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Hey guys,
on my way home today I was thinking about jobs I could do before going to the university or maybe instead of furthering my education.
Then it hit me:
Beekeeping would be totally awesome.
Collecting honey, watching bees buzzing around, sorting out bumblebee usurpers an sitting in the sun on my bee habitat. Also, using fire to calm them - smokes soothes them.
I suppose you can't really train them, or recognize individual bees, like in a dog-sled-team, but it must be nice to see the colonies grow and the herds become larger.
I already learned some interesting facts about beekeeping.
Did you know that honey doesn't spoil?
Did you also know that bees can't see red?
So now I want to know your experiences with beekeeping.
Does any one do it professionally, or as a hobby?
 
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i was always under the impression that you either owned the bee farms or you labored on it. probably a couple of exceptions. seems like hobby's more realistic. i could be wrong...
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also more interesting facts: more people dies to bee stings in a year compared to shark attack.
edit: not to discourage you though, just becareful.
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My father is retired and has I think about 5 bee hives. He lives out on the countryside now and even moved because his last landlord didn't want bees around.
He gets freakish amounts of honey. Like 200 kg per summer or even more.
I think it's hard to support yourself only by managing bees though. I think you should consider it more of a hobby than anything else. It still seems like a tonne of fun though.
It seems like a very season based job. Nothing really happens during the winter (well come to think of it, depending on where you live you might never have any winters, so dunno how the bees react to that) as the bees just go into their coma, and chills out for 6 months.
Best of luck anyway. The full equipment with the hives, suits and all that stuff is pretty expensive, but once you're over that it should bring you some money if you make a deal with a nearby supermarket or something.
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If u want to make money u need at least 80-100 hives, each of those if it s a strong hive and if its a good year should produce about 60 kg of honey in one seson.There is aditional income if you go into pollination of crops were it s about 20-50 euro per hive(in romania) per crop it should be higher in rest of europe.
The main thing is that u need a lot of dedication and be realistic that s beacause it s agriculture and you are at the mercy of nature. I mean somme year s can be verry good others not. A bee colony it s about 100 euro plus the hive depending on the tipe can be 50-100 euro + u well need somme tools about 500 eur.
It s a fun job but u need the time to put in durring the seson.
My adivice is to buy 2-3 at first c how it goes then you ll decide . Also check if ur alergic or not to the venom..
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What's up with beekeeping being so popular? I tried finding animal books on Amazon, and 90% were about beekeeping!
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On July 06 2012 23:21 Arnstein wrote:
What's up with beekeeping being so popular? I tried finding animal books on Amazon, and 90% were about beekeeping!
Bees give you honey for free.
Warm honeyed milk in the cold mornings, watching the sunrise in the peaceful silent countryside
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On July 06 2012 23:35 fabiano wrote:Show nested quote +On July 06 2012 23:21 Arnstein wrote:
What's up with beekeeping being so popular? I tried finding animal books on Amazon, and 90% were about beekeeping! Bees give you honey for free. Warm honeyed milk in the cold mornings, watching the sunrise in the peaceful silent countryside
Pretty much sums it up
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It wouldn't be just because of that though, because working one hour in your real job would get you more honey than working one hour with beekeeping.
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We have a hive at our farm, but I don't know anything about it.  My dad's friend does it as a hobby and just offers to set up hives at peoples places.
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On July 06 2012 23:35 fabiano wrote:Show nested quote +On July 06 2012 23:21 Arnstein wrote:
What's up with beekeeping being so popular? I tried finding animal books on Amazon, and 90% were about beekeeping! Bees give you honey for free. Warm honeyed milk in the cold mornings, watching the sunrise in the peaceful silent countryside
Peaceful and silent ? Clearly you haven't been around bee hives lately, if at all...
I guess you could park them in one side of your yard. But still, bee hives are very noisy and quite the opposite of peaceful... you'll also get the occasional lost bee(s) here and there.
Definitely an original choice of a work.
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Calgary25989 Posts
My friend's family are professional beekeepers. They also opened a meadery. It's pretty good stuff.
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On July 06 2012 21:41 KingofHearts wrote:
also more interesting facts: more people dies to bee stings in a year compared to shark attack.
edit: not to discourage you though, just becareful.
i have a feeling most of those people are with allergies, and probably not bee keepers.
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i seriously went into this thread thinking beekeeping was a metaphor for something. -
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beekeeping interests me in the same way that just having a farm with like...an orchard sounds really nice sometimes. its nice, and it's work. and it's work that you can look down at each day and know you did work. and it's yours.
i dont really have any useful advice, so, im sorry for that, but best of luck with the bees if you pursue it.
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On July 06 2012 22:02 Euronyme wrote:
The full equipment with the hives, suits and all that stuff is pretty expensive, but once you're over that it should bring you some money if you make a deal with a nearby supermarket or something.
Most counties in the US have farmer's markets where the farmers can sell their crops directly to consumers for a decent price. If Germany has something similar, that would probably bee a good bet (tee hee). But I agree that it's unrealistic to do anything more than a hobby to start. Becoming a full scale farmer would take experience and probably a decent sized loan that you'd bee on the hook to pay back.
Still, if you live out in the country it seems like a cool hobby to me.
-edit: btw there's a Green Acres joke in here somewhere...
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So I just called up several bee-keepers in Germany that offer apprenticeships in beekeeping.
There's 4 I have to send my application too, there's 4 all over Germany I've made appointments with and there's several I haven't reached yet.
If all goes well, I'll get to start an apprenticeship in August or February.
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So many "be" related jokes sprung up in my head, "becareful" as Kingofhearths said.
Whatever you choose to do "bee" yourself.
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When i saw the topic i just read because i did not undertand what Beekeeping is ...
Now i know ...
Anyway, Gl with that, but i still dont see how it can be a full-time job, i think its probally a part time ...
The target of those kinda of business, here in brazil is for family business to stimulate the economic in certain places.
@Edit: In portuguese we have a big word for this, apiculturismo.
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On July 07 2012 03:38 pebble444 wrote:
So many "be" related jokes sprung up in my head, "becareful" as Kingofhearths said.
Whatever you choose to do "bee" yourself.
He shouldn't become beetter if it turns out to be a hard job.
Edit: Also, I guess to bee or not too bee, that is the question.
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I worked as a beekeeper back when I lived in Prince Edward Island for about 6 months. It was an incredibly fun(and demanding) job. I was working for the guy who owned the Apiary, I just helped look after the bees and hives and such.
It's definitly a good, fun job, but it's a lot like being a farmer, don't expect to make much money, the hours are long, and bad weather can screw you over pretty easily!
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Sounds beeautiful.
Edit: okay, that's the last one, I promise!
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EPT
