# Do people "raise" bees or "keep" bees? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 20, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828 "2022-02-20T17:53:15Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/1 "2022-02-20T17:53:15Z")
I’m writing an article and I’m just not sure which is correct to use. They have the hives in their backyard and harvest the honey-My money is on “keep” as in “beekeeper.” ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 5:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/2 "2022-02-20T17:59:15Z")
Both “keeping bees” and “raising bees” get a fair number of Google hits. My gut feeling would also be in favour of “keeping” - partially because the person who does it is a beekeeper, partially because, semantically, I’d think “raising” implies that the person who does the raising plays a role in the reproduction of the animals, such as by selecting the ones that mate. Then again, I’m not a native speaker of English, so my gut feeling may very well be wrong. Incidentally, my native language, German, has a dedicated word root for the activity of keeping bees, and the person who does it (_imkern_ as the verb, _Imker_ for the person). It’s not used for anything else. I’ve always found it remarkable that English, which in my experience has a larger vocabulary than German, doesn’t have a dedicated word there but rather uses a compound word, something which is very common in German but not done in this case. Perhaps it tells you something about the importance of bees and honey for ancient Germanic tribes. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/3 "2022-02-20T18:00:40Z")
Fascinating! I also just wasn’t sure how to Google it. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/4 "2022-02-20T18:03:20Z")
I simply searched for [“keeping bees”](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22keeping+bees%22&sxsrf=APq-WBsANtQBEKABNNGKRb9QSJf6nrgClw%3A1645380089850&source=hp&ei=-YESYpeoMLaPxc8Poa2FgAQ&iflsig=AHkkrS4AAAAAYhKQCUCPbeEqGYT7U7Lmd6PuM9huHYBK&ved=0ahUKEwjXiJe-7o72AhW2R_EDHaFWAUAQ4dUDCAg&uact=5&oq=%22keeping+bees%22&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBQgAEMsBMggILhDUAhDLATIFCC4QywEyBQgAEMsBMgUIABDLATIFCAAQywEyBQgAEMsBMgUIABDLATIFCAAQywEyBQgAEMsBOgQIIxAnOgsIABCABBCxAxCDAToICC4QgAQQsQM6DgguEIAEELEDEMcBEKMCOggIABCABBCxAzoICC4QsQMQgwE6BQguEIAEOhQILhCABBCxAxCDARDHARDRAxDUAjoLCC4QgAQQsQMQgwE6BQgAEIAEOggILhCABBDUAlAAWNMVYJoXaABwAHgAgAF_iAHtCpIBAzguNpgBAKABAQ&sclient=gws-wiz) and [“raising bees”](https://www.google.com/search?q=%22raising+bees%22&sxsrf=APq-WBuVyyeFBpI1lagi40BKaLwIFyRfQw%3A1645380094504&ei=_oESYvycHoiPxc8P5bmygAQ&ved=0ahUKEwj8k7bA7o72AhWIR_EDHeWcDEAQ4dUDCA0&uact=5&oq=%22raising+bees%22&gs_lcp=Cgdnd3Mtd2l6EAMyBQgAEMsBMgUIABDLATIFCAAQywEyBQgAEMsBMgUIABDLATIFCAAQywEyBQgAEMsBMgUIABDLATIFCAAQywEyBQgAEMsBOgcIABBHELADOgQIABATOgcILhDUAhATOgQILhATOgYIABAKEBM6BgguEAoQEzoICAAQDRAeEBM6CAguENQCEMsBOgcIABAKEMsBOgcILhAKEMsBOgUILhDLAToECAAQHjoGCAAQChAeOggIABANEAoQHkoECEEYAEoECEYYAFDGAljEG2DmHmgDcAF4AIABiwGIAY8IkgEDNS41mAEAoAEByAEIwAEB&sclient=gws-wiz). Both terms will yield hobbyist sites with advice on how to do it if you want to get into it, so I suppose both terms are used within the community. ---
**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/5 "2022-02-20T18:05:39Z")
As a former beekeeper, I kept bees, I didn’t raise them. They raised themselves. But word styles change. When I was in school, we had P.E. or phys ed (fiz ed). Now they have phy ed (fiy ed). It used to be math class, now it’s maths class. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/6 "2022-02-20T18:15:06Z")
Ask yourself: have you ever heard of someone called a “beeraiser”? ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/7 "2022-02-20T18:32:45Z")
> [@Schnitte](#): > > I’ve always found it remarkable that English, which in my experience has a larger vocabulary than German, doesn’t have a dedicated word there English has the word _apiarist_, which matches _Imker_. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/8 "2022-02-20T18:37:09Z")
😳 You’re absolutely right. ---
**Author:** ![3AxisCtrl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/3/ecd19e/32.png) [@3AxisCtrl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/3AxisCtrl)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/9 "2022-02-20T18:46:18Z")
Trivia question: Name the most famous beekeepers, both in fiction and non-fiction. Fiction: Sherlock Holmes Non-fiction: Sir Edmund Hillary ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/10 "2022-02-20T19:33:41Z")
