Beekeeping Business Purchase

[Hivemaker.]

His land line is now ok.

 

[Chris B]

Jez,
I take it you are talking about getting set up for next season? This season is rapidly running it's course.
What kind of numbers are you looking for?
I'm in my first full season beekeeping full time. I've built up in stages, with a bit more to go. I don't think I could have coped with a big expansion in the early days because I didn't work efficiently and there is a learning curve. Being a good beekeeper isn't enough.
Regards
Chris

 

[jezd]

Jez,
I take it you are talking about getting set up for next season? This season is rapidly running it's course.
What kind of numbers are you looking for?
I'm in my first full season beekeeping full time. I've built up in stages, with a bit more to go. I don't think I could have coped with a big expansion in the early days because I didn't work efficiently and there is a learning curve. Being a good beekeeper isn't enough.
Regards
Chris

Thanks Chris, yes and no, a number of reasons for me considering making a move soon as well as the longer terms goals.

Not sure if I get your comment regards 'Being a good beekeeper isn't enough' - would be great if you expand on the wider skills and qualities needed.


Jez

 

[mikethebee]

Hi yes I am looking to slow down a little! This year I have had a lot of extra work with building the new s/hand workshop 68ft x 53ft.
Organizing an architect to deal with the planning for a new portal frame building 80ft x 50ft,
With a couch and car park hopefully completed by 2010.

Vacancy’s wanted!
Person m/f teaching hands on keeping bees courses.
Person m/f for Artificial insemination classes.
A young enthusiastic bee keeper that wants a carrier in the bee keeping business!
Someone that’s married to beekeeping!
Someone to take over from me!
A business investor!
A buyer with a dream!
All the best mike

 

[Poly Hive]

jez I really think you want to read a book or two like Oliver Field, and get to know some of the successful bee farmers and see what they have to contend with and do some sums.

What do you take as an average take from a colony? Now there's a massive debating point. For arguments sake say its the classic 40lb. If you sell that at a margin to you of £2 there's £80. What do you need to live on? I have no idea but you need to work it back and see how many hives you need to be able to run to survive.

Then there is vehicle maintenance, premises, staff and so on. Gets interesting hmm?

Beekeeping as a hobby is as far from Bee Farming as getting a splinter out the fingy is compared to nursing.

PH

 

[hedgerow pete]

i personaly have worked with several professionals as fun and as for experience and training, i have know people how have 400 hives and can make money enought to live JUST but he owned his own house and had next to nothing in over heads and the wife had to pull her weight an all for free, they reckon at around the 250 level is the max any man can run on his own in a 6 day week, personal experience says thats about right the closer they are the more you could do, secondly as someone who has tried the stoney path i know from personal experience again that when you build up to 100 hives and have a full time job every thing stops no time off no weekends you will need to work 4 to 5 hours every night and two 14 hour shifts at the weekend, so yes you can build up and work BUT only to a point, as so have we any spare cash just incase the car breaks down etc £5000 went in three months just on things i have never thought of

 

[Chris B]

Thanks Chris, yes and no, a number of reasons for me considering making a move soon as well as the longer terms goals.

Not sure if I get your comment regards 'Being a good beekeeper isn't enough' - would be great if you expand on the wider skills and qualities needed.


Jez

I'll give you some examples of things I do differently these days:

Swarm control. If I can't find the queen in 2 or 3 minutes I'll go for a cheap and cheerful alternative, either just split the colony in half with a QC each, or leave a QC frame with no bees at original location.

Queen clipping. I've started doing this whenever I find an unclipped laying queen. It's saved me loads of bees.

Record keeping. I keep apiary records not colony records. But each hive is marked with a status code in line with my working methods so I know what state it was in at the previous visit. (e.g. V=virgin, cells = multiple open QC's, 1 cell=single sealed QC).

Clearing bees. It's a blower these days. No time for back and forth to apiaries.

Working in the rain. No choice this time of year.

No loose ends in the apiary. This has been my biggest lesson this year. Make sure you have enough spare kit with you to do everything necessary so the whole apiary can be left for 10 days to 2 weeks.

