What do beekeepers do? What activities do they carry out?
Let's discover together the work of beekeepers within beekeeping farms
The beekeeper is the one who raises bees and takes care of the swarms. In exchange for this, the farmer obtains honey and wax produced by the colonies.
We better understand what activities beekeepers carry out within beekeeping farms and how to become bee keepers .
What the beekeeper's job consists of
Beekeeping is an ancient practice, we do not know precisely its origin but it was certainly a very popular activity in Ancient Egypt. The Egyptian people began to raise bees to take the honey considered as a precious food and nectar of the gods. Today beekeeping is more popular than ever thanks to its benefits for nature and humans.
Being a beekeeper today is a difficult task. Having a beekeeping farm requires patience, experience and a lot of dedication. The weakening of the swarms in recent years has led this sector to have significant losses. The job of beekeeper brings with it many unknowns precisely because managing bees is not easy and requires adequate preparation and a very wide range of experience.
Being a beekeeper means learning to know bees , identifying and understanding the natural mechanisms of swarms and recognizing any signs of change. In order for the bees to always stay well, great attention is needed on the part of the breeder.
Beekeepers carry out periodic checks of the colonies (almost every day), through careful observation, they are able to understand what happens inside the hives and how to intervene.
Beekeepers help bees to survive by providing them with everything they need, treating them for pests and diseases and providing them with sustenance when they are lacking. The work of beekeepers takes place in complete symbiosis with bees.
The beekeeping profession takes place in close contact with nature and is able to offer unique and special experiences.
What a beekeeper does within the beekeeping farm
Each beekeeper takes care of his bees and, in return, collect a small part of honey, royal jelly and propolis. In addition to these products, beekeepers can also sell beeswax , royal jelly and other bee products. Some beekeepers decide to do this job as a hobby, others have hundreds of colonies!
It should be noted that the work of beekeepers does not harm bees at all as only one third of the honey produced is taken from the swarms. The remainder is left available to bees as a food source for survival.
The activities carried out by a beekeeper include:
- Colony management: moving or dividing bee colonies;
- Inspection of hives for any signs of disease or parasites;
- Anti varroa treatment of swarms;
- Insertion of new bee cores in the event of a weakening of a family;
- Maintaining the correct levels of temperature and humidity inside the hives;
- Administration of sugar syrup to nurse bees when they have no pollen reserves but need energy for brood rearing;
- Honey collection: honey extraction, centrifugation, filtration, decanting and finally potting.
- Transfer of hives: in the case of nomadic beekeeping, beekeepers also take care of moving their apiary to other areas where there are nectar sources or specific blooms for the production of different types of honey.
The beekeeper's activity is constant and continuous. The autumn and winter period usually slows down but nevertheless does not stop. In fact, there is no period of the year in which the beekeeper remains completely stationary. The activities to be carried out in the apiaries are always many. In fact, bees are wonderful but very demanding animals.
How to start a beekeeping business
Would you like to become a beekeeper ? First, it will be useful to accumulate a wealth of information. When you decide to do this job, it is very important to know the natural mechanisms that regulate the life of bees . A good beekeeping course is already a first step to start.
After adequate training, the next step is to choose the type of beekeeping to practice (nomadic or sedentary) and identify the right place to place the apiary . Then consider an initial investment for professional equipment and materials and be informed about the current legislation for the regulation of this sector.
If you have the opportunity, we recommend that you work with a professional beekeeper first.
The importance of bees for the ecosystem
Bees are essential to our ecosystem. They are the main pollinating insects of the world. Bees pollinate nearly 90% of the planet's plant species. Without them, our food supply would be severely limited.
According to the studies and the data analyzed, bees are responsible for about one in three bites of our food. But the world's bee population has been declining for years, and scientists believe many factors are to blame, including pesticides, climate change and the arrival of new predators.
Today the work of beekeepers is really important, able to protect the life of bees, so much so that farmers are considered real modern heroes.
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