Publisher's Synopsis
Honeybees are a joy to keep in the backyard simply for their buzzing presence and, on hot days, the smell of honey, wafting through the air within ten feet of the hive. They increase pollination in your yard and therefore increase your yields from fruit trees and vegetables. You may also harvest honey (gallons per year), beeswax, pollen, and propolis from the hive. Your own honey will provide you a tasty treat for your home table as well as a gift for relatives, friends or neighbors. I never knew of anyone to turn down a free jar of honey ! Your first step is to learn all about honey bees. You need to learn about the three kinds of honey bees that you will find living inside a beehive - the Drone, the Worker and the Queen. Honey bees are highly specialized and a functioning hive needs each of the hive members to perform their job well, or the hive will not survive and prosper. They must work as a team and be willing to sacrifice themselves if need be to keep the hive alive and thriving. Bee Hive Members Some people develop beekeeping into a profitable sideline providing themselves with some extra supplemental income. As long as you are mobile enough to get around your yard by one means or another, there is no reason why (with maybe a little help from a friend or relative for lifting hive boxes) you cannot take up beekeeping along with anyone else. See Beekeeping With A Handicap. Beekeeping can provide you with a lifetime interest that will keep you learning something new everyday, as well as providing you with many pleasurable moments of relief from the daily stresses of living and working.
