• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

The Flip Flop Barnyard

~Faith~Family~Farm~

  • About Us
    • About Us
    • Privacy Policy
    • Contact Me
  • Homesteading
    • Homesteading
    • DIY
    • Animals >
      • Cows
      • Pigs
      • Chickens
      • Poultry
      • Goats
      • Bees
    • Our Story
  • Gardening
    • Garden
    • Canning and Preserving
    • Life Lessons From The Garden
  • Crafts
    • Sewing
  • Homestead Kitchen
    • All Recipes
    • Main Dishes
    • Side Dishes
    • Breakfast
    • Desserts
    • Breads
    • Canning and Preserving
    • Beverages
    • Snacks
  • Healthy Living
  • Home
  • YouTube Channel
/ Critters / 4 Reasons I Want Honey Bees (And Why You Should Consider Them Too!)

4 Reasons I Want Honey Bees (And Why You Should Consider Them Too!)

We use affiliate links on this site. Click here to learn more.

Reasons to have bees on the homestead.

Honey bees are definitely on my “to get for the homestead” list. There are just so many benefits and reasons to have bees. Here are my top 4 reasons for wanting bees.

  1. Honey. Ok, this one is pretty obvious….. honey bees=honey. Honey has a lot of health benefits from fighting infection, boosting immune system, to soothing sore throats among many other medicinal uses. Honey tastes good. Honey is a much healthier option than sugar. I would like to replace my use of Demerara sugar with honey as much as possible. Honey just looks so pretty in the jar. Here are some great uses for raw honey from SchneiderPeeps- What is raw honey and how to use it. Tommy Alderman from Alderman Farms Blog says “We just harvested honey from our three hives for the first time: we only grabbed a total of five frames, none of which were completely full, and STILL harvested more than SIX QUARTS of honey! Now I want more hives!”Honey
  2. Bees are fantastic pollinators. I’d love to have bees by my garden to pollinate our plants. If you have an orchard, keeping bees would be a great idea. If plants that need pollinating don’t get pollinated they won’t produce their fruits. This is one of the reasons that CCD (colony collapse disorder) is such a huge threat to us. No bees-not much food. That’s a scary thought.  Here is a little more information on pollinators from One Acre Farm- Gardening for Pollinators: 8 Tips. honeybees2
  3. Beeswax. I am fascinated with beeswax. I’m not sure why but I think it is pretty much the coolest stuff. You can use beeswax for many different things. Making candles, making natural skin care products, making natural udder balm, waxing thread, you can even make decorative items out of wax. I plan to make some of this homemade udder balm from The Prairie Homestead for Gertie.  Last year, we tried our hand a candle making with beeswax and plan to do it again. Homestead Honey’s Making Beeswax Candles was my go to for instructions. I’ve also read about using it to wax cheese for aging. And let’s face it, it is just plain fun to play with. honeybees4
  4. Knowing where your food comes from. This is a key point here. We are all about knowing where our food comes from and what was used to produce it. Raising bees ourselves will ensure that chemicals are not used on the hives or anytime during the honey making process.

 

 

These are just my top 4 reasons to keep bees. Maybe we will be able to get set up for some hives by the spring. This is a great guide that I’ll be referring to from Homestead Honey- Homestead Beekeeping :: Installing a New Hive.

Do you keep bees? What is your top reason for keeping them or favorite thing about it?

Here is some more fantastic bee information:

From About.com-Homesteading

10 Reasons to Become a Bee Keeper

From Pasture Deficit Disorder-

First Honey Harvest

Successful Hive Inspection

From The Homestead Lady-

How to Prepare for Bee Keeping

How to Process Raw Honey With an Extractor

How to Capture a Swarm of Bees

From Mom Prepares-

How to Keep Bees and Help Your Garden

Your Dream of Becoming A Beekeeper Is Closer Than You Think

Keeping Bees: A Honey of Hobby

From Montana Homesteader-

Harvesting Honey From Bee Hives

Beekeeping for Beginners

Look Inside A New Honey Bee Hive

From Everything Home With Carol-

Our First Trip To A Bee Yard

Beekeeping With Children

More posts like this:
Photo of a pumpkin in dried corn stalks with the caption "Pumpkins Harvest, cure, and store"
Harvesting Pumpkins for Curing and Storing
How to build a cow milking stanchion. DIY Cow Milking Stanchion
How To Build a Cow Milking Stanchion (Elevated)
Milking equipment for the homestead dairy is essential. You'll need all the right milking supplies to milk your goat or cow.
Top 6 Milking Equipment and Supplies 
a featured photo of a DIY Goat milking stand.
DIY Goat Milking Stand on the Cheap
 

Filed Under: Bees, Critters Tagged With: bees, garden, homesteading, honey

About Jenna

Hey, y’all! I’m Jenna, wife to my amazing husband, Derek, mom to 8 beautiful farm kids, homesteader, homemaker, homeschooler, and lover of Jesus. I enjoy all things farmy, family, crafting, old fashioned, and homemade.

