If you are like me and many people then you can enjoy beekeeping as a hobby or the beekeeping business.  The reasons include appreciation of nature, desire to produce honey, or to boost garden production through cross-pollination. However, another great reason is the income potential!  That is one reason I got involved.

There are a number of ways to make money beekeeping.  The most obvious method is honey production. Hive production varies, but a healthy bee colony can produce around 50 pounds of honey each year. Honey can be produced and sold on a retail level, through farmers’ markets, local grocers, and health food stores, or to wholesale clients such as breweries.  Asking prices can vary widely, but $4-7 per pound ($12-$21 per quart) is typical for bottled honey, and around $2 per pound ($6 per quart) for bulk honey. Additional honey products include flavored honey, whipped honey, honey butter, honey-flavored candies.

Besides honey, bees produce many other products that can be profitable.  Beeswax can be purified and molded into lubricant bars, and DIY instructions abound online for making beeswax candles and cosmetic products.  Bee pollen, also called bee bread or ambrosia, is reputed to have health benefits when consumed and is sold in health food stores.  Propolis, a resinous substance found in beehives, is used commercially in musical instruments, chewing gum, and car wax.  It is also used medicinally as an antimicrobial, an emollient, and an anti-inflammatory.  Finally, royal jelly, a bee secretion, is used in some beauty products and is also reported to provide beneficial health effects to those consuming it.

Another method of making money beekeeping is to rent hives for cross-pollination.  Natural cross-pollination can be difficult in areas where land development has eliminated the natural habitat of pollinating insects, and widespread disease among bee colonies has increased the demand for “bees for rent.”  The market rate is expected to be $75 per hive in 2011.

Beekeepers can also advertise in their local communities to provide swarm removal services.  Asking law enforcement, animal control, and exterminators for referrals when citizens report a swarm can yield removal fees as well as a new hive for the beekeeper.

Beekeeping hobbyists who have had success making money beekeeping may desire to turn their hives into a commercial operation.  The major methods of making money beekeeping remain the same; however, there are some differences between hobbyist and commercial beekeepers.

• The commercial beekeeper will have several bee yard locations.
• The commercial beekeeper will move bees often, keeping bee hives on pallets or some other portable structure.
• The commercial beekeeper will have standardized equipment.
• The commercial beekeeper will have liability insurance.
• The commercial beekeeper worries about the bottom line!

If you are considering beekeeping as a career, visit an experienced commercial beekeeper before jumping into the profession.  Large beekeeping operations will require a substantial upfront investment. Costs include the bees themselves; land suitable for the bees to find food while not becoming a nuisance to humans or livestock; buildings to store equipment and supplies and to extract honey; hive and honey handling equipment; vehicles, labor (usually one experienced beekeeper per 500-1,000 colonies); and overhead such as business licenses and insurance.  A more comprehensive listing of items suggested to make money beekeeping commercially can be found here. I use this as a resource all the time to make money beekeeping, and I highly recommend it.

Wishing you great success as a beekeeper,

I actually make money by selling my honey and having my own little beekeeping business.  It isn’t for everyone, but it can be a great and fun little hobby.

Bee business is abuzz these days, pun intended.  Over the last few years more and more people have taken on the seemingly daunting task of beekeeping.  In truth, the bee business, though plagued by declining numbers in the bee population, has seen a boost in celebrity beekeepers for that very reason. Celebrities such as Scarlet Johannson, Steve Vai, and Jimmy Doherty are but a few of the well known names to join the bee business.So what is all the buzz about the bee business?  It seems that it is not simply about honey anymore.  Beeswax is making a name for itself in the bee business.  Beeswax comes from the wax glands on the abdomen of a worker bee.  These wax glands secrete tiny chips of the wax which is then used to create honeycomb cells.

Those in the bee business today have begun to use beeswax to make household items such as candles.  Because beeswax has a high melting point, beeswax candles burn slower and brighter.  In addition they don’t drip and don’t leave a smoky residue.  Beeswax is also used for certain furniture polishes.

Beeswax is popular in some cosmetics such as lip balms or lotions.  Those in the bee business have realized that as a natural product it sells well to those concerned with what they put on their bodies.

