There is a huge demand for honey and beeswax from the food and medicinal industry, giving cause for the growing number of beekeepers worldwide, who are eager to fill the rising demands from the health conscious consumers. You can find beekeepers in almost all parts of the world, Asia, the United States, the African continent and Europe. Although beekeeping originated in Europe it has been brought up to date in the United States. It is amazing to witness how each culture dramatically influences the way it is being done.
Probably the best thing about honey is it is used on many religious occasions as an important ingredient in certain remedies and concoctions. American beekeeping finds business by supplying to home gown supermarkets and to fulfill demands from foreign buyers, especially in countries where honey is not produced locally. They usually produce honey in smaller amounts which is insufficient when supplying international retail giants such as Whole Food Market.
Beekeeping in America is so advanced in methods to harvest honey that it allows local beekeepers to collectively supply the growing worldwide demand for honey and honey based products. The season to produce starts again in the spring since bees are inactive during the winter months and start again in late March early April when the mating season for bees is fresh and flowers are in abundance for them to feed and pollinate on. Restaurant owners and restaurants worldwide which use honey in its menu, often gets its supply from the home country.
Beekeepers often spend time during weekends watching hives and it is a good way to pass the time away productively. Even during the peak producing seasons between May to September, hives don't need too much maintenance, in fact just an hour a day watching them would be just fine. A good beekeeping season can produce anything up to 100 pounds of honey and depending on how much the buyer pays for each pound, you can work out how much you'll make for every harvest you get.
One annoying pest in beekeeping is bumblebees, which are often visible during the maintenance and harvesting period. Bumblebees are a species of large insects that live underground, and they have easier access to flowers on the ground visited by the honey bees. Many beekeepers will migrate the hives, move it to a new place to allow those bees to get access to fresh new supply of flower to feed on. Each batch produced can differ with individual pollinations or when hives are rotated; bees go to different flowers and that's why sometimes honey may have distinct taste since it's the type of flowers available to them at the time of migration.