But the sweet reward is by no means the only reason folks are attracted to beekeeping. For a long time, agriculture has recognized the value of pollination by bees. Without the bees' help, many commercial crops would suffer serious consequences. More on that later. Even backyard beekeepers witness dramatic improvements in their gardens' yields: more and larger fruits, flowers, and vegetables. A hive or two in the garden makes a big difference in your success as a gardener.

The rewards of beekeeping extend beyond honey and pollination. Bees produce other products that can be harvested and put to good use, including beeswax, propolis, and royal jelly. Even the pollen they bring back to the hive can be harvested (it's rich in protein and makes a healthy food supplement in our own diets).

Harvesting liquid gold: Honey

The prospect of harvesting honey is certainly a strong attraction for new beekeepers. There's something magical about bottling your own honey. And I can assure you that no other honey tastes as good as the honey made by your own bees. Delicious! Be sure to have a look at Chapter 18, where I list some delicious recipes for cooking with honey.

How much honey can you expect? The answer to that question varies depending on the weather, rainfall, and location and strength of your colony. But producing 60 to 80 pounds or more of surplus honey isn't unusual for a single colony. Chapters 14 and 15 provide plenty of useful information on the kinds of honey you can harvest from your bees and how to go about it. Also included are some suggestions on how you can go about selling your honey - how many hobbies can boast a profitable return on investment!

Bees as pollinators: Their vital role to our food supply

Any gardener recognizes the value of pollinating insects. Various insects perform an essential service in the production of seed and fruit. The survival of plants depends on pollination. You might not have thought much about the role honey bees play in our every day food supply. The fact is that 60 percent of the fruits and vegetables we rely on to feed our families need honey bee pollination. The value of honey bee pollination to U.S. agriculture is more than $14 billion annually, according to a Cornell University study. These are more than interesting facts. These are realities with devastating consequences.

The dwindling population of honey bees in recent years (see the later section "Being part of the bigger picture: Save the bees!") underscores the value of bee pollination. Indeed a spring without bees could endanger our food supply and impact our economy. It is a story that has become headline news in the media.

HIVE TALK

I've witnessed the miracle in my own garden: more and larger flowers, fruits, and vegetables - all the result of more efficient pollination by bees. After seeing my results, a neighbor who tends an imposing vegetable garden begged me to place a couple of hives on her property. I did, and she too is thrilled. She rewards me with a never-ending bounty of fruits and vegetables. And I pay my land-rent by providing her with 20 pounds of honey every year. Not a bad barter all around.

Being part of the bigger picture: Save the bees!

The facts that keeping a hive in the backyard dramatically improves pollination and rewards you with a delicious honey harvest are by themselves good enough reasons to keep bees. But today, the value of keeping bees goes beyond the obvious. In many areas, millions of colonies of wild (or feral) honey bees have been wiped out by urbanization, pesticides, parasitic mites, and a recent phenomenon called "Colony Collapse Disorder" (see Chapter 10 for more information on "CCD"). Collectively, these challenges are devastating the honey bee population. Many gardeners have asked me why they now see fewer and fewer honey bees in their gardens. It's because of the dramatic decrease in our honey bee population. Backyard beekeeping has become vital in our efforts to reestablish lost colonies of bees and offset the natural decrease in pollination by wild bees. I know of many folks who have started beekeeping to help re-build the honey bee population.

Getting an education: And passing it on!

As a beekeeper you continually discover new things about nature, bees, and their remarkable social behavior. Just about any school, nature center, garden club, or youth organization loves for you (as a beekeeper) to share your knowledge. Each year I make the rounds with my slide show and props, sharing the miracle of honey bees with my community. On many occasions my daughter's teacher and classmates visited the house for an on-site workshop. I opened the hive and gave each wide-eyed student a close-up look at bees at work. Spreading the word to others about the value these little creatures bring to all of us is great fun. You're planting a seed for our next generation of beekeepers. After all, a grade-school presentation on beekeeping is what aroused my interest in honey bees.

Improving your health: Bee therapies and stress relief

Although I can't point to any scientific studies to confirm it, I honestly believe that tending honey bees reduces stress. Working with my bees is so calming and almost magical. I am at one with nature, and whatever problems may have been on my mind tend to evaporate. There's something about being out there on a lovely warm day, the intense focus of exploring the wonders of the hive, and hearing that gentle hum of contented bees - it instantly puts me at ease, melting away whatever day-to-day stresses that I might find creeping into my life.

Any health food store proprietor can tell you the benefits of the bees' products. Honey, pollen, royal jelly, and propolis have been a part of healthful remedies for centuries. Honey and propolis have significant antibacterial qualities. Royal jelly is loaded with B vitamins and is widely used overseas as a dietary and fertility stimulant. Pollen is high in protein and can be used as a homeopathic remedy for seasonal pollen allergies (see the sidebar "Bee pollen, honey, and allergy relief" earlier in this chapter).

Apitherapy is the use of bee products for treating health disorders. Even the bees' venom plays an important role here - in bee-sting therapy. Venom is administered with success to patients who suffer from arthritis and other inflammatory/medical conditions. This entire area has become a science in itself and has been practiced for thousands of years in Asia, Africa, and Europe. An interesting book on apitherapy is Bee Products - Properties, Applications and Apitherapy: Proceedings of an International Conference Held in Tel Aviv, Israel, May 26-30, 1996, published by Kluwer Academic Publishers (ISBN: 0306455021).

More information on apitherapy is available from the American Apicultural Society (www.apitherapy.org).