You keep bees, and for only as long as you do right by them. They’re perfectly capable of saying “Later!” and zooming off to more salubrious climes if you displease them. I don’t think there’s any delusion of ownership over a hive, when it comes right down to it. Beekeeping is a partnership, not an ownership. ---
**Author:** ![Schnitte](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/schnitte/32/9033_2.png) [@Schnitte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Schnitte)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/11 "2022-02-20T19:56:23Z")
> [@SmartAleq](#): > > I don’t think there’s any delusion of ownership over a hive, when it comes right down to it. Beekeeping is a partnership, not an ownership. I know you didn’t mean this comment about lack of ownership in bees in a technical sense, but when I was in law school in Germany, I was taught, like generations before me, about a series of provisions in the German civil code governing ownership in bees, and what happens, in property law terms, when a colony swarms or leaves. The practical relevance of these provisions is nil, but they’re very picturesque, and that’s what has made them a classic in introductory civil law courses. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/12 "2022-02-20T20:02:49Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > It used to be math class, now it’s maths class. Tell me this isn’t a trend in the U.S., like automatically serving “sweet tea”. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2022, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/13 "2022-02-20T20:56:14Z")
Huh. Never heard “maths class” in the US. My two school age children call it “math class.” I only know “maths” in non-US American dialects of English. (I’ve also not heard “phy ed,” but that I’m not sure of, as my kids just call it “gym.”) ---
**Author:** ![SmartAleq](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smartaleq/32/163_2.png) [@SmartAleq](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmartAleq)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 12:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/14 "2022-02-21T00:35:38Z")
That is a bizarrely charming factoid, thanks for that! 👍🏼 ---
**Author:** ![QMatic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/q/aeb1de/32.png) [@QMatic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/QMatic)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 12:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/15 "2022-02-21T00:58:01Z")
You don’t need to raise bees, they have little wings for that. ---
**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 1:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/16 "2022-02-21T01:51:59Z")
He drove the Mach Five: Go, Bee Raiser Go, Bee Raiser Go, Bee Raiser Gooooooo! (I’m sorry, I have a cold.) ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 1:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/17 "2022-02-21T01:52:51Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > Now they have phy ed (fiy ed). It used to be math class, now it’s maths class. 🤨 Never heard either of these in the US. ---
**Author:** ![lobotomyboy63](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lobotomyboy63/32/2900_2.png) [@lobotomyboy63](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lobotomyboy63)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 1:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/18 "2022-02-21T01:55:19Z")
> [@Musicat](#): > > As a former beekeeper Talk to me. I have a weird fascination with this (?). I’d like to do it as a way of making the world a better place, I guess. Not looking to make money. Could you do it, say, on a quarter acre lot? ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 2:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/19 "2022-02-21T02:04:25Z")
My dad kept bees at some point before I was born. Just a couple of bee boxes at the back of our property, practically in the middle of nowhere. They likely pollinated the neighboring cornfields as well as Mom’s flowerbeds and berry plants. Someone in law enforcement made Dad get rid of the bee boxes, we believe the cop had enough of the sting operation. ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2022, 2:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828/20 "2022-02-21T02:28:28Z")
> [@QMatic](#): > > You don’t need to raise bees, they have little wings for that. Science can’t explain it! [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-people-raise-bees-or-keep-bees/959828.md?page=2)