Beekeeping: 10 reasons to raise your own bees

Backyard beekeeping is emerging as the latest trend in urban areas besides gardening, chickens and rabbits. Why should you keep bees? Bees are essential for the pollination of plants and crops. In recent years there has been an overwhelming demise of bees due to Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Without the bees, we will have fewer harvests, which will cause higher food prices and food shortages. But as an individual, you can change this simply by adding a beehive to your backyard. Here are 10 reasons why keeping bees is important to our urban backyards:

• Beekeeping can be done by anyone: men, women, seniors, and even children (under adult supervision) can enjoy beekeeping as a hobby that can be turned into a small farm business. The only part of beekeeping that is physically demanding is raising the supers full of honey. These are the boxes that contain the frames filled with honey and comb.
• Beekeeping can be done virtually anywhere there are flowering plants, trees, or shrubs. The bees can be kept in the cold north, the desert, or the humid areas of the south. Be sure to contact your local beekeeping group to learn how to keep bees in your area. Beehives can be kept both in the city and in the country, just think of gardens kept in backyards everywhere that can benefit from bees. Be sure to check your city ordinances first before setting up your first hive.
• Unlike cattle, bees do not have to be fed and watered every day. No milking twice a day, hauling hay, or stomping on snow to break the ice. Bees need supplemental feeding in the spring and fall, so you’ll need to check the food reserves in your hives every few days. During the summer, just do a weekly health check and see how your honey production is going. In late summer, remove excess honey from the hive. If you have 1 or 2 hives, this can be done in one day. In winter, there is no work for the beekeeper! Use this time to plan for the coming year to increase honey production. Read the latest on beekeeping and stay informed on what’s happening in your hobby. Beekeeping can be another part of your farm chores or can even be done if you have a full-time career.
• Bees benefit you and your neighbors by pollinating plants in gardens, orchards, vineyards, or agricultural crops. Bees increase the production of fruits, vegetables and flowers. Bees travel up to 3 miles away from their hive in search of food sources to benefit everyone in their area. You can also rent beehives from farmers to pollinate their crops.
• Your own honey will taste more delicious than any you buy. Raw honey from your own hives can be added to a hot cup of tea, drizzled over warm cookies, or used to create moist baked goods. Local raw honey relieves allergy symptoms and makes a wonderful gift for family and friends.
• Bees produce more than honey! Beekeepers have used and enjoyed wax, propolis, and royal jelly for personal use and to add additional products to sell. Make candles with beeswax, they burn cleaner and have a soft, sweet fragrance. Add honey and beeswax to your soap, lotion, and lip balm recipes. Use the excess milk from your cows, goats, or sheep to make milk soap and honey to sell.
• Hummm along with your bees! Working with bees requires you to be calm and to have smooth, deliberate movements and concentration. If you stay focused, relaxed, and focused on the task at hand, your stress will melt away. You can calm your mind and focus on watching the hive community and listening to the buzz.
• Start-up costs are cheap, compared to other new farm businesses. Starter kits are in the $165-450 range and include a hive, basic tools, smoker, gloves, hat with a veil, and an introductory beekeeping book. The bees are purchased in a package with workers, drones and a queen.
• Beekeeping is a hobby that can easily turn a profit. It can pay off only after the first year, as the hive can produce around 100 pounds of surplus honey in a good year. Many beginners start with 2 hives and market value-added products such as candles, soaps, lotions, lip balms, or sell wax, pollen, and propolis. And don’t forget the added benefit of increased garden productivity.
• Due to the devastating effects of Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD), bees have been disappearing from our landscape. If we return to small-scale beekeeping, we will be able to regenerate colonies and thus secure our food supply in the future.

It goes without saying that if you or your family members have a severe allergic reaction to bee stings, then beekeeping is not for you. A severe allergic reaction can lead to anaphylactic shock and rapid death. Immediate treatment with epinephrine is needed.

For the beekeeper, the joy of caring for bees and the multiple sources of income outweigh the occasional bee sting.

©2011 Shanna Ohmes