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People praise me up for "saving the bees". Honey bees don't need saving. It's the other bees that do, the hundreds of species of bumblebees, mining bees, solitary bees etc etc. Bees that are outcompeted in some areas due to the number of hobbyist beekeepers and commercial bee farms. I'm one of the baddies.
I have red-belted bumblebees living inside the wall of my house. We need to fix the broken light fixture they're using to gain access, but I dun wanna kick them out, haha.
I have a wildlife garden with lots of wild plants and insects and stuff. I thought I was helping the bees but I mean just helping some body make artisanal honey to sell to me at the craft fair?
No, you're helping all the other pollinators too! Keep a corner of your garden nice and rough, with tumbled bricks or rocks, twigs, dead leaves etc to make a wee nesting spot for bumblebees.
I've always been interested in the business side of beekeeping, do you rent out for pollination and is it worth doing?
We get free use of a spot next to an apple orchard, so I guess pollination is our "rent", plus some honey. I don't know what arrangement commercial beekeepers have - near us they move 60+ hives in when the oilseed rape (canola) is flowering, then move them again when it's finished. A guy I was talking to said they reckon they can break even with 300 hives, because one person can deal with that many. More than that they have to employ someone else, and bang go the profits. Sounds like a nightmare. I struggle to cope with 7 hives!