Commercial Beekeeping in the United States dates back to the 1860s.
History
Development of beekeeping in the United States
Botanist S.B. Parsons was commissioned by the US government to travel to northern Italy in 1859 to obtain pure strains of Ligurian bees. Ten hives were obtained and shipped at a cost of $1,200 but only two queens survived the journey.
John Harbison, originally from Pennsylvania, was a successful beekeeper on the US west coast in the 1860s, in an area now known as Harbison Canyon, California, and greatly expanded the market for honey throughout the country.
By 1890, William L. Coggshall had become the biggest beekeeper in the world, with over 3,000 hives in 15 locations surrounding his home in Groton, NY. The main sources of blossoms were white clover and buckwheat
Beekeeping was traditionally practiced for the bees' honey harvest, although nowadays crop pollination service can often provide a greater part of a commercial beekeeper's income. Other hive products are pollen, royal jelly, and propolis, which are also used for nutritional and medicinal purposes, and beeswax, which is used in candle making, cosmetics, wood polish, and for modelling. The modern use of hive products has changed little since ancient times.
Western honey bees are not native to the Americas. American colonists imported honey bees from Europe for their honey and wax. Their value as pollinators began to be appreciated by the end of the nineteenth century. The first honey bee subspecies imported were likely European dark bees. Later Italian bees, Carniolan honey bees and Caucasian bees were added.
Western honey bees were also brought from the Primorsky Krai in Russia by Ukrainian settlers around the 1850s. These Russian honey bees that are similar to the Carniolan bee were imported into the U.S. in 1997. The Russian honey bee has shown to be more resistant to the bee parasites Varroa destructor and Acarapis woodi, although their commercial use and availability are extremely limited in scope because other, better strains are available (e.g., VSH lines).
Before the 1980s, most U.S. hobby beekeepers were farmers or relatives of a farmer, lived in rural areas, and kept bees with techniques passed down for generations. The arrivals of tracheal mites and varroa mites in the 1980s and small hive beetles in the 1990s have made the practice more challenging for the hobbyist.
Types of beekeepers
Beekeepers generally categorize themselves as: Commercial beekeeper — Beekeeping is the primary source of income. Sideliner — Beekeeping is a secondary source of income. Hobbyist — Beekeeping is not a significant source of income.
Some southern U.S. beekeepers keep bees primarily to raise queens and package bees for sale. Northern beekeepers can buy early spring queens and 3- or 4-pound packages of live worker bees from the South to replenish hives that die out during the winter, although this is becoming less practical due to the spread of the Africanized bee.
In cold climates commercial beekeepers have to migrate with the seasons, hauling their hives on trucks to gentler southern climates for better wintering and early spring build-up. Many make "nucs" (small starter or nucleus colonies) for sale or replenishment of their own losses during the early spring. Some may pollinate squash or cucumbers in Florida or make early honey from citrus groves in Florida, Texas or California. The largest demand for pollination comes from the almond groves in California. As spring moves northward so do the beekeepers, to supply bees for tree fruits, blueberries, strawberries, cranberries and later vegetables. Some commercial beekeepers alternate between pollination service and honey production but usually cannot do both at the same time.
Beekeepers may harvest honey from July until October, according to the honey flows in their area. Good management requires keeping the hive free of pests and disease, and ensuring that the bee colony has room in the hive to expand. Chemical treatments, if used for parasite control, must be done in the off-season to avoid any honey contamination. Exterminators therefore often offer bee-safe and honey-safe treatment methods targeted towards beekeepers. Success for the hobbyist also depends on locating the apiary so bees have a good nectar source and pollen source throughout the year.