Raising Bees
Beekeeping is possibly the one career that allows you to have alone time.
“Almost never when I go outside and release my bees, do I get a crowd of people,” says Kim Flottum, a beekeeper and the editor of Bee Culture: The Magazine of American BeeKeeping. “People tend to stay away when the bees are flying overhead, but there is nothing like it — being outdoors. It is just you and the bees. It's almost intoxicating to watch.”
According to Flottum, you don't need a lot of space to own bees. “There are even a few beekeepers who have their hives on Manhattan [New York] rooftops,” he says. “You don't need a lot of land. The bees will travel about a mile or two to find food.”
Flottum lives in a small northern Ohio town with about 25,000 people and a local beekeeping association. He says that many towns have beekeepers. Most of them keep bees as a hobby — because they love bees and the honey.
Flottum, who is a part-time beekeeper, has five hives in his two-acre backyard. He sells the honey locally at farmers markets and a few shops. Many beekeepers use the wax from the hives to make candles, and they sell those too.
He says his neighbors don't mind being close by, “because when you have bees, your garden does much better,” he says. Despite the fact that many people love honey and understand that we need honeybees to pollinate plants, not many people are going into this profession.
Fact
The number of managed honeybee colonies is less than half of what it was 25 years ago. In 2006, across the United States, honeybee colonies started to die. The problem is called colony collapse disorder (CCD). Scientists who are studying CCD don't know why it is occurring. They do have theories; some include attacks by parasites, increasing urbanization of the land, use of pesticides, and environmental factors.
According to Flottum, there are approximately 100,000 beekeepers in the United States. Of that number, most are hobbyists. He believes that about 1,000 are full-time commercial beekeepers, and about 5,000 are serious sideliners. “You can make a good living as a sideliner,” he says. These are people who work full-time in other jobs, have a small number of hives, and sell honey and wax at flea markets and local stores.
To do this full-time you need a lot of land, and Flottum suggests that you have land in different parts of the country. That way, if there is a drought in one area of the country where you have your hives, you can count on the other areas where you have your hives to produce enough honey and wax for a profit. Large commercial companies own about 100,000 hives, and they need about 1,000 acres.
Alert
Beekeeping is legal in most states. Before you begin, you should check with your local town or government office to see if it is allowed. Some towns have ordinances about beekeeping and may not want hives too close to schools. If you really want to go into this profession full-time or part-time, you might consider keeping bees at a nearby farm.
To become a beekeeper you will need to purchase hives. Flottum and other beekeepers make their own. You will also need a thorough understanding of bees and beekeeping.
Flottum suggests contacting the National Honey Board or local beekeeping association in your town to attend classes. “Before you invest in equipment and your time, it is a good idea to take a beginner's course in beekeeping just to make sure this is something you really want to do,” he explains.
In addition to checking with the National Honey Board, check out the American Beekeeping Federation and the American Honey Producers Association. “Talk to beekeepers,” says Flottum. “We are a friendly bunch of people and are eager to share information about the profession.”
