Everyone has a type of hobby or an activity they like to do in their leisure time. Actually, everyone must have one such activity. In the midst of all the hectic work life, a person must get some time to relish and refresh himself by doing something he likes.
Hobbies are of many types. Some of the common hobbies are stamp collection, painting, playing games, etc. In most schools, kids are thought to develop hobbies in order to gain the mental benefit it offers to every human being.
A lot of people have a passion to make their hobby a profession and earn from it, while there are others who just simply want to enjoy doing the task. Now even the hobbies are too divided in this form.
There are some hobbies you can sell your produce while there are some you just do for peace of mind. One such common hobby which is both interesting and can help you earn money is beekeeping. It is always fantasizing to watch these amazing creatures create something so good out of nothing.
The History Of Beekeeping
Since the medieval period, people came to know about the feature of bees, that they produce delicious sweet honey. But this honey is difficult to get from the gives as bees sting. By 17th century, people came to know the benefit of smoke as it helps to keep the bees away or they make it unstable for some time. Using this technique they could extract the honey.
Then the discovery of screen veil came. At any cost one has to go near the hive to extract the honey. Thus in order not to get stung by a honeybee, the screen veil was invented. Within 17th century to 19th century, all the key discoveries which led to modern day beekeeping were made. Some of the important discoveries made during period are
- The truth about the queen bee that is the mother of all the occupants of a hive.
- The curious mating technique of the queen bee
- The Parthenogenetic development
- The movable frame hives and also
- The fact about the bees hiring a new queen bee if the former one disappears.
With these, they came to know more about the science and techniques of beekeeping. People realised to divide a single colony to get a hive instead of waiting for swarming of bees in an area.
Beekeeping Hobby – All you need to know
Beekeeping, as the name suggests is the care and management of honeybee colonies to obtain honey and other similar products which are produced by bees. The main produce is honey of course, but apart from it they can provide with various other things like pollinators of fruits and vegetables blossoms.
The practice of beekeeping is widespread in the whole world. People invest in creating an environment for the bees to make honey and breed there. As because honeybees cannot be domesticated, you need to create a bee colony with the help of various essential beekeeping tools and equipment.
You must remember it always that a swarm of bees is very dangerous if they get to attack you. So before even you think of the interest of your hobby, you must first think about safe beekeeping. We will now talk about the basic requirements you need to start off with beekeeping.
Essential Equipment And Tools For Beekeeping
Firstly, a person who does beekeeping is called an apiarist and a store from where you can get all the necessities and accessories of beekeeping is called an apiary. A new person entering the field of beekeeping must have very proper guidance and help till everything is set in the person’s bee colony.
A guide would help here a lot. A guide can advise the usage and of tools and also can give you the perfect details about where to invest and on what process of beekeeping should a person invest based on the location where he wants to breed the bees. Below are the essential beekeeping tools and equipment you need to start with:
The basic thing you need to start with is by buying hives. Now you have an option either to go for starter hives or bee kits. Starter hives are premature hives along with its bees and bee kit is a kit with the queen bee and her army who will start from root, the making of the hive.
Naturally bees build their hives on tree trunks and rock slabs and such areas. But beekeeping is an artificial setup of bees to produce natural honey. So you will need rectangular structures called hive frames which will be placed in your desired place for the bees to build their hives.
Remember that bees cannot be domesticated. So if they don’t find food in your area, they can easily leave the place and go near a place where there is food. So you need a bee feeder set up near the hive for the bees to feed on. A bee feeder is a rectangular pan with a frame which has been food stored in it i.e. sugar water.
Veteran beekeepers don’t need a suit, but a bee suit is a must for a newbie. Bees are not aggressive but if humans bother them, they can get very aggressive so it is always better to wear a bee suit to prevent getting stung by the bees. A bee suit also helps to build confidence to approach bees.
There are some more essential items too like a hive tool and a hive scraper which helps a new apiarist a lot in easily doing the tasks of beekeeping.
Apart from these essential beekeeping tools and equipment, there are some non-essential items too which can be avoided too but if bought then it would not go in vain.
Some such items are- queen catcher, queen excluder, smoker, queen marker. Investing in good quality equipment will along with easing your beekeeping, will also make your beekeeping more productive.