Who Are Beekeepers?

This month, let’s learn about the people who take care of honey bees; Beekeepers!

Beekeepers are the caregivers of the beehive.

Hobbyist beekeepers generally have 1-25 hives. Some gather and use the honey for personal use while others may experiment with purifying beeswax to make cosmetics like makeup, lotions, and soap bars. Many hobbyists keep their bees in small city lots which helps to pollinate the flowers that we see at city parks, along the roads, and in our neighborhoods. Even though hobbyist beekeepers have relatively few hives, it still takes a lot of hard work to inspect the hives regularly in the hot summers and cold winters. 

Beekeepers check their hives regularly to see how the bees are doing
and if they need any supplemental food.

In contrast, Sideline and Commercial Beekeepers have hundreds and thousands of hives! These people manage beehives on a large scale to provide you and me fresh fruits, veggies, nuts, and even our clothes! All of these products are made possible by commercial beekeepers loading their beehives onto tractor-trailers and moving them across the country as the different crops bloom. Honey bees are very efficient pollinators, pollinating millions of flowers each day! They too work hard all year to help other farmers increase the quality and quantity of their crops. The next time you go to the grocery store or buy honey from a beekeeper, remember that one-third of the food that you eat was pollinated by a honey bee and that the beekeepers worked hard all year to give you this amazing product called honey. 

This Montana beekeeper loads his hives in preparation for crop pollination.