Why Beekeeping?

I first got into beekeeping from my Father who got into beekeeping as a hobby, he took me out and showed me through his hive, he proceeded to explain what the bees do in the hive and the one thing that fascinated me the most was the different age groupings of the bees within the hive, the different roles that each of these bees has. He explained how each single bee though it may be viewed as insignificant, the combined effort of each individual bee of a hive of 80,000 bees brought together such an amazing single community and goal of the hives survival. As a result of this I have always found it amazing how such a tiny creature has such an ordered and structured community to create such a unique and healthy product.

Beekeeping has so many different intricacies and unknowns that you are continually learning and being taught from the bees. Some hives have different attitudes, some hives are nice, and all the while some hives are nasty and want to attack you all the time. Some hives have darker bees and some hives produce lighter bees. And sometimes you get a mixture of light and dark. Each hive produces a different flavour of honey depending on where those bees decided to forage relative to the hive right next to it. So sometimes each years honey crop may be different from the year before. Beekeeping has so many variables you are continually surprised at what happens and amazed at what these little insects can do.

Beekeeping is very rewarding, you get to see hives grow from only a few frames of bees and you help build and look after the hives growth over the year and it’s such an amazing feeling to see where it once was and where it is now, it is such an amazing feeling to see a struggling hive and help it grow and build up to its full potential. As beekeeping is a seasonal craft, bee’s populations increase and decrease for many reasons but the main reason is simply seasons. Beehives population drops as winter begins to show face, the queen reduces her laying and therefore as old bees die the hives population begins to decrease as the newer bees emerging don’t replace the number of old bees dieing, therefore managing a hives population is a critical role that a beekeeper needs to do. If a beekeeper doesn’t take action to stop the populations decline the hive may die during the winter so winter is a very hard time for bees and generally the sign of a good beekeeper is how many hives make it through the winter. As a result of this seasonal work there are many ups and downs that I have learnt, many joys and many sorrows as hives do die and it is hard as we spend a lot of time with the bees and only want them to flourish and be healthy.

Beekeeping isn’t for everyone, there are many ways to do beekeeping and everyone has their own system they use as do I, it is time consuming but being outside and breathing fresh air and watching the bees work tirelessly for their colonies and seeing them work every day bringing in large pollen sacks and full bellies of nectar. Sometimes I just stand and watch for 5 minutes it has an amazing calming affect which is hard to explain unless you really sit and watch the bees flying and landing and just minding their own business working hard for the better of their colony.

I don’t really have an answer as why I got into beekeeping all I know is I really enjoy it and I enjoy producing top quality honey and products by having a passion for this work.