James William Smith our expert of the day, writes:

The 2008 calendar indicates that another spring has arrived in North America and the signs of the new season are everywhere. Buds have appeared on trees, heralding the arrival of new leaves. The increased daylight and the warming sun act as harbingers for the appearance of flowering plants that will soon begin their summer cycle of growth. Nurseries and home improvement stores; such as, Home Depot and Loews, are selling plants, rakes, shovels, mulch, and fertilizer.

Indeed, the familiar signs of spring are everywhere. However, once again this year, there is a real problem in nature which is tempering agricultural enthusiasm for the upcoming growing season. It is a problem that was first identified in 2006. The problem continues to be the disappearance of the honey bee. Once again there is little progress to report from research into this mystery surrounding the honey bee called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD).

Ernie Fitzpatrick our expert of the day, writes:

Beekeepers across America are encountering a strange phenomenon! And so did I last year. My tomato plants didn’t have enough BEES! Bees are abandoning their hives. Millions of these insects have been reported lost, with no trace of where the colonies may have gone, and no apparent cause for their disappearance. In a few other cases, whole colonies have been found dead in their hives. Is this a run up to the infamous 2012, like in December 21, 2012? Or simply Colony Collapse Disorder?

Scientists and beekeepers alike are unsure as to the source of this problem, which is tentatively being called Colony Collapse Disorder (CCD). Suspected causes include pesticides, mites, viruses, cold weather, fungus, the use of antibiotics and low-quality food for the bees. And all are guesses!

There are signs that the immune systems of infected bees are collapsing, again for no known reason, causing some to call it “bee HIV/AIDS.” Can you believe this stuff? With weakened immune systems, the bees are unable to fight off diseases. In fact, found in the stomachs of infected bees are traces of nearly every disease that has affected bees over the last 100 years.

If you have been perusing the idea of keeping bees as a hobby, this article is just right for you! This must be available before the bees arrive. The most obvious piece of equipment you will need is the actual bee hive.

You must ideally get a beehive that has five supers. The supers are a very important part of the beehive because they are where the bees will be storing their honey. Check that all the five supers are placed between the bottom of the beehive and its cover.

When the hive starts buzzing with activity, each of these frames will show nine to ten frames. You can opt for a shallow super or for a deep super. With deep supers, you can make your foundation size uniform. A buzzing hive with a deep super can go up to a hundred pounds in weight.

Take precaution to place your beehive on a level surface; otherwise there is the risk of the entire unit toppling over in a strong gust of wind. Arrange your beehive in a place that will be undisturbed by people or pets. Get a spacer to manage equal spaces between the frames for the time they are in the super.

This country (U.S.A) is full of apple orchards. Apple orchards are where the apples you get from your local fruit store are harvested from. Applesauce is made out of apples grown in orchards. People who drink apple juice and apple cider enjoy the produce provided by the hardworking orchard owners. Without apple orchards there would be no apple pies. The world would be a sadder place without apple orchards.

In the springtime people drive past apple orchards and observe clean rows of apple trees, their spreading boughs fragrant with the scent of delicate apple blossoms. In the summer they can drive past the same orchard and find the same trees, leaves shining in the sunshine. In the fall those same trees are laden with apples, and with delicious juice. Then in the winter, the spreading limbs of the apple trees spread wide and are blanketed with a layer of glittering snow. When stopping to admire the trees they notice that unlike other types of agriculture endeavors the only time they see anyone working amongst the trees is the time have fruits and the farmers are picking the apples. It doesn’t take very long for the passer bys to start thinking about how easy it would be to own an orchard. When the opportunity to purchase an apple orchard comes along, people don’t walk away from the opportunity.

The thought of starting a beekeeping business does sound exciting and fun, but in reality a lot of work is done and a lot of time is involved.

Most people who are in this are actually doing this as a hobby. Having a hobby and a livelihood are two entirely different areas since one is something you invest time and in some cases money and one is when you’re trying to make a living at. Beekeeping is like farming you have to stay on top of the market demands and be technologically savvy because much of the business is going to depend on how fast you can produce a single product.

