Agriculture Reference
In-Depth Information
Hobbyists are also the people who tend to define our thinking about beekeeping. At
the time of writing I received an email from someone in the UK who wanted to know
about the treatment of mason bees. I replied that I didn't know much about them but
would put her in touch with a university department that might help. In her reply she
said that she didn't realize bees could be studied in university departments: she thought
they were 'kind of nice and rustic'. I was pleased to enlighten her but I know that this is
the view of many. Beekeepers are perceived as elderly, pipe-smoking gents or dotty old
dears who love their little craft and who keep themselves to themselves. It's a nice view
but, of course, totally wrong. In Chapter 1 the immensity of the subject and the huge
amounts of money pumped into beekeeping research, not just by governments but also
by universities and other scientific institutions, were discussed. From all this there must
be opportunities for careers. There are, and the following are some examples.
Jobbing beekeepers
There are opportunities throughout the world for jobbing beekeepers with some
experience to work for commercial companies (see Photograph 21 in the colour
photograph section of this topic). These opportunities occur mainly in New Zealand,
Australia, Canada and the USA and, when the beekeeping season approaches, there
are plenty of adverts in local papers for experienced beekeepers. If you can demonstrate
that you have also had some commercial experience, you are almost certain to be
employed. How you obtain that commercial experience can be difficult, but many
people attain this by working for a commercial beekeeper in their home country, just
for the instruction.
Most beekeeping is hard, heavy lifting, and so most commercial beekeepers are happy
to have someone help them, especially when the work involves humping bees around
at night. Not only that, but the change from being a hobby beekeeper to working for
a commercial operator can be traumatic for some. While the processes are all basically
the same, a commercial beekeeper would probably pay you by the hour, and so speed
is of the essence. The sheer numbers of hives to be dealt with in a day and the sheer
scale of things can also be very daunting. Flying prepared hives into remote areas by
helicopter; preparing hundreds of hives for a night move; or loading and unloading
hives into orchards that all look the same and knowing you must finish the job before
