in honey butter!

SIX
When Spring arrives, plant a bee-friendly garden in 2018! Plant native flowering plants like Bee Balm, Blackeyed Susan or Goldenrod, and choose flowers that bloom at various times throughout the growing season so the honeybees will have a continuous supply of food.

FIVE
Honeybees add nearly $20 billion to the value of US crop production through pollination! As honeybees gather pollen and nectar for their survival, they pollinate crops like apples, cranberries, melons and broccoli. Try this pollination experiment that uses Cheetos!

FOUR
Read a book about honey, beekeeping or honeybees in 2018! Check your local library or read one of our favorites: Jump into Science: Honeybees, The Honeybee Man or What if There Were No Bees?

THREE
Use honey to help with your seasonal allergies! By eating a few teaspoons of local honey each day, your body can build up an immunity to the pollens in your area.

TWO
Did you know Cleopatra used to take baths with milk and honey for soft and silky skin? You can, too! Try this recipe for Milk & Honey Bath Melts.

ONE
Start every day out right by eating honey for breakfast! Try spooning some into hot tea, drizzling it on your peanut butter toast or sweetening up your oatmeal.

Commercial Beekeeping

There are an estimated 115,000 – 125,000 beekeepers in the United States. The vast majority are hobbyists with less than 25 hives. Commercial beekeepers are those with 300 or more hives. Men and women that keep hundreds or even thousands of honeybee hives do so as a full time job. They depend on their honeybees for most or sometimes all of their income. Commercial beekeepers will produce large amounts of honey to bottle and sell, rent their hives to growers for pollination, raise honeybee hives to sell to new beekeepers, or sell other products produced by the honeybees. Commercial beekeeping operations are frequently family businesses that are handed down from generation to generation. Their job is so important because all of the world needs to eat. Many of our crops have to be pollinated in order for them to grow and produce.

Hives near almonds for pollination

Pollination is the single most important service that honeybees provide for us, and commercial beekeepers are responsible for a large portion of that! Pollination is the fertilization of plants necessary to produce nuts, fruits, and even seeds. For a plant to be pollinated, the pollen grains need to be moved from the stamen (the male part of the flower) to the pistil (female part of the flower) so that fertilization can occur. There are many different animals and insects that pollinate plants. Honeybees are especially good pollinators because pollen is their main source of protein. They need protein just like you and me do to grow healthy and strong. As they travel from flower to flower collecting pollen to eat, they pollinate our crops.

Migratory beekeepers move their bees across the country

Many commercial beekeepers migrate their colonies during the year to provide pollination services to farmers and to reach the most abundant sources of nectar. There is a special type of commercial beekeeper called migratory beekeepers. Beekeepers who “migrate” move their honeybee hives all across the country so that their honeybees can pollinate crops. These beekeepers have to plan and prepare plenty of time in advance. The honeybees are moved at night after the foragers have returned to their hive so that honeybees will not be left behind. To ship the honeybees, the beekeepers load the hives onto large flatbed trucks (450 hives per truck!), and the bees are then driven to crops which need to be pollinated. 

Queen bee 

Another very important part of commercial beekeeping is buying queen bees. When the bees travel around the country, the queen bee has to be replaced more often. The queen bee in a honeybee hive is the mother of all the other bees in that hive, which makes her the single most important bee in the entire beehive. Because the queen is so important, there are beekeepers who focus just on producing new queens. Queen rearers focus on raising and breeding healthy new queens to keep hives strong. The queens are shipped to beekeepers all over the country once they are ready to begin their duties in the hive. The commercial beekeepers get these queens in the mail and then put them into their hives (we call this re-queening). This keeps the hives healthy and strong, ready to be most productive at their job of pollinating.

Commercial beekeeping is important to every single one of us! Without honeybee pollination, we would not have 1/3 of the food we eat! 

Honeybees Need Your Help

Here are five things you can do to help the honeybee.

1. Plant bee-friendly flowers in your yard
There are many flowers that bees really like and we call these ‘bee friendly flowers.’ Bees need flowers to survive. Flowers produce pollen and nectar. The bees collect the pollen to eat for themselves and to feed to their babies back home. Pollen is the bees source of protein, just like you and I need protein to grow healthy and strong, bees need protein as well. Nectar is the bees carbohydrates. Carbohydrates give the bees energy to do all of their many jobs. Honeybees also use the nectar to make honey! You can help provide the bees with food by planting flowers in pots or in your yard for the bees to come and collect pollen and nectar! 

Bees drinking water

2. Make sure the bees have plenty of water
Just like most creatures on earth, bees need water. Water helps to keep the bees hydrated. You can help the bees by creating a little spot for them to come and get clean water to drink. Pour water in a small bowl and add rocks or sticks to the water so there is a place for the bees to land so they don’t drown. Providing the bees with water is a great way to help!

3. Buy local honey

Local honey for sale

You can support beekeepers by buying local honey. Beekeepers work hard to keep their bees alive and healthy so that they can pollinate our food for us. Many times when the bees make honey, the beekeeper will sell that honey to make money to keep taking care of his/her bees. So you can help the honeybee by supporting and buying honey from a beekeeper in your area!

4. Become a beekeeper
Yes, you can be a beekeeper! Beekeepers are all different ages. So whether you are a young kid or a grown adult, you can start keeping bees. The first step to being a good beekeeper is learning as much as you can about honeybees. There are classes and books that will teach you all you need to know to start your own beehive. Starting your own bee hive is a very fun way to help honeybees! 

Kids who started beekeeping

5. Teach others what you know
Lastly you can teach your friends and family what you know about honeybees. You can teach them how important they are to our food supply and to our environment. You and your friends can plant flowers together, or make bee watering spots, or even enjoy eating honey snacks together all while helping the honeybee thrive. 

Honeybees are amazing creatures and they need your help!