Apiary selection. I measure apiary yields because I've found some sites are consistently higher. I'll gradually drop the poorer apiaries.

Zero tolerance for poor queens, drone layers, laying workers etc. Kill the queen and/or shake out or unite to a better colony. Otherwise they take up too much time trying to remedy.

I could go on and on but it's all about working out a system that works for you with the number of colonies being managed. I'm not happy with my own system just yet. I think I've also made an emotional leap - I still love my bees but as Mr Spock would put it "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" .

I hope that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about but there are others better qualified to tell you about what it really takes to succeed. We've had a great season so far but so has everyone else I talk to so I'm reluctant to claim too much credit just yet.

All the best
Chris

 

[jezd]

i personaly have worked with several professionals as fun and as for experience and training, i have know people how have 400 hives and can make money enought to live JUST but he owned his own house and had next to nothing in over heads and the wife had to pull her weight an all for free, they reckon at around the 250 level is the max any man can run on his own in a 6 day week, personal experience says thats about right the closer they are the more you could do, secondly as someone who has tried the stoney path i know from personal experience again that when you build up to 100 hives and have a full time job every thing stops no time off no weekends you will need to work 4 to 5 hours every night and two 14 hour shifts at the weekend, so yes you can build up and work BUT only to a point, as so have we any spare cash just incase the car breaks down etc £5000 went in three months just on things i have never thought of

Not sure I want to print my personal situation or plans, I do think its too easy to assume that one size fits all or that everyone who 'goes commercial' must push 200+ hives, the same goes for PH's response. We are making assumptions about my plans and how they fit into a much wider picture. I was simply looking to talk to larger scale bee keepers who perhaps had plans to sell or drop down a gear. In reality from the 4-5 people who have been either suggested or made contact only 1 or 2 are in that position, it would seems that once you start to talk to people you soon work out the real situation and for some there are other motives at work.

Jez

 

[jezd]

I'll give you some examples of things I do differently these days:

Swarm control. If I can't find the queen in 2 or 3 minutes I'll go for a cheap and cheerful alternative, either just split the colony in half with a QC each, or leave a QC frame with no bees at original location.

Queen clipping. I've started doing this whenever I find an unclipped laying queen. It's saved me loads of bees.

Record keeping. I keep apiary records not colony records. But each hive is marked with a status code in line with my working methods so I know what state it was in at the previous visit. (e.g. V=virgin, cells = multiple open QC's, 1 cell=single sealed QC).

Clearing bees. It's a blower these days. No time for back and forth to apiaries.

Working in the rain. No choice this time of year.

No loose ends in the apiary. This has been my biggest lesson this year. Make sure you have enough spare kit with you to do everything necessary so the whole apiary can be left for 10 days to 2 weeks.

Apiary selection. I measure apiary yields because I've found some sites are consistently higher. I'll gradually drop the poorer apiaries.

Zero tolerance for poor queens, drone layers, laying workers etc. Kill the queen and/or shake out or unite to a better colony. Otherwise they take up too much time trying to remedy.

I could go on and on but it's all about working out a system that works for you with the number of colonies being managed. I'm not happy with my own system just yet. I think I've also made an emotional leap - I still love my bees but as Mr Spock would put it "the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few" .

I hope that gives you an idea of what I'm talking about but there are others better qualified to tell you about what it really takes to succeed. We've had a great season so far but so has everyone else I talk to so I'm reluctant to claim too much credit just yet.

All the best
Chris

Interesting read Chris, aware of most but its good to have it reinforced - funny as the blower use was something I would employ should i ever get to a reasonable size and again came up in a conversation last week.

What you have demonstrated very well is the difference in approach between hobby and commercial beekeeping.

Cheerz

 

[Wendy122]

Hi All

Rusty is female. She was on a stand at a Thorn's sale day 2 years ago. She also writes for Beecraft and has a book "Belinda Bee".

W

 

[Poly Hive]

Well I have no agenda bar pointing out some of the pitfalls.

