Beekeeping is a widespread activity with a wealth of existing local knowledge and skills. The addition of a little technical information, however, can lead to greatly improved harvests of honey and beeswax.

You should know that beekeeping is not as simple as it once was, but due to the lack of bees the rewards are better. Beekeeping is particularly suited to remote areas where the distance from market and the bulkiness of some products may make the selling of many agricultural commodities non-profitable. However, all bee products command a good price and all can be sold far from their point of origin.

More on The Guide on How to Start Beekeeping Today

You can start beekeeping in your backyard (check to see if you need a permit) with just a single hive of bees, but beekeeping has it's own language that wee will call "BeeSpeak". Here are some definitions for some of the more confusing terms.

More on Honey Bees and Beekeeping – Confusing Beespeak Explained

Beekeeping is a great hobby or business. If you are just starting out, or even if you are an experienced beekeeper there are 3 beekeeper supplies that are must haves for raising honey bees.

The first thing you need is a home for the bees. You need a bee hive (or hives). You can either build the bee hive yourself or you can find quality bee hives for sale. Either way can work very well. More on Beekeeper Supplies: The 3 Essential Beekeeping Supplies You Can’t Do Without (Even If You’re Superman)

These are the three things you need to become a productive beekeeper.

1. Beekeeping supplies
Companies that have beekeeping stuff deal with all the equipment that is required for this business, like attire for bee keeping which is essential from head to torso, full body suits and just head gear. Along with this equipment they also sell journals and books on beekeeping to help people to understand this field better. Some of the better known beekeeping companies have been in the business for more than a hundred years.

More on Family Owned Beekeeping Businesses – 3 Keys To Success

It is not certain as to when was the first time a person decided to collect honey from hives. But what we do know is that art of beekeeping has been around for quite a long time. Some cave drawings have been discovered by archaeologist depicting the collection of honey. It is believed that the cave drawings were created in 7000BC and were found in Africa and Spain's eastern regions. These drawings show pictures of people scooping honey out off trees and rocks. The cave dwellers then somehow learned the affect of smoke in the harvesting of honey.

More on History of Beekeeping – Find Out Where it All Began

Here are some questions that you may have considered as you have been exploring beekeeping and bees. If you are interested in started beekeeping, then don't get started until you read this. Here are 4 frequently asked questions for those who are looking for information on getting started as a beekeeper.

Q: I don't want to get stung. Is it common for beekeepers to get stung a lot by bees? More on Beginning Beekeeping and Bees – 4 Frequently Asked Questions