On the other hand you are going to find out that beekeeping isn’t even like that because if you expect to make a profit you would have had to have been in the business for a long time and following the trends on the beekeeping market demands are for that time. And if you don’t have a website in today’s world consider yourself a fossil in the area of business because that’s your only link to the rest of the world by having a website or even a page.

Just as every other hobby, raising honey bees needs some equipment before someone can establish a successful hive. This equipment should be bought before you get a call from the post office telling you to get you’re bees.

The first important equipment is the bee hive.

Your beehive should have five supers. The supers are a very important part of the beehive because they are where the bees will be storing their honey. These five supers should be located at the bottom of the bee hive and the hive cover. These supers are very important because they are where the bees will be storing their honey and raising their offspring. Once you have an active hive the supers will each contain 9 to 10 frames.

They are shallow supers or deep supers to choose from. One advantage of these deep supers is that they enable beekeepers to buy only one size foundation. The disadvantage is that, when full, a deep super can weigh over a hundred pounds. Once you have a hive for your bees make sure you place it somewhere that has a flat surface so that the hive will not fall over when winds blow. Also make sure that you place it somewhere that humans and pets aren’t likely to disturb it.

For anyone who wants to start a beekeeping business, an important fact to remember is that it involves a lot of hard work and is not something that is easy to maintain, especially if profits have to be made. If you doing this as a hobby then not much is needed as when it is one’s livelihood and takes up most of one’s time.

A lot more money is needed in beekeeping as a livelihood than if it was just a hobby and if you done this then you definitely need to earn that money back. Good quantity is not only needed of produce from the beehives, top quality is needed as well so that you can get good sales. The beekeeper should also get the latest equipment and keep to the latest technology to make sure that his produce of honey is the best in every way.

A lot of beekeeping have been in this business for quiet some time and are up to date with the latest trends. They also have a website which advertises their goods and gets them a lot more customers. If you don’t own a business website then the number of your customers will be very limited as you won’t be able to spread the word about your farm products to others apart from those who stay in your locality.

Beekeeping isn’t just something you go into it’s something you’re raised and brought up in. A lot of companies that are into beekeeping and providing beekeeping supplies are family owned. Dadant and Sons, a company based out of Hamilton, IL has been in the business of providing beekeeping equipment and attire for the past 140 years.

They sell everything from beekeeping attire from the head to the torso, and even full body suits with headwear. They also sell journals that are published about beekeeping and also selling copies from the archives as well.

They have a large selection of books that give you a lesson on beekeeping to candle making since many beekeepers also not only collect and sell honey, but make candles as well out of the beeswax. A lot of family owned beekeepers usually produce the honey and beeswax items on their farms and sell to local stores. Usually it’s a family business that has been a long-standing tradition.

A lot of areas of the world are great producers of sweet honey plus beeswax for medicinal and food purposes. You’ll find a lot of beekeeping in the United States, Asia, Africa, and a few in Europe. Since beekeeping had originated in Europe and had been modernized in the United States, the way it’s done is different and the way it’s taught is different as well. Yet this is a very interesting way to see how different cultures train someone to do beekeeping as a way of life and part of the culture.

The cool thing is that honey is used for mostly food in so many cultures that use it in religious and celebratory occasions when preparing certain concoctions or meals and honey is used to sweeten it.

Americans are usually in the business of beekeeping to produce honey for the supermarket and for shipment overseas to markets and countries that don’t have beekeeping businesses that is advanced enough to mass produce the necessary amount to ship overseas to stores owned and operated in the United States like Whole Foods Market when they carry specific brands.

Raising queen bees is a very profitable project. Yet, it needs your full attention as you are raising very delicate creatures. There are a number of forms when buying bees depending on the money you are willing to spend, your experience, and how much time you are able to dedicate to your project.

If you’re eager to get results at a faster rate, then start with a complete colony. There is one queen bee in a complete colony, thousands of worker bees, and for reproduction a few male bees.

If you are curious to see your colony grow in front of your eyes, then you need to get a smaller colony which has a few worker bees. You have to dedicate some time for your young colony to grow. They need to be nourished and provide them with the needed care to grow and regularly start producing honey.

Raising queen bees is more difficult than raising a colony. Queen bees need more attention and experience as you must separate any queen that appears from the colony to start forming a new colony.