Please do not assume I post on a personal response level as I try to post on a general basis.

Just for info in my time I ran 80+ colonies producing 2 tones of blossom and a ton of heather per season. Produced my own queens, sold a few, produced furniture polish and cream and sold to a bunch of shops and to the public direct off my honey stall.

I also knew someone who worked up to being seriously commercial and is now arguably one of the best Bee Farmers in the UK, he mentored me for years.

I would hate to see anyone dive in and get well stung as many have.


PH

 

[bobandbec]

Can't add to the comments made on the large scale keeper.

I started 4 years ago and this year have gone up to 30 colonies. For me this has started to approach the stage where all of my time (part-time) has been taken up managing them rather than being able to appreciate what I've got. Personally I have found this an uncomfortable, even rushed, feeling at times. Being able to sit for an hour or two in front of the hives watching the bees coming and going is of much greater value to me than an extra 300 jars of honey.
The surprise to me has been this line between enjoying looking after the bees and having to look after them whatever the weather etc. I know 30 colonies isn't that many but for me it meant a feeling of I have to rather than I want to. I'm reducing back to what is a more comortable level for me.

The very best of luck with your beekeeping venture!

Peter

 

[jezd]

Well I have no agenda bar pointing out some of the pitfalls.

Please do not assume I post on a personal response level as I try to post on a general basis.

Just for info in my time I ran 80+ colonies producing 2 tones of blossom and a ton of heather per season. Produced my own queens, sold a few, produced furniture polish and cream and sold to a bunch of shops and to the public direct off my honey stall.

I also knew someone who worked up to being seriously commercial and is now arguably one of the best Bee Farmers in the UK, he mentored me for years.

I would hate to see anyone dive in and get well stung as many have.


PH

Appreciate those fair points, its a step by step things here with modest and realistic plans for the next 12 months.

Jez

 

[jezd]

Can't add to the comments made on the large scale keeper.

I started 4 years ago and this year have gone up to 30 colonies. For me this has started to approach the stage where all of my time (part-time) has been taken up managing them rather than being able to appreciate what I've got. Personally I have found this an uncomfortable, even rushed, feeling at times. Being able to sit for an hour or two in front of the hives watching the bees coming and going is of much greater value to me than an extra 300 jars of honey.
The surprise to me has been this line between enjoying looking after the bees and having to look after them whatever the weather etc. I know 30 colonies isn't that many but for me it meant a feeling of I have to rather than I want to. I'm reducing back to what is a more comortable level for me.

The very best of luck with your beekeeping venture!

Peter

Thanks, sounds like a job you have there

 

[jon]

I started 4 years ago and this year have gone up to 30 colonies. For me this has started to approach the stage where all of my time (part-time) has been taken up managing them rather than being able to appreciate what I've got.

I have 8 colonies and about 10 nucs at the moment and I definitely would not want any more. I agree entirely with the above comment. I like to do my inspections slowly and carefully to go easy on the bees and not make them agitated.
I also enjoy just watching them and doing the routine work without feeling rushed.
Even with this number of colonies I am probably spending far too much time at it. With me it's just a hobby and I am happy to break even.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

There are all too many people that have a great hobby (be it beekeeping or classical car restoration). They love doing it and get great enjoyment out of it.

They start to expand a bit, maybe make a few pounds or a least cover their costs.

Then they jump to a business, and it just becomes the usual 9 to 5 routine with the added problems of running a very variable business.

They then do not have a hobby or enjoyment.


BUT If I had the slightest chance to do it I would go for it!

 

[jezd]

thanks for all replies but can they be on the subject matter, I think we are straying a little of my orignal Q.

Cheers

Jez

 

[JCBrum]

Sorry, jezd, I thought you would have bought easybee by now . JC.

 

[jezd]

Sorry, jezd, I thought you would have bought easybee by now . JC.

dont start me on that one

 

[BKF Admin]

Maybe we should move the posts to a different thread, Admin ?
JC.

Thanks JC,I will split some posts off the thread.

The thread regarding hive size is continued HERE