Have you ever wondered about beekeepers in general? They are a breed apart from the world’s idea of farmers. There are chicken farmers that produce eggs. There are farmers that incubate eggs to hatch chicks. Farmers that raise pullets (frying chicken) from baby chicks. Then there are farmers that raise broilers (older chickens [chicken and dumplings]). Then there are those farmers that starts the cycle over by raising hens to lay more eggs. That is just one type of farmer.

Then you have hog farmers with the same variations, horse farmers, cattle farmers, sheep and goats, dog farmers for various type of dogs, (sled dogs, cattle dogs, sheep dogs, rescue dogs, service  dogs). Then you have your city working dogs, and this breaks down into a large number of types of dogs including police dogs for catching bad guys and dogs sniffing for dope, dogs for finding natural gas leaks, seeing eye dogs, hearing dogs, helping dogs for wheel chair bound people. And all this is before they leave the farm/training to go to work.

I could go on and on with other kinds of farmers, such as, fish farmers and bird farmers – and this one can be broken down to game birds of all kinds and domestic birds like ducks and geese for food restaurants, etc. You get the point.

One of the things all beekeepers should know is the differences in honeybees, bumble bees, carpenter bees, hornets, yellow jackets, and wasps.(Because the general public thinks if it flies and stings, it is a honey bee.) I daresay that most people knows that a yellow jacket makes its nest in the corner of the patio ceiling until they find out you are a beekeeper, then all those same yellow jackets and all their friends  turn into flying stinging honey bees. That’s all there is to it. Mind goes into neutral and just slips into limbo. Don’t ask me why, I really don’t know either.

It take a special kind of person, man or woman – boy or girl, to be a beekeeper. We used to have three levels of beekeepers. Small, medium, and large. Ok, I’ll ‘splain. Hobbyist, sideliner, commercial. However, the banks and government will not give loans or grants to help you with your hobby. That is a recreational activity. They will give loans and grants to a small business, so we have dropped the hobbyist beekeeper from our vocabulary. Now we have small business beekeepers and commercial beekeepers.

Should be ’nuff said, but, my Darling Princess Bride has coined another word. Of the small business beekeepers, it was broken down to two kinds. Bee keeper and Bee haver. My wife has accused me of beeing a third kind of bee man. She says, “You are no longer even a bee haver. You are a Bee Talker!” I wonder if it is because I am scheduled to talk about bees at fairs, flea markets, festivals, school classes, and orginizations (both children and adults) approximately 150 to 200 times a year.

I guess “procrastination” is a word that should be in my everyday vocabulary list as I have even forgot to start saving money for the Bee College and now it is doubtful that I can make it this year to Orlando to the 91st Florida State Convention. Bee College is in conjunction with that event.

I will, however, continue to write these posts and keep you appraised of the proceedings of the Bee College and the State convention.

Well I need to stop this and get busy with the project(s) at hand. I am sure that Momma would like to see something accomplished today. hehe

Have a good week and profitable week. Be sure to check the weight of you hives. Your colonies may be weaker than you think at this time of the year, depending on where you are at and what the producing floral sources are doing.