Annual Salary
variable
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
Swap to Animal or Environment or go back to all job sectors or go to green jobs
Swap to Animal or Environment or go back to all job sectors or go to green jobs
Beekeepers manage colonies of honeybees kept in hives to produce honey, beeswax and royal jelly.
Average UK salary in 2023 was £34,963
(source Office for National Statistics)
You could work: freelance / self-employed; managing your own hours
There will be
1.8% more Beekeeper jobs in 2027.
As a beekeeper, you'll:
You may need to wear protective clothing.
You could work on a farm or at a bee yard.
Your working environment may be outdoors in all weathers.
You can get into this job through:
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.
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, and work towards qualifications offered by The British Beekeepers Association.
You can find out more about becoming a beekeeper through The British Beekeepers Association and the National Bee Unit.
You could move into training or commercial bee farming and develop more hives over a wider area.
With qualifications in science, you could work in crop production and pollination research.
Beekeepers are needed to help make the West of England region the UK Bee & Pollinator Capital in the UK, with a range of projects aimed at making habitats and spaces for bees and wildlife to flourish.
Watch a video about the Bee Bold project in the West of England.
There are several different routes you can take to get into working as an beekeeper which you can explore further in the 'Routes into this job' section above.
Click here for an explanation of the different course and apprenticeship levels.
Click here to find a local provider
Click here to search for a local apprenticeship
You may find work as a beekeeper on a local farm, private estate or working for the local authority. There are a lot of other ways you can generate income as a beekeeper. You can sell the products you harvest from the hive at local markets, you can sell your beekeeping skills or you can sell bees and their pollination services.
You can find out more about becoming a beekeeper through, the Bee Farmers Association, The British Beekeepers Association and the National Bee Unit.
You'll need: