Why Beekeepers Really Keep Bees: The True Reason Behind the Obsession

A Valentine’s Day reflection from someone who keeps bees for one simple reason: love.

Many beekeepers start for practical reasons.
Some want honey.
Some want better pollination.
Some want to “save the bees.”

None of these reasons are wrong — bees do offer plenty of perks. But none of them explain the addiction that beekeepers inevitably find themselves wrapped up in.

We have plenty of native pollinators in our garden, and pollination wasn’t even on our minds when we got our first hive. A beekeeper would often be money and time ahead to simply buy honey from a local beekeeper rather than keep their own colonies. In fact, for years I thought I had a negative reaction to honey and couldn’t enjoy my own harvest at all. (Turns out it was beeswax I reacted to — so no homemade lip balms for me, but thankfully honey is back on the menu.)

Money can be made in beekeeping, but it certainly isn’t easy money. Getting stung — especially in the beginning — isn’t exactly a selling point either.

So why do those of us who call ourselves beekeepers keep at it?
Why do we have an insatiable desire to acquire more colonies?
Why do we not blink when we go through the checkout line with more sugar than a family could use in a year?

Why do we get giddy when the beekeeping supply catalog arrives, knowing full well we’re about to find new ways to spend more money on the bees?

I’d like to propose something simple.

We keep bees because we love them.

There is a fascination with these little creatures — how they move, how they work, how they communicate. There is something deeply rewarding about earning their trust, learning to move in ways that don’t disturb them, understanding their rhythms. They can learn and recall faces, after all. We really do build a relationship with them.

Everything else — the honey, the pollination, the environmental benefits — are wonderful bonuses. But they are not the reason I keep bees, nor the reason many beekeepers stay.

After all, why else would a beekeeper do backbreaking work in the heat of summer while wrapped in extra layers?
Why would they willingly work with acids and treatments?
Why would they trudge out into the cold after a fresh snow to clear hive entrances?
And why would a human being, raised to fear bees, intentionally stand next to thousands of them at once?

Because we love our bees.

Beekeeping becomes a kind of sanctuary. Many studies have shown the calming, stress‑relieving effects of working with bees. Long before I knew such studies existed, I felt it. Beekeeping is one of the few things — along with horseback riding and ATV riding — that allows me to be fully present. When I’m working the bees, they have my complete attention. And in that focus, everything else falls away. It’s a mental reset I didn’t know I needed until I had it.

Beekeeping goes far beyond what bees can give me or do for me.
I keep bees because I love them.

When we love a person, we do things that look ridiculous from the outside. And when we love bees, we do things for them that make just as little sense to the onlooker. But love explains it all.

This Valentine’s Day, I wanted to take a moment to think about the bees — and honestly, how much joy they bring. If you’re considering getting bees, examine your motives. There’s nothing wrong with wanting honey or better pollination. But before long, I’m certain you’ll develop a love for the honeybee too.

I’ve asked myself many times:
If I got nothing in return from the bees, would I still be a beekeeper?

And every time, the answer is a resounding yes.
I truly love my bees.

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