Beekeeper
Beekeepers manage colonies of honeybees kept in hives to produce honey, beeswax and royal jelly.
Also known as: Apiarist, apiculturist
What you'll do
As a beekeeper, you could:
- build, inspect or repair hives
- introduce a new colony or look after an existing one
- check the health of your bees
- treat your hive and bees to fight disease and pests
- breed queen bees and set up smaller, starter colonies
- collect honey from hives
- prepare and bottle honey
- market honey and products like beeswax
- mentor or train new beekeepers
Working environment
You could work on a farm or at a bee yard.
Your working environment may be outdoors in all weathers.
You may need to wear protective clothing.
Skills and knowledge you'll need
You'll need:
- observation and recording skills
- knowledge of biology
- the ability to work on your own
- to be thorough and pay attention to detail
- the ability to work well with your hands
- thinking and reasoning skills
- patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
- the ability to operate and control equipment
- to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device
How to become a beekeeper
You can get into this job through:
- a college course
- starting as a hobby and learning on the job
College
You may be able to do a short introductory course, which would teach you some of the basic skills and knowledge you need to get into beekeeping.
Entry requirements
There are no set entry requirements for this route.
Other routes
You can keep bees as a hobby and learn how to successfully set up and manage healthy colonies of honeybees.
You can also join a beekeeping group where you can attend 'taster days' to get an introduction to beekeeping and to learn from experienced beekeepers.
Career path and progression
You could move into training or commercial bee farming and develop more hives over a wider area.
With qualifications in science, you could work in crop production and pollination research.
Guides for this industry
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