Modern Guide To Beekeeping
Earlier known as ‘apiculture’, beekeeping goes all the way back to the Ancient Egyptian Civilization where it was reported that the ancient Egyptians were skilled beekeepers and honey was used by them as the main source in mostly all their foods. With historic reports, some Egyptian paintings show removal of honey from the hives.Coming back to the present, beekeeping is the maintenance of honeybee colonies in an artificial way and over the time, is has become a very lucrative and rewarding career. Bees, which account for 80% of all insect population, play vital roles in fruit and vegetable production. They collect around 60 to 65 pounds of pollen annually, per hive. The pollen then gets spread to other plants and vegetables in the area through pollination and fertilization. Because bees are sociable, they should be kept in colonies. These colonies have a social order and each bee has its own task. For example, the queen bee lays eggs, while the drone bees fertilize the eggs. The worker bees see to it that the colony survives and no harm comes to it.Bees are kept in beehives – a structure that consists of a sealed box with an internal structure ranging from small to very large. Before you start making a hive or buy some readymade ones, you should make up your mind whether you want to do beekeeping for commercial production; accordingly, the size of the hive would vary.If you want to become a beekeeper, you can either learn from other beekeepers in your area or join beekeeping training programs online or offline. In such programs, you will be taught how to take care of the hive, how to extract honey, how to extract beeswax, how to handle the bees safely, and many other related training will be imparted.Once the training is over and you have mastered the art of beekeeping, you can join the local beekeeping association for attending events, classes, lectures held by the members. This way you will be up-to-date with beekeeping and can get support and help from other beekeepers.While beekeeping, you must also have some idea what the bees produce.
Honey – used for variety purposes
Beeswax – used in candles and cosmetic items
Propolis – used in alternative medicines
Royal jelly – used in different dietary supplementsAs a beekeeper, check the hives regularly for any outbreak of diseases like Fould, Brood and Nosema and mites – Varroa and Tracheal – which are dangerous to the bees.
