Increasing the population of bees is much needed to support the ecosystem. What if you can start your own DIY bee farm from your backyard? In this beekeeping guide for beginners we show you how – step by step!
Bees are essential to the ecosystem because they pollinate plants and produce a natural sweetener called honey. Unfortunately, it has been seen that the population of bees worldwide has been declining due to various factors like habitat loss and pesticide use.
If bees go fully extinct, people may experience food scarcity as one of the consequences, and natural honey wouldn’t be available for consumption. Luckily, there are still ways you could help prevent this, like starting your bee farm, even in your backyard.
Creating your bee farm could help renew ecological agriculture, and it’s a great step towards helping strengthen the ecosystem, thus increasing the population of bees and aiding the production of organic gardens because of bee pollination. But there are some things you need to consider and prepare for to ensure the bees will survive in your backyard.
Thus, if you want to know how to kickstart your bee farm in your backyard, continue reading below:
Learn About The Necessary Skills And Knowledge Needed
Before you build a bee farm in your background, you must know the necessary skills and knowledge to maintain a healthy bee colony. Start by conducting a bee allergy test for every person in your household to reduce the occurrence of allergic reactions or accidents when the bee colony arrives.
You can’t expect your bees to survive in your backyard without knowing how to keep the honeybee colonies happy and maintain a good production of honey. Thus, before jumping into this kind of venture, ensure you know your way through.
Learn how to protect a beehive from predators such as skunks and raccoons to prevent damage. Also, learn the first aid techniques when stung by a bee, the necessary bee farming equipment needed, the signs that you have a healthy colony or not, and how to extract honey properly.
You could also begin doing your research to widen your knowledge about beekeeping. If you need professional help, especially in extracting honey, don’t hesitate to contact bee extractors at Buzz Bee to help and provide you with assistance. This way, accidents will be prevented, and you could get professional advice.
Prepare A Food Source For Your Bees
Like humans, bees cannot survive without food, but in their aspect, it’s in the form of nectar and pollen from plants. They could also be at risk of death due to starvation. Thus, you must provide your bees with a good food source to feed on.
Ensure that your backyard is abundant with nectar-rich flowers and plants. A diverse array of plants will provide the bees with the pollen they need to make honey.
Other than flowers, lemons, oranges, grapes, and other citrus fruits could help attract bees to pollinate and produce good-quality honey. Don’t worry about investing money in plants on your bee farm since the pollen that the bees gather from flowers is used in feeding a young bee or a larva.
Have A Beehive
A beehive is a must-have to start a bee farm in any area. Beehives are box-like structures where bees store honey and serve as their shelter. Without a beehive, it would be hard for bees to survive and reproduce.
If you plan on buying a beehive, make sure that you don’t purchase too many, and keep in mind that the number of beehives you could have in your backyard will depend on the size of your land. Also, the more beehives you have, the more maintenance they will need.
If you have only a small area, don’t bombard it with multiple beehives without providing enough distance from each other.
If you can’t afford to purchase a beehive, a cheaper alternative is to build it and prepare the necessary equipment, such as a table saw, hive tool, tin snips, and the like.
Provide A Suitable Beehive Location
Location plays a vital role in the quality and quantity of your bees-produced honey. Since you’ll have your bee farm in your backyard, you must find the ideal place for the beehive.
Some of the few things you must consider are that it should be in a spot where it can receive enough sunlight. Not too direct from the sun as the colony may experience overheating but a substantially shady place.
Furthermore, make sure your bees have access to clean water. During hot summer seasons, bees would drink water to dilute their stored honey and control the temperature of their hives. Lastly, don’t place your beehives in a valley. Instead, use a hive stand to help keep predators away and to provide time for your bees to defend themselves against any attack, as predators might try to stand with their hind legs to reach the top.
Prepare A Budget
Budget is a huge factor you must consider when venturing into bee farming. Once you start a bee farm in your backyard, there are things you would need to purchase to ensure your safety and provide the help bees need.
Your bee farm budget should include the necessary equipment, like the hive tool, protective clothing to avoid being stung, a bee brush, honey extraction apparatus, and more. Investing in this equipment will come in handy to help make tasks easier for you. Also, don’t forget to allot a budget when buying or breeding bees once your beehive is installed.
Final Thoughts
Starting your bee farm from scratch could be challenging, but it’s a perfect way to help the environment, especially since bees play a huge role in agricultural practices. It is both a rewarding and challenging endeavor. By following the steps outlined above, you’ll be well on your way to success.