Determining Your Beekeeping Potential

How do you know whether you'd make a good beekeeper? Is beekeeping the right hobby for you? Here are a few things worth considering as you ponder these issues.

Environmental considerations

Unless you live on a glacier or on the frozen tundra of Siberia, you probably can keep bees. Bees are remarkable creatures that do just fine in a wide range of climates. Beekeepers can be found in areas with long cold winters, in tropical rain forests, and in nearly every geographic region in-between. If flowers bloom in your part of the world, you can keep bees.

How about space requirements? You don't need much. I know many beekeepers in the heart of Manhattan. They have a hive or two on their rooftops or terraces. Keep in mind that bees travel miles from the hive to gather pollen and nectar. They'll forage an area as large as 6,000 acres, doing their thing. So the only space that you need is enough to accommodate the hive itself.

See Chapter 3 for more specific information on where to locate your bees.

Zoning and legal restrictions

Most communities are quite tolerant of beekeepers, but some have local ordinances that prohibit beekeeping or restrict the number of hives that you can have. Some communities let you keep bees but ask that you register your hives with the local government. Check with your town hall, local zoning board, or state agricultural experiment station to find out about what's okay in your neighborhood.

Obviously you want to practice a good-neighbor policy, so that folks in your community don't feel threatened by your unique new hobby. See Chapter 3 for more information on the kinds of things you can do to prevent neighbors from getting nervous.

Costs and equipment

What does it cost to become a beekeeper? All in all, beekeeping isn't a very expensive hobby. You can figure on investing about $200 to $400 for the hive, equipment, tools, and medication. In addition, you'll spend $60 to $80 for a package of bees and queen. For the most part, these are one-time expenses. Keep in mind, however, the potential for a return on this investment. Your hive can give you 60 TO 90 pounds of honey every year. At $5 to $7 a pound (a fair going price for all-natural, raw honey), that should give you an income of $300 to $600 per hive! Not bad, huh?

See Chapter 4 for a detailed listing of the equipment you'll need.

How many hives do you need?

Most beekeepers start out with one hive. And that's probably a good way to start your first season. But most beekeepers wind up getting a second hive in short order. Why? For one, it's twice as much fun! Another more practical reason for having a second hive is that recognizing normal and abnormal situations is easier when you have two colonies to compare. In addition, a second hive enables you to borrow frames from a stronger, larger colony to supplement one that needs a little help. My advice? Start with one hive until you get the hang of things, and then consider expanding in your second season.

What kind of honey bees should you raise?

The honey bee most frequently raised by beekeepers in the United States today is European in origin and has the scientific name Apis mellifera.

Of this species, the most popular bee is the so-called "Italian" honey bee. These bees are docile, hearty, and good honey producers. They are a good choice for the new beekeeper. See Chapter 5 for more information about different varieties of honey bees.

Time and commitment

Beekeeping isn't labor intensive. Sure you'll spend part of a weekend putting together your new equipment. And I'm anticipating that you'll be spending some time reading up on your new hobby. (I sure hope you read my book from cover to cover!) But the actual time that you absolutely must spend with your bees is surprisingly modest. Other than your first year (when I urge you to inspect the hive frequently to find out more about your bees) you need to make only five to eight visits to your hives every year. Add to that the time that you spend harvesting honey, repairing equipment, and putting things away for the season, and you'll probably devote 35 to 40 hours a year to your hobby (more if you make a business out of it).

For a more detailed listing of seasonal activities, be sure to read Chapter 8.

Beekeeper personality traits

If you howl like a banshee every time you see an insect, I suspect that beekeeping will be an uphill challenge for you. But if you love animals, nature, and the outdoors, and if you're curious about how creatures communicate and contribute to our environment, you'll be captivated by honey bees. If you like the idea of "farming" on a small scale, or you're intrigued by the prospect of harvesting your own all-natural honey, you'll enjoy becoming a beekeeper. Sure, as far as hobbies go, it's a little unusual, but all that's part of its allure. Express your uniqueness and join the ranks of some of the most delightful and interesting people I've ever met ... backyard beekeepers!

Allergies

If you're going to become a beekeeper, you can expect to get stung once in a while. It's a fact of life. But when you adopt good habits as a beekeeper, you can minimize or even eliminate the chances that you'll be stung.

All bee stings can hurt a little, but not for long. It's natural to experience some swelling, itching, and redness. These are normal (not allergic) reactions. Some folks are mildly allergic to bee stings, and the swelling and discomfort may be more severe. And yet, the most severe and life-threatening reactions to bee stings occur in less than 1 percent of the population. So the chances that you're dangerously allergic to honey bee venom are remote. If you're uncertain, check with an allergist, who can determine whether you're among the relatively few who should steer clear of beekeeping.

You'll find more information on bee stings in Chapter 3.

The prehistoric bee

Bees have been around for a long, long time, gathering nectar and pollinating flowers. They haven't changed much since the time of the dinosaurs. The insect shown in the following figure is definitely recognizable as a bee. It was caught in a flow of pine sap 30 to 40 million years ago and is forever preserved in amber.

Honeybee or honey bee?

This is a "tomato/tomahto" issue. The British adhere to their use of the one word: "honeybee." The Entomological Society of America, however, prefers to use two words "honey bee." Here's the society's rationale: The honey bee is a true bee, like a house fly is a true fly, and thus should be two words. A dragonfly, on the other hand, is not a fly; hence it is one word.

Note: Spell it both ways when Web surfing. That way, you'll cover all bases and hit all the sites!

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