So, how does one go about getting into the bee business?  Do you have to actually be a beekeeper? And what if you don’t want to actually make products to sell but you just want to keep bees, is there a bee business to be had in that?

First, before getting into the bee business you need to decide how you want to be involved.  You don’t have to actually be a beekeeper, although for the purpose of creating products you may find it less expensive to keep your own bees rather than buying beeswax from another beekeeper.

There is also a way for those who don’t want to create products to be involved in the bee business.  How you ask?  You could become a commercial beekeeper.  A commercial beekeeper travels with bee hives in order to pollinate crops across the country.  Because the agricultural market is dependent upon bee pollination, and the bee population is declining there is more work than there are beekeepers.  This, along with the gallons upon gallons that can be sold make the bee business a very lucrative business, although one not to be entered into lightly.

Corporate beekeepers are faced with the responsibility of caring for bees in today’s world which has an increasing number of viruses and parasites that affect the bee population as well as a decline in rural areas and thus food sources.  However, there are medications and artificial foods that can help those in the bee business to support their tiny workers.  And with the increasing popularity of beekeeping in the hobby world, the bee business is creating quite a buzz throughout the world.

As you can see, it can be extremely lucrative and rewarding to be involved in the bee business by becoming a commercial beekeeper, or doing other activities.  A question a lot of people have is:  how do I get started?   To be honest what helped me a lot was investing in this guide right here.

It helped me know how to get in the bee business, what mistakes to avoid, what equipment I would need.  Best of all they offer a money back guarantee, so it gave me confidence in that what I was buying would make sense.  It’s why I recommend it and use it myself to this day.  To begin learning more about the bee business click here now.

Wishing you success in your beekeeping hobbies, business, and adventures!

Are you interested in buying a  bee keeping course because you want to learn how to keep bees! You’ve come to the right place.  I wrote this article because I wanted people to know what is important in a beekeeping course.  You will discover what to look for in a Beekeeping Course and what to avoid buying in a bee keeping course.  Here are some things you should know if you are interested in buying a bee keeping course.

What to Look for in a Beekeeping Course

1.  Does the bee keeping course tell you the best time of year to start bee keeping?  This is important!

2.  Does it tell you what to do if the queen bee dies?

3.  Does the bee keeping course you are looking at tell you the specific types of bees you should get if you are interested in bee keeping?

4. How to remove bees from a frame and move them into a new home?

5. Does the bee keeping course teach you which direction your hives face?  Does the course teach you how to use a smoker to calm down your bees?

6. Does it tell you the best types of flowers, plants, and trees to use with your bees to produce the best type of honey?  This is a very important part of a bee keeping course!

7. Does the bee keeping course teach you how to protect yourself if you get stung, and most important does it teach you how to avoid getting stung in the first place?

8. How to protect your bees from ants and other insects?

9. How to divide a colony of bees?

10. Does the bee keeping course teach you how to remove honey from the hive?

All of these, and there are lots more things to learn in a bee keeping course, are questions you need to ask yourself.  It is extremely important to know these things.  Just knowing one of these things makes a bee keeping course valuable, but if you don’t know these basic things, then how will you be a successful bee keeper?

Most people who are looking for a bee keeping course don’t know how important these facts are.  A lot of people just buy the first bee keeping course they come across, which is a huge mistake.  You need to educate yourself so that you know what to look for, and what mistakes to avoid.

The last thing you should look for in a bee keeping course is a money-back guarantee.  Does the bee keeping course offer a 100% unconditional money-back guarantee?  Why is this important?  Because if the course has poor information, or something changes in your life you shouldn’t have to pay for the bee keeping course.  You should be able to get your money back.  The other thing you need to look out for is how long the money-back guarantee is for the bee keeping course.  Not all guarantees are the same.  The longer the guarantee, the longer you have to explore the information and make sure that the bee keeping course is a valuable resource for you.

The beekeeping course I personally recommend covers all of these things.  You can click here to learn more.  I use this guide all the time in my personal beekeeping, and I can’t recommend it enough!

Click here now to begin to learn more.

Your friend,