A questionnaire for beekeepers

If you are a beekeeper, or thinking of becoming one, or you can answer some of these questions on behalf of a beekeeper, I would very much appreciate your replies.

I’m a little hesitant to say why I’ve created this questionnaire, but I’d consider it a bit rude not to. I’m a product design student and I’m working on a new hive design. I’m hesitant because many beekeepers have said to me ‘we don’t need a new design, what we have is fine.’ And have told me I’m wasting my time. I wish more people thought like that about such things as motor cars, mobile phones, and fitted kitchens, we’d be a lot better off. My thinking is that with the problems of CCD, if I could get a few more people interested in beekeeping with a ‘flashy’ hive design it probably wouldn’t be a bad thing.

Ok, sorry, rant over, please answer as many questions as you can. All other comments are welcomed. Thankyou.


1. Are you a)male or b)female?

2. What is your age? a)20 b)20-30 c)30-40 d)40-50 e)50-60 f)60-70 g)70

3. Where do you live? a)Urban area b)Rural area c)Semi-rural area

4. Where do you keep your hives? a)Orchard b)Private Garden c)Roof garden d)Shared garden e)Farmland f)Elsewhere – please specify

5. How many hives do you keep?

6. Do you regard beekeeping as a a)Profession b)Hobby c)Somewhere in-between

7. Which best describes your view of the bees a)pet or b)farm animal

8. Do you keep other animals? If so, what?

9. Do you have other pets? If so, what?

10. Please order these aspects of beekeeping in importance for yourself. Feel free to add some others if I have missed them. I am not a beekeeper (though I am thinking of giving it a go when I finish Uni, they are fascinating creatures now I’ve taken time to learn about them), so please excuse my ignorance. a)Honey, Propolis, Royal Jelly etc b)Pollination c)Enjoyment d)Farming e)Relaxation f)Social – BKA meets g)Skill