The rewards of beekeeping are that your honey bees will pollinate the neighborhood and you be able to enjoy the fresh sumptuous honey. What other hobby has such sweet rewards?
The old adage "as busy as a bee" is actually based on fact. Honey bees work flat-out bringing nectar back to the hive during the season. They work so hard that thy actually wear out their wings after 35 days, as they are no longer useful to the hive,they die
The bees can only collect nectar when there are flowers, so they make and store honey to feed the colony when there are no flowers in bloom. When conditions are good, the flowers produce a lot of nectar and the bees make more honey than they need. It is this extra honey that beekeepers collect for their own use or for sale.
Honey can be sold in two ways. Most people are familiar with liquid honey which has been extracted from the comb. To extract the honey a beekeeper generally uses a type of centrifuge equipment called an extractor.
You may not be as familiar with the other way of selling honey, which is honey still in the honeycomb. Honeycomb where the honey is still is the original wax is a specialty product preferred by customer who like food at its most natural. It's bit harder to use honey in the comb for anything other than eating straight out of the comb but it definitely has its own appeal.
Unlike supermarket honey which is a blended product from a vast number of apriaries. Honey from individual beekeepers comes if a huge variety of colors and flavors. This is because every flower has it's own scent and individual nectar with a distinct smell and taste.
Add to this the effects of the local climate and soils, and you end up with very individual honey. Honey made from the nectar of alfalfa that is gown in a dry alkaline soil is almost colorless.
In contrast honey produced from the nectar of buckwheat that is usually grown in acid type soils has a tendency to be very dark in color. The honey's color and taste is also affected by the way the bees make the honeycomb. With so many variables in play honey can range in color from pale almost colorless, through the all familiar gold to red and sometimes even a greenish tinge.
Remember to familiarize yourself with the regulations for labeling, processing and handling food products at both the state and federal level if you are selling your honey. The regulations will apply to both honey and any other bee products. Make sure that you follow any local beekeeping guidelines.
If you want to make a profit you need to treat your beekeeping like a real business. You will need to have a marketing strategy for selling your honey or any of many other bee products. Think about where you plan to sell the honey as well as the particular customer you will be targeting.
Beekeeping is an enjoyable and rewarding hobby. However if you plan on making a profit you need to think and plan like a business.Then your business will be a growing concern and not just a struggling hobby.
Want to know more about honey beekeepers? How you too can become a beekeeper and enjoy your own honey? Visit www.SecretBeekeepingTips.com and get the Free part Mini Course.
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