Generation Bee - A campaign to cultivate new beekeepers!

[Generation Bee]

Hello!
I am writing on behalf of the Generation Bee project. We are a small team of young people who are concerned about the decline of honey bees and what this will mean for our ecosystem and future food security.
Working with Dumfries-based professional beekeeper, Luisa Gonzalez (Golden Age Honey), We have launched a campaign on Crowdfunder.co.uk and are hoping to raise £5000 to cultivate new beekeepers and increase honeybee populations in the UK.

The aims of this campaign are:
- To train two apprentices and several volunteers in beekeeping this summer.
- To produce 50 affordable beginner hives for individuals and schools
- To promote beekeeping in the UK

For a more detailed explanation of the project Please visit our campaign page at wwwDOTcrowdfunderDOTcoDOTuk/generationbee (sadly I'm not allowed to enter proper links in this forum yet)... Here you can read about our project, and browse the fantastic rewards we have on offer.

We would be very grateful if you could promote this campaign via social media, email or your website. Please also tell every person or organisation who might be interested in our project.

Thanks very much for your support, we will personally thank everybody who assists our campaign and can put your or your organisation's name on our website as a supporter.

For more information contact Golden.Age.Honey.Crowd[at]gmail.com, call Louis on 07969832671, and look for us on Facebook (wwwDOTfacebookDOTcom/GoldenAgeHoney) and Twitter (twitterDOTcom/GoldenAgeHoney)!

All the best
Luisa, Victoria, Jessie, Louis, Michael and Mareike!

 

[enrico]

I was ready to pick holes but I see from the site that you have thought this out quite well....well done, it can do no harm as long as you DO ensure that each donated hive WILL be cared for as you suggest.
Maybe as a caviat you could ask for volunteers from this forum to continue with hands on experience when the course members scatter to their various homes around the country!
E

 

[Chris B]

GBee,

Nicely produced vid. (even if you got some facts wrong)
Can you explain what are these affordable hives you'll be selling? I noticed you had polys but looked the wrong shape to be Langstroth.

 

[alldigging]

Is £225 more affordable than the basic th*rnes beginners box at £220?

OK, so they'll get bees ... but you get other stuff with the th*rnes kit.

Bees on a Budget, The Basic Kit includes Bees on a Budget Hive, plus a smoker, hive tool, leather gloves, jacket and veil, bee brush, smoker cartridges, 1 gallon feeder and a mouseguard.

And 225x50 = more money than it's cost. Is it a charity?

 

[Dishmop]

Guess the idea is that might be making their own hives to save money.

 

[Hivemaker.]

http://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/generationbee



The colonies will come in a British National polystyrene hive which is suitable for the extreme weather we have in Scotland, and offers a warm and dry home to the colony. The hive will come with a floor, brood box, deep frames, crown board and roof. As the colony is young the beekeeper shouldn’t expect a honey crop until next year. This will delay further costs as the super and queen excluder can be acquired the following year.

 

[Dishmop]

Assuming that came from their website.....it wouldnt load for me. Will try again.

 

[Russel]

Is £225 more affordable than the basic th*rnes beginners box at £220?

OK, so they'll get bees ... but you get other stuff with the th*rnes kit.

Bees on a Budget, The Basic Kit includes Bees on a Budget Hive, plus a smoker, hive tool, leather gloves, jacket and veil, bee brush, smoker cartridges, 1 gallon feeder and a mouseguard.

And 225x50 = more money than it's cost. Is it a charity?

"Golden Age Honey is a young business with a lot of potential to develop, any extra profits from this campaign will be invested into the apiary, which Luisa hopes will become a centre for learning with many apprentices and potentially a museum."

" The monthly cost of their room is £250 and food is £150, which for six months is a total of £2,400"
"The total cost for producing the hives and nurturing the new colonies will be £4,700."
"The total amount required is £7,100, from which £2,100 will be funded by the sale of the hives and £5,000 from the Crowd-funding campaign."

Sales £11250 - Costs 7100 = Profit 4150 + Crowd fund 5000 (?) £ 9150 total profit?

 

[domino]

I use to denote a lot to crowd funding schemes, but I've become a little disillusioned that companies are now using it as a new revenue stream.

