6 Reasons You Should Start Beekeeping

Published on October 29, 2020

six reasons you should start beekeeping

It’s rare to find a beekeeper who doesn’t genuinely enjoy working with bees. Beekeeping has been around for millennia for a good reason! Working with bees, both as a hobby and a profession is both enjoyable and rewarding.

If you’re not yet a beekeeper yourself and are considering becoming one, let this blog be the boost you need to begin! Today I’m sharing six reasons you should start beekeeping.

Harvest Hive Products

One reason people take up beekeeping is to enjoy harvesting honey, propolis, and beeswax. Beekeepers love collecting their bees’ products to enjoy themselves or create homemade products to share or sell. There’s a great sense of satisfaction that comes with helping your bees thrive and produce these products. Plus, the medicinal and nutritional value of the materials your bees produce have a variety of benefits.

Like the pride a gardener might feel when they enjoy the literal fruits of their garden, beekeepers can take pride in preparing recipes, tinctures, salves, balms, and more with their bees’ creations. If you need help getting started with creating products from your hive, Beepods has a Balm & Salve Making Starter Kit with enough ingredients for you to make 10, 2-ounce tins of your own creations!

Support Pollinators

Pollinators are crucial to the health and longevity of our global agriculture and ecosystem. Sadly, pollinator numbers have been dropping drastically over the years. This is due to varying stresses such as climate change, pesticides, habitat loss, invasive species, etc. Beekeeping is a wonderful and sustainable way to support the environment and support pollinators. Becoming a beekeeper and bringing bees to where you live will benefit the plant life and vegetation within several miles of your hive. And if you have your own garden, it will benefit from your bees, too.

six reasons you should start beekeeping now

Beepods let beekeepers anywhere enjoy taking care of their winged friends.

You Can Do It Anywhere

Thanks to the rise of urban beekeeping, beekeepers can now set up their hives just about anywhere. Whether in a rural setting or a downtown dwelling, the possibilities are endless when it comes to locations for your bees. If beekeepers can ensure their hives will be level and safe and that their bees have access to a freshwater source and quality forage, there are few limits to where you can situate a hive.

If you’re considering getting bees and are unsure about where you can put your hive, our Beeyard Blue Print & Siting Guide will give you excellent info and tips. Use it to learn everything you need to know about setting up your bee yard and the surrounding area.

A Relaxing Hobby

Once you’ve gotten the hang of spending time at your hive and working with your bees, beekeeping can be a therapeutic hobby. In fact, researchers say that beekeeping can reduce stress, anxiety, and depression. Known as “bee therapy,” spending time with bees reportedly increases relaxation, focus, and a sense of calm.

In fact, therapeutic programs are emerging that are explicitly designed to improve mental health with bees. Several organizations for veterans have introduced beekeeping as a recreational activity to help them deal with post-traumatic stress, depression, and anxiety. Whether it’s their calming buzz or the quiet focus that beekeeping requires, working with bees provides positive mental health benefits for beekeepers.

Bees Are Cool

We Beepods writers often joke that you don’t want to stop once you start learning about how fascinating bees are. The world of honey bees is full of impressive social, scientific, and natural wonders. It’s hard not to be impressed by their complicated community dynamics and communications. For such tiny members of the animal kingdom, bees demonstrate extremely sophisticated behaviors.

Beekeepers can enjoy watching their bees and studying their lives in and around the hive. Beepods provides a ton of educational resources in Beepods Lab to help new beekeepers understand their bees, anticipate their needs, and support their health and productivity.

Beekeepers get to know their natural surroundings.

Spend More Time Outdoors

Becoming a beekeeper will make you acutely more aware of your natural surroundings. In addition to enjoying the fresh air and spending time outside, here are some of the ways beekeeping will connect you with your surroundings:

You’ll start paying more attention to the weather, since your bees’ needs change depending on it.
Since nearby quality forage is vital to your bees’ health and survival, you will explore what flowering plants and foliage surround you – hey, maybe you’ll even plant your own garden!
Bees are impacted by the treatments and pesticides that local agriculturists use, so you must become familiar with neighboring areas.

Conclusion

We could probably go on for days about all the reasons you should become a beekeeper. From creating your own products from the hive to enjoying learning about these fascinating creatures, there is never a dull moment for beekeepers.

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Kanoe Riedel

Kanoe Riedel is a freelance writer who enjoys learning about new and interesting topics. A Guam native, she loves traveling, trying new things, and spending time with her husband and their adventurous toddler.