Previous Post: « Starting Sourdough From A Culture
Next Post: Sawing Logs To Build A Barn (on a tight budget) »

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Amber says

    September 24, 2014 at 8:27 am

    I always admire people who start in beekeeping. Some of the teachers and bloggers at the school do, and as I learn more about it, I find it more and more fascinating! Thanks for sharing these resources.

    Reply
  2. Janet Pesaturo says

    September 24, 2014 at 1:44 pm

    Great post, Jenna, and many thanks for sharing my Gardening for Pollinators post. I’ve been thinking about getting bees for years, but now that my neighbor has them, it’s a lot easier to trade some of our maple syrup for her honey. 🙂

    Reply
    • @Holistic Desk says

      January 18, 2018 at 8:01 pm

      I have had three friends that have had honey bees. One of the lived in the inner city of New York. They are well worth the effort, amazing to watch and the raw honey is delicious. My Pastor was the person in New York who raised bees on the roof of our building. It is an amazing experience. I remember the day he received his queen and I was often on the roof because I had a garden. The day I went to the roof and saw a basketball-sized clump of bees hanging from the hive, I knew there was a second queen and they were about to split! It was fascinating. Janet, if you choose to raise a hive, it will be like the Wild Kingdom right in your backyard!

  3. Heidi @ Pint Size Farm says

    September 24, 2014 at 2:01 pm

    I just can’t decide if I want honeybees. I love everything they do, but we don’t eat a ton of honey to justify it. For now, I just try to attract them in the garden and purchase my honey from the farmer’s market.

    Reply
  4. Donna says

    September 27, 2014 at 12:19 am

    That should be interesting. Danielle’s husband, Lee, has been talking about doing that the last few years.

    Reply
  5. Julie says

    September 28, 2014 at 9:05 am

    I want bees too! I think home produced honey would be awesome… keeping bees has long been on my wish list for our homestead. Thank you for your post and the awesome link list. I have some more reading to do! 🙂

    Reply
  6. Sara says

    September 28, 2014 at 10:23 am

    Great post, my other half and I are talking about getting bees so we can produce our own honey. His parents have several hives on their property that are actually owned by someone else. The owner stops by 1-2 per year to harvest the honey. In return the bees pollinate their very large gardens.

    Reply
  7. Rhonda, FL says

    October 19, 2014 at 12:11 am

    We are hoping to start beekeeping this coming spring. My husband and I are in agreement and so we are going to give it a shot. I wanted to this spring but we got our chicks instead and we decided to get the hang of that first before adding another new homesteading thing to our list. I feel the chickens are pretty easy so I am hoping the beekeeping will be as well. God has blessed our endeavors so far!

    Reply
    • Jenna says

      October 19, 2014 at 8:45 am

      That’s great! I know that adding one thing at a time is a really good way to homestead. That is what we have done and like you said, God really has blessed us too. 🙂 I’m enjoying keeping up with your homestead ventures!

  8. Angi @ SchneiderPeeps says

    January 7, 2016 at 11:58 pm

    We have bees and love them. Actually, our teenage son is the beekeeper; I’m just the photographer and honey eater, so they are really easy for me. I look forward to hearing about your bee adventures!

    Reply
  9. BeeManDan says

    May 23, 2019 at 11:27 am

    Honey is a delicious, healthier alternative to sugar. And it’s especially great when you get freshly made honey from the beekeeper itself.

    Reply

Trackbacks

  1. 4 Reasons I Want Honey Bees (And Why You Should Consider Them Too!) - Prepared Bloggers says:
    October 25, 2014 at 8:02 pm

    […] View the full article at The Flip Flop Barnyard […]

    Reply
  2. Merry Christmas Cox’s Honey Giveaway | The Flip Flop Barnyard says:
    October 27, 2014 at 7:03 am

    […] In honor of this honey giveaway, be sure to read my post on why I want honey bees for the homestead. […]

    Reply

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Recipe Rating




Primary Sidebar

Search

Get our new posts directly in your inbox!

Hey there!

Hey, y’all! I’m Jenna, wife to my amazing husband, Derek, mom to 8 beautiful farm kids, homesteader, homemaker, homeschooler, and lover of Jesus. I enjoy all things farmy, family, crafting, old fashioned, and homemade. Read More…

Follow Me On Social Media

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Pinterest
  • YouTube
  • Affiliate Disclosure
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Me

Copyright © 2023 · Niche Theme