What Makes a Beekeeper?

What makes a beekeeper?

A research team from the Department of Psychology, Bradley University, Peoria, Ill., wants to know.

Led by Wendy Schweigert, Ph.D., of Bradley University and Larry Krengel of the Illinois State Beekeepers, the team is conducting research about "beekeepers and their characteristics" and seeks beekeepers 18 years or older to complete an anonymous survey.

The survey is intended for commercial beekeepers,  sideliners and hobbyists. The researchers want to know the usual questions: how many hives you have, how many assistants, what hive products you produce (bees, queens, honey, pollen, propolis), and what chemicals, if any, you use.

Then they'll delve into "political, social and environmental feelings."

The survey will be available online until Feb. 14, 2010.

If you're a beekeeper--new or experienced--back away from the hive, drop your hive tool, and take the survey.

The beekeepers I know care intensely about their bees and are as social as the bees they tend.  Good people. Good bees. Good life.

It will be interesting to see the results.