subject: Beekeeping and Honey Bees [print this page] Beekeeping and honey bees is an enjoyable and satisfying hobby. While helping the farmers with their crops and the gardens in the neighborhood you will also enjoy the honey that you gathered yourself.Do you remember the saying "busy as a bee"? Well, that expression is really true when it comes to honey bees. Bees work very hard gathering the nectar they use for making honey. The bee works so hard that they ware out their wings and are no longer beneficial to the colony, so they die. Bees use the cone to store honey which becomes food when the flower do not bloom. If the season is exceptionally good they will collect much more nectar and in turn produce a lot more honey than they can use. You as the beekeeper have the opportunity to gather the honey to use it or sell it.there is two types of honey that you can collect and sell. Liquid honey is what they call the honey that comes from the cone. It is extracted from the cone by using a centrifuge extractor. You can sell the cone or parts. This honey is still in the wax cones that the bees put together. This honey is not as easy to use in cooking or sweetening different thing but is liked by those who want it's natural flavor.Honey comes in different colors and flavors, but this is not known by most. Flowers have a variety of scents and the nectar that is gathered by the bees will have different smells and tastes. The soil that flowers are grown in determines the looks and taste of the honey. In an alfalfa field the honey will be white to clear because of the drier and alkali soil but if the nectar comes from a buckwheat field it will be a darker color. The quality of the cone has a bearing on the taste of honey and also the colors can be golden, red and even hues of green.Honey is still a food so it is wise to follow state and federal laws on beekeeping and honey bees when it comes to handling, processing and labeling the honey and what ever other products there is. Check out the guidelines for your particular area because you are in business and each government might have their own specific regulations.A person that buys honey in a jar or a container is probably not interested in buying honey in a honey comb, but on the other hand a person that buys honey in a honey comb is not interested in liquid honey either. These are some of the things that you have to think about in order to stay in business and prosper in the business of beekeeping and honey bees.
