A beekeeper is a person who keeps honey bees, a profession known as beekeeping.
A beekeeper holding a brood frame, in Lower Saxony, Germany
A commercial beekeeper working in an apiary
Beekeepers from North Macedonia, from the beginning of 20th century
Two beekeepers in Cornwall, UK, checking their hives and using a smoker.
Beekeeping is the maintenance of bee colonies, commonly in man-made beehives. Honey bees in the genus Apis are the most commonly kept species but other honey producing bees such as Melipona stingless bees are also kept. Beekeepers keep bees to collect honey and other products of the hive: beeswax, propolis, bee pollen, and royal jelly. Other sources of beekeeping income include pollination of crops, raising queens, and production of package bees for sale. Bee hives are kept in an apiary or "bee yard".
Beekeeping, tacuinum sanitatis casanatensis (14th century)
The Beekeepers, 1568, by Pieter Bruegel the Elder
A beekeeper inspecting a hive frame from a Langstroth hive.
Honey-laden honeycomb in a wooden frame