Regardless of your motivation for choosing to begin keeping bees, there are two main rewards for maintaining your own bee colonies. The most obvious is enjoying fresh honey, the second is pollinating your own and your neighbors’ gardens.

A bee’s life is not an easy one. Each member of the colony serves a purpose and a honey bee will live approximately 35 days before wearing out their wings and dying. Bees collect pollen from flowers, gardens and fields, pollinating as they go and then return to their hives and produce honey from the pollen they have dutifully collected. The more pollen they collect, the more honey is produced. During winter months and throughout the year when there are fewer blooms to collect pollen from, the bees are able to consume their honey as a means of survival. It is easy then, to understand why many beekeepers choose to supplement the bees food supply (see Beekeeping Supplies article).

There are many varieties of honey that a bee can produce and flavors that can be enjoyed. Much as in winemaking, many factors are at play when bees produce honey including not only where they are collecting pollen from but the soil the plants and flowers are grown in, as well as the color and type of flower. As such, the honey produced from the nectar of an alfalfa field will be lighter in color due to the drier, alkali soil it grows in when compared to a darker honey produced from the nectar of buckwheat. The actual color variations in honey range from clear and light hues, to golden, red and even green hues.

When caring for your bee colonies, you will discover two types of honey that is produced by your bees. Comb homey and liquid honey. Liquid honey is what consumers most often encounter and is widely used in teas and food preparations. The honey is easily extracted from the comb using centrifuge equipment and sold in this form. Comb honey is still in the original honeycomb and consumers purchase the comb itself. The comb honey, although not as easily adapted for use in foods, is sometimes preferred for its wholly natural flavor. Both types of honey can be sold for profit in the market place.

For those interested in selling the honey produced by your bee colonies, it is important for you to research the guidelines set forth by government and USDA guidelines. There are strict state and federal guidelines for processing, labeling and handling any food items and all individual sellers are subject to these expectations. Though beekeeping can be a fun and rewarding hobby, as well as profitable one, it is important to follow proper guidelines set forth to ensure a safer marketplace.

Chris Shireman is a beekeeping expert. For more information on honey bees beekeeping, visit http://www.beekeepinginfocenter.com.