Could I make a living

[Poly Hive]

I can assure you that if you are ill, you get bloody get on with it.

Simple

PH

 

[hedgerow pete]

chris b , whilst i bow to your much better knoweledge in these matters i would never suggest to anyone other than your self the idea you based your ideals on the 80lb per hive mark, 30 is never to average. the other thing with the 15kilo level is that the first questioner did not say if he was placing 50 or 100 hives in one spot or many others.

i did love your break down of costs they seem very tight to me but i dont know as i have only ever helped pro. beekeers i have never been one.

the only person i got very close to in wales was working a 6 day week and his wife was permantly working the barn, either extracting honey, sorting wax and propolis or mending/making hive parts from plain sawn timber. making them selves self sufficiant in timber and parts, but he was also doing some serious miles shifting hives from crop to crops and i would suggest that his profit line has changed completly because of the costs of fuel to do so.

as for fertilation of fruit trees, i have only ever heard of that in a few of the very very many farms around the vale of evesham and the cider apple farms around ross on wye. i did not realise it was possible to make money doing that in the uk at a low level.

i also missed out on the fact that a extractor capable of dealing with 50 hives and a possible 150 supers would realy be into the thousands rather than hundreds. and at sort of level some form of food grade area to work in would realy be wanted, be it a portacabin or a converted shed/barn.

the main point i was trying to make that as a beginer the idea of springing up with 50 hives and making money is very very hard to do, but in a light hearted way.

i know what it takes as i have tried twice in the last decade to get into commercial ways but failed mainly due to the start up costs of the frames and foundation. £2,000 was my share in the last set up. and that was frames only , the details are logged onto the forum for others to see,

 

[For want of a better word]

I have never made any money from bees.... and probably never will !

I am retired now after a liftime of flogging my way around the planet working hard often in the most unhospitable and filthiest countries imaganable.

How many other Beeks out there are retired and keep bees because they can?

I am in no doubt that a living could be made beefarming..............
Similar to restoring vintage motorcycles a living could be made ( but for the price of making/buying in new parts...... sold the bikes, bought more bees!

 

[Chris B]

Do you work single handed?

Thankfully not entirely. Relatives and the odd gullible local beekeeper get pressganged into service. I've managed to line up temporary help for May this year equivalent to 2.5 FTE's which will be great.

And Polyhive is spot on about being ill. I only stopped work once after throwing up while trickling oxalic. I really should have checked the mite drop on that hive

 

[hedgerow pete]

as for making money try this thread

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1513

 

[hedgerow pete]

and this one, both were started by me looking at turning a penny

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=901

 

[Chris B]

Hedgerow Pete,
I'm an "L" plate bee farmer compared to some and I know some of my costs are trimmable if I apply myself. As far as honey yield goes, my worst average was indeed 30lb (2004) and my best was 135lb (2003) but I had fewer bees in those days. What I have realised over the last few years is that there are also some apiaries that consistently produce high yields and I have 2 that will produce a tonne, whether it's 12 hives or 20 living there. So I'm trying out new apiaries every year to try to find more like that, and dropping off or thinning out some of the poorer ones along the way.
I was shocked to see the BBKA publish the honey survey last year with an average yield close to your suggestion, so you are quite right in that way, but that might just mean most beekeepers let all the swarms go leaving no crop from mid-May. You wouldn't let that happen if your livelihood depended on it. Or if you did, at least you would use the non-swarmers/high yielders as next years breeders.
All the best
Chris

 

[Mike a]

Thank you Chris

Very interesting reading.

 

[stilllearning]

another factor no-one has mentioned......good old fashioned english weather. you can flog your guts out as much as you like , but if the weather's not right at the right time there is absoloutly nothing you can do about it.
Also fuel , is it me or is it going up weekly

 

[biggles]

Are you any good as a carpenter
You might do better making equipment.

I wish I was. My Father was a cabinet maker and I should have paid attention when I was a kid and he wanted to show me how.

Biggles

If you think that you'd look good in a pink pegnoir you could always try and cash in on the "Royal Jelly" business!

I've never looked good let alone in pink.

as for making money try this thread

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=1513

Pete it looks like you've given it a couple of goes, well done for trying.

Back to thinking

Pete

 

[hedgerow pete]

chris b has a valid point there, the bees i keep now i would suggest would bee to slow and not productive enough, and i would have to change the breeds completly.

my biggest brick wall i keep hitting is cash flows.
when i was made unemployed last year it was the worst time ever as we needed the spare money to pay the bills rather than paying for bee frames, a lot of hard work i had to walk away from.

the next brick wall is the 50 hive point. if you work all week then the only day you can work the bees is saturday and have sunday off recovering for next weeks work.

i can just about do 50 hives in a day if they are only in two spots and close together but even then thats a very long day, but to hit 50 hives you have to also keep up on the stock maintenence and queen breeding etc so theres your sunday gone anyway and if i spent all weekend doing that i would have to give up every thing else i do for fun and enjoyment and just slave over the bees. so for me i was hoping to get up to around 15 hives and the same in nucs and new queens and thats my limits now.

tried twice not worth bothering for a third,

 

[mbc]

Although long hours at work make keeping lots of bees difficult, this difficulty is not insurmountable given some careful planning and preparation. The busiest time for me is may and early june, and at that time, we are blessed with very long days and a few stints in the evenings can still leave ones weekends free

 

[johnandyrob]

What do you cast as a living how much would you like to earn and do you think it is possible taking into account the advice above. Regards Andrew

 

[Haughton Honey]

Chris B - an interesting and very informative post.

I think some of the posters on here would be intrigued to know about your routine, average hive set up and swarm prevention measures as a commercial bod....hive type, single, double, type of QX, artificial swarm method preferred, routine medication given, static apiaries or pollination/OSR/heather etc etc

 

[Hombre]

Chris B - an interesting and very informative post.

#24 carat green gold.

 

[Stephen H.]

might I suggest you have a word with Mike Lane who is in Faversham(I think) I know that he had/has over 400 hives and he is getting out of the business, he also had/has several polination contracts,he may well be able to stop you loosing a lot of cash.Information from him could well be worth a fortune.

 

[hedgerow pete]

i agree, if one of the more commercial lads could sticky a thread with some up to date facts, on time, effort labour and dare i ask money
i would dearly love to read it

 

[biggles]

might I suggest you have a word with Mike Lane who is in Faversham(I think) I know that he had/has over 400 hives and he is getting out of the business, he also had/has several polination contracts,he may well be able to stop you loosing a lot of cash.Information from him could well be worth a fortune.

Good idea I have spoken to him a few times and he's a very nice bloke.
Thanks
Pete

PS how much do I want to earn from bees is also a good question. If full time and 5-7 days a week 20,000 would be nice but I can live on less or more. I'm not very money orientated, I need to pay the bills and buy food but mainly I don't want a boss, life's to short. I would much rather be skint having fun than sitting 5 days a week in a job I hate.