Bee Keepers

Beekeepers are people who nurture honey bees to produce commodities such as honey, beeswax, pollen, etc. They also keep them for pollinating fruits and vegetables in farms or breed them to sell them to other farmers. Others do beekeeping solely for scientific and research purposes. Here are some helpful sites for established beekeepers and also for those who want to start beekeeping either as a hobby or business.

1. Scientific Beekeeping – I find this site interesting because it shows beekeeping as perceived by biologists. Hence, information here are more detailed with regards to the scientific aspect of the beekeeping activity. This site keeps you updated on the new technologies and trends for efficient beekeeping as with the help of hard scientific facts. Research papers are extremely boring for most people to read but this site will lead you to the gist of these papers and extract the data found in them and apply them for improving beekeeping practices. The titles of the articles found here may be intimidating but I assure you, each one of them is informative, comprehensible and useful to all beekeepers out there. (scientificbeekeeping.com)
2. Backwards Beekeeping – This site is formed by a group of organic, treatment-free beekeepers who rely on natural practices rather than pesticides, chemicals and artificial treatments. If you are a nature loving beekeeper, you will surely be fascinated by their methods. You can find here mostly exchanges of members of experiences, tips, and guides on how to do beekeeping the natural way. You can find here an immense number of articles for reference as well as supplementary pictures and videos. (www.backwardsbeekeepers.com)
3. Basic Beekeeping – Developed by the people from Long Lane Honey Bee Farms, a family beekeeping business, this site aims to encourage, assist and encourage others in the wonderful experience of keeping honeybees. They are quite generous with information they provide in their site which include Queen Rearing Course modules, informative videos, the complete outline of their beekeeping lessons and other articles all related to beekeeping which is helpful to both veterans and beginners of such activity. They also have a beekeeping online store that sells essential beekeeping equipment. (www.honeybeesonline.com)
4. Best Beekeeping – If you want to start out on a new hobby and now you’re looking into beekeeping, this website is a great place for you to start. Every beginner will find the information and the services found in this site extremely helpful. Not only that, everything you find here will entice a reluctant person to go into beekeeping as well, they tell you how great an experience it is and even I am curious already. They do offer a free 7 day beekeeping course that you can access via your e-mail. Articles on how to start beekeeping, FAQ’s, articles about beekeeping equipment can be read here and they also have a link to supplementary sources on beekeeping such as books and DVD’s available in Amazon.com. (bestbeekeeping.com)
5. Beginning Beekeeping – As the name of the site suggests, the website is primarily geared to aid beginners in the beekeeping field. Indeed, you can find here anything you need to know to become a beekeeper. They do not only have a lot of on-site original articles, they also provide links to other sources such as videos and e-books, free to download and other supplementary materials such as books and DVDs can be bought directly from the site. (www.beginningbeekeeping.com)
6. Beekeeping from Waxing Kara –The information found in this webpage will cater more on beekeeping beginners. It is entitled “Beekeeping 101 Series” which is a series of experiences that one can think of as lessons on the essential things you should know about beekeeping, told in a more interesting manner as it covers the experience of the author itself without compromising technical information. Great read for starters, I guarantee. (www.waxingkara.com)
7. Bees for Development – This site is of an organization that assists beekeepers living in poor and remote areas of the world, and raises awareness about the value of beekeeping for poverty alleviation.  Because of this profound vision, they surely wouldn’t disappoint when it comes to sharing of free information on beekeeping found on this site. Check out their “Information Portal” which has the widest and most extensive library of bee-related information and it guides you to a large database of relevant sources such as papers, articles and books. So far, this is the most impressive website I have come across that is dedicated to beekeeping and I also find the motivation of the people behind this website mostly endearing. (www.beesfordevelopment.org)
8. DIY Backyard Beekeeping – You will find here a slideshow of pictures that will help you understand what beekeeping truly is. It somehow looks like a ‘How to start beekeeping’ article represented in 19 slides of relevant information. The information found here is nothing that can’t be found in the previous sources I listed but I find how it is presented here extremely efficient especially if long monotonous articles easily bore you. Steps on beginning beekeeping which may have consumed a whole page of words in some websites are summarized here in just a few sentences which is a good thing for those who want first to have a quick overview on a topic before doing extensive research. (www.thedailygreen.com)
9. Beekeeping Forums – Obviously, this is where beekeepers all over the world meet up and ask questions among themselves, sharing their expertise and knowledge on the one field all of them are commonly passionate about. A vast range of topics can be accessed here, feel free to lurk and read other beekeepers ideas and experiences, and know that you are more than welcome to share yours. (www.beekeepingforums.com)
10. The Bee Works – Dedicated to providing both experienced and aspiring beekeepers with the ultimate beekeeping service through the materials made easily available on the internet, this site can be relied on to giving useful information to beekeeping enthusiasts. Lots of facts can be found on their beekeeping information center ranging from topics that interest beginners to those more technical topics that veteran beekeepers read. They also did a good job documenting their process as can be seen in their beekeeping picture gallery. You can also find some essential beekeeping items here sold at excellent prices such as equipment and beehives. (www.beeworks.com)
11. Honey and Beekeeping Resources – We have already seen sites most helpful to beekeepers. Now here is one site that may seem helpful but not really due to the scarcity of information that is accessible here. This is a list of resources for topics on honey and beekeeping. It would’ve been nicer if the site was able to provide information encoded on the site itself instead of referring its visitor’s to book titles we don’t know where to avail or equipment stores most people won’t have the luxury to go to. (www.honeyflowfarm.com)