 

[Mellifera397]

This just looks like a moneymaking scheme pulling the wool over the eyes of well meaning concerned people. It looks like a good project on the face of things, but I dont think there's anything truly altruistic about the project.

Thats why....

I'm out!!

M

 

[Chris B]

"Golden Age Honey is a young business with a lot of potential to develop, any extra profits from this campaign will be invested into the apiary, which Luisa hopes will become a centre for learning with many apprentices and potentially a museum."

" The monthly cost of their room is £250 and food is £150, which for six months is a total of £2,400"
"The total cost for producing the hives and nurturing the new colonies will be £4,700."
"The total amount required is £7,100, from which £2,100 will be funded by the sale of the hives and £5,000 from the Crowd-funding campaign."

Sales £11250 - Costs 7100 = Profit 4150 + Crowd fund 5000 (?) £ 9150 total profit?

Deduct from that the value of the bees, and the cost of the reward scheme which looks better than most and there's little profit remaining, probably a loss. (And presumably crowdfunder take a slice too?)

 

[Dishmop]

Better than payng £150 to learn how to make a wicker laundry basket beehive, by a charity that wont tell you where the money which they collect from donations goes to.

 

[alldigging]

"centre for learning with many apprentices and potentially a museum."

A bit like a BKA?

I'm afraid I have spent far too much time recently looking through charity accounts to be anything less than hugely cynical.

And it doesn't look like it's a community interest company or a charity.

 

[Dishmop]

"centre for learning with many apprentices and potentially a museum."

A bit like a BKA?

I'm afraid I have spent far too much time recently looking through charity accounts to be anything less than hugely cynical.

And it doesn't look like it's a community interest company or a charity.

On the face of it it looks ok but being very cynical and having looked at the charity run by Heidi whatsit which seems to spend nearly as much raising funds as they actually receive in donations and is evasive on what they do with the money, I tend to look at closely at these things.

 

[Russel]

Deduct from that the value of the bees, and the cost of the reward scheme which looks better than most and there's little profit remaining, probably a loss. (And presumably crowdfunder take a slice too?)

Just going by their figures Chris:
"The total cost for producing the hives and nurturing the new colonies will be £4,700."

 

[Apple]

On the face of it it looks ok but being very cynical and having looked at the charity run by Heidi whatsit which seems to spend nearly as much raising funds as they actually receive in donations and is evasive on what they do with the money, I tend to look at closely at these things.

Me too I am afraid!

 

[steph333]

Hi

I am local to Dumfries and not associated with Generation Bee. Hows about lets see how it goes and give them a chance. Our bees need all the help they can get and if some young people want to give it a try and encourage more young beekeepers i say more power to them. Lets be positive and watch out for the worst but hope for the best.

Stephen

 

[BKF Admin]

I normally receive a request asking if its ok to pop a post on the forum when it is from a group and contains links to other websites.

On this occasion the pm/email seems to of not arrived.

 

[simoncav]

This is exactly what the Bee Farmers Association are doing with their apprentice scheme to create the next generation of highly qualified beekeeping professionals.

Although it's only just starting, it looks like a highly ambitious, professional scheme with all the appropriate ticks in the various educational boxes complete with a mentoring programme. It's sponsored by various bodies including the Guild of Wax Chandlers and you would do much better talk to them than trying to go it alone...

 

[Into the lions den]

I think some would be best to stop and think then count to ten before hitting the keyboard.

1. This is NOT any sort of attempt to produce fully fledged apprentice bee FARMERS. People can learn a bit from her, but there is no pretence that once you have been with her to gain experience you will be anything more than a still relatively new beekeeper, however you will have seen the potential and the option to take it beyond amateur level if you so decide.

2. I know Luisa personally and also know her mentor who is a friend and colleague of many years standing in whom I have TOTAL trust. She is also a friend of my bee manager Jolanta. She has been out in the field with us for experience.

3. She is for real. An earnest young bee farmer with lots of novel ideas about business structures and fresh ways of looking at things, yet very sensible about the actual bees themselves.

4. She has limited funds available and sees this as a way to generate some funding (a modest amount really). I wish her well.