You could do a college course, which would teach you some of the skills you need to get into beekeeping.

There are short introductory courses for beginners as well as ones that lead to a qualification, like the Level 1 Award in Introduction to Beekeeping.

Entry requirements

There are no set entry requirements for this route.

You can keep bees as a hobby and learn how to successfully set up and manage healthy colonies of honeybees.

You can also join a beekeeping group where you'll learn from experienced beekeepers.

You'll need:

• observation and recording skills
• knowledge of biology
• the ability to work on your own
• to be thorough and pay attention to detail
• the ability to work well with your hands
• thinking and reasoning skills
• patience and the ability to remain calm in stressful situations
• the ability to operate and control equipment
• to be able to carry out basic tasks on a computer or hand-held device

As a beekeeper, you'll:

• build, inspect or repair hives
• introduce a new colony or look after an existing one
• check the health of your bees
• treat your hive and bees to fight disease and pests
• breed queen bees and set up smaller, starter colonies
• collect honey from hives
• prepare and bottle honey
• market honey and products like beeswax
• mentor or train new beekeepers

You could work on a farm or at a bee yard.

Your working environment may be outdoors in all weathers.

You may need to wear protective clothing.