No matter how big your farm is or what you grow , there is one addition every farmer should consider making to his or her military operation : honeybees .
Beyond the fact that honeybee population have been dealt some blows in recent age from thing such as colony collapse disorder , there are infinite other practical reasons why you should keep bee .
1. Honeybees Are Compact
2. They Are Relatively Affordable
Getting started with bees is evenhandedly cheap compared with getting get down with , say , sheep or cows . You necessitate a some puppet , plus a veil and gloves . The bee will also need their domicile — a hive physical structure or two , some supers , some form and some wax . As for acquiring the bees , you may dictate hive on-line or even capture a swarm ( which is free ) . I recommend order a atomic beehive ( sometimes called a “ nuc ” ) from a trusted local apiculturist . The latter option will give you a function settlement that can instantly go to work building a beehive and , in a full season , make enough dearest in the first year for you to glean a lilliputian .
3. Honeybees Might Be The Perfect Livestock
I say it every year on our farm : Honeybees are my favorite livestock . What other stock forage its own food , finds its own water , protects itself ( mostly ) , can do its own fostering — and rewards you with as exciting a product as honey ? Their general care can be 10 or 20 minutes a week per hive , calculate on how involved you want to be .
4. They Pollinate
They say bees pollenate 1/3 of all food crop , so manifestly if you are a veggie farmer or orchardist , you rely on honeybees ( and many other bee ) to pollinate your crop . But even those who require nice grazing land should consider how useful honeybees can be at pollinate things such as trefoil , which , no matter what ruminant you grow , is a rich delicacy .
5. They Are Fascinating
It take 45,000 Swedish mile of flight tomakeone pound of beloved . When a honeybee needs to tell her sister where something is , she dances . Oh , and all doer bees are female . Only the radio-controlled aircraft who pair with the fag are male . For me , one of my favorite part of work with bee is that they are a complex superorganism and endlessly interesting to study .
6. Honey, Of Course
lease us not forget that that one of the in effect reasons to get honeybees is , well , the love . A exclusive established beehive in a good season can get between20and 60 pounds of honey per year . Be it for the Fannie Farmer securities industry or for home use , honey is a dependably shelf - static product that is not only nutritive but also healthful .
Remember Some Important Considerations
Every beginning beekeeper should get amentorand dedicate him- or herself to the beekeeping literature . This is important for protecting yourself , your bees , your investment — and also your fellow beekeeper by con to realise pests and disease so as not to spread them . For every beehive you build , also consider building some nativepollinatorhabitat to protect those populations as well . Bees require more than 1 million flowers to make one Sudanese pound of honey . Make it a slight minute easier on them by planting some good bee efflorescence and clover around your house ( maybe ask your neighbor to do the same ) . And of course , have merriment .
