Beekeeping

“Humans have been keeping bees for thousands of years.”

Humans have been keeping bees for thousands of years. Over time, methods have evolved and even today beekeeping practices differ around the world. In the United States, it is important to understand that most beekeepers are considered backyard beekeepers, each having only a few colonies for personal use. Most colonies, however, belong to a much smaller number of commercial beekeepers.

Types of Beekeepers and Distribution of Colonies

Categorizing the type of operation a beekeeper has is important. The economics of beekeeping, and associated management practices, differ between the groups. Having a few colonies at home is considered “backyard beekeeping” or “hobbyist” beekeeping. Having several colonies as a source of supplemental income is considered “sideline” beekeeping, or part-time beekeeping. And maintaining hundreds, or thousands of colonies as a primary source of income is called “commercial beekeeping.” There are specialized commercial beekeeper businesses such as “Queen Breeders” whose focus is on making excess queen bees to sell to other beekeepers, others are ‘honey producers’ who focus on honey production, or ‘pollinators’ who rent bees to pollinate crops.

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Commercial Beekeeping has Changed Over Time

The chart below shows how beekeeping businesses have changed over time. For commercial beekeepers, there has been a shift over the last few decades towards pollination as a source of income, and away from honey production. The single biggest driver has been the increasing demand for bees to pollinate almonds. Almond acreage has expanded greatly between 1988 to the present day. These pollination services are a consistent revenue stream for most commercial beekeepers.

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Beekeeping Costs

Something all beekeepers have in common is the many costs to keep healthy bees. While a backyard beekeeper must consider the cost of bees, hives, equipment, feed, and mite treatments, a commercial beekeeper has the added cost of scaling up labor, equipment, treatments, and transportation costs if they are migratory.

The chart below shows data relating to beekeeping costs from the USDA-NASS Honey Report, and from a special report from the University of California Issues Center

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Best Management Practices

There are many resources available to beekeepers to learn what’s working best. Referred to as best management practices (BMP’s) these guidelines are informed by other beekeepers, and much of the research found in our database.

The Honey Bee Health Coalition offers comprehensive BMP’s on their webpage, including a detailed guide and ‘how-to’ videos for managing Varroa.

The American Beekeeping Federation maintains a list of state beekeeping associations that are available to help mentor new beekeepers.

Indoor Storage of Honey Bees

Economics are also driving some new practices in beekeeping. For example, some commercial beekeepers have adopted the practice of cold storage for their bees in the winter. Indoor Storage Facilities are becoming more popular, especially among beekeepers who pollinate almonds. This allows them to keep the bees at a controlled climate, which offer a number of benefits including facilitating “brood breaks” (a method to help control Varroa mites), better overwintering success, lower feeding costs, and reduced pathogen transmission.

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