This has certainly been an unusual year but nobody has told that to my bees. For them, has been buzziness as usual. My bees got through last winter very well. In six of my seven bee yards I had 92 percent survival. Normally in the spring, much of my time is taken up with preparing for, or teaching, beekeeping classes for beginners from Readfield to Presque Isle.
However, COVID restrictions cut out the vast majority of my classes and in doing so it looked as though I would have a lot fewer new beginner customers. Most people would assume that, as a beekeeper, I make my money selling honey. That certainly is part of my business; however, I make most of my annual income from selling bees and equipment. As it turned out, the need to stay at home this year led to a huge rise in people gardening and thinking about their gardens and sustainability.
That prompted a lot of folks to take up beekeeping, with or without classes. As a result, instead of facing a decline in sales, I increased my sales of bees by more than 60 percent. With all this extra activity I was very glad of the help of several of my mentees. Each spring I am fortunate to have new and experienced beekeepers join me in my yard to increase their experience. At the same time, they provide me with some gratefully received help.
This is something I thoroughly enjoy as well. Beekeeping is so enjoyable in its own right, but I do love sharing it β especially with such enthusiastic and motivated volunteers. This year, I had also planned to produce and sell more honey as well as produce and sell more bees.
In this business it is a trade-off, you can make bees or make honey. You need the bees to make the honey. This is where having lots of hives helps. Some are dedicated to growing more bees to sell, others are dedicated to honey production. But it is also possible to manage hives to make more honey in a different way than the typical hobbyist does. The simplest, and usually the least risky way to manage bees, is to give them two deep boxes in which to rear their brood. This is the method I recommend to all my beginners.
