Honey price

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Could the Conwy honey fair be the Ofgem of honey pricing:

In that case, nobody would be able to afford it!

 

[Antipodes]

We do have a lot of hobby beekeepers who sell it for next to nowt.

They seem to sometimes give honey away here. No cost at all.

 

[robinharman]

Interesting. I've been looking and can't seem to find anything under about £1. Do you have a link?

Cant seem to do the ebay link but search.
Plastic Buckets Tubs Containers with Tamper Evident Lids 0.5L 1L 3L 5L 10L 25L and you will find them.

 

[Hachi]

£11 a lb so 8 oz £5.50 wholesale

Ahh still north of £40k, your post wasn't clear.

Still no answer on the automation ..... is it an oversight or am I being deliberately ignored? Not wishing to cause anyone any embarrassment, If it's the latter let me know with a post here and I'll stop asking.

 

[Hachi]

Cant seem to do the ebay link but search.
Plastic Buckets Tubs Containers with Tamper Evident Lids 0.5L 1L 3L 5L 10L 25L and you will find them.

I've looked and can't find one under that matches your purchase.

 

[JamezF]

Still no answer on the automation ....

The man has seven children! What does he need automation for?

Or was that five, and seven included himself and his wife? In which case perhaps a heated uncapping knife is understandable

James

 

[Hachi]

Hi James

CGF is having huge crops [making a sizeable "wedge" from sales at £11/lb] which, must be taking a long time to extract manually. I was looking during lockdown at buying an automated honey extraction line and am wonder what he has or is thinking of buying?

 

[pargyle]

Hi James

CGF is having huge crops [making a sizeable "wedge" from sales at £11/lb] which, must be taking a long time to extract manually. I was looking during lockdown at buying an automated honey extraction line and am wonder what he has or is thinking of buying?

He's not automated uses an uncapping fork ...

Uncapping knife versus uncapping fork. #Post 11

 

[JamezF]

Hi James

CGF is having huge crops [making a sizeable "wedge" from sales at £11/lb] which, must be taking a long time to extract manually. I was looking during lockdown at buying an automated honey extraction line and am wonder what he has or is thinking of buying?

Yes, it's always interesting to know how people do these things and at what point it becomes impractical to manage by hand.

Assuming that CGF has sufficient honey to fill most of his jars and they're all 8oz, I'd guess he's dealing somewhere in the region of 200 supers? Never having had anywhere near that many, I'd go out on a limb and suggest that extraction is probably achievable manually if it's your full(-ish) time job, but it could well be pretty gruelling for one person, especially actually moving the full supers about. Two might make it more bearable. Or you just chug along doing what you can at a comfortable pace until the job's done.

Jarring and labelling could well be mind-numbing. But I imagine that is spread out over the course of the year. 250+ jars per week perhaps isn't so bad by hand.

James

 

[Erichalfbee]

The man has seven children! What does he need automation for?

OMG.
This is the stuff of nightmares. I don't let my husband or any children, mine or step, anywhere near labels. They never get them the same level or straight !!!!

 

[mbc]

Ahh still north of £40k, your post wasn't clear.

Still no answer on the automation ..... is it an oversight or am I being deliberately ignored? Not wishing to cause anyone any embarrassment, If it's the latter let me know with a post here and I'll stop asking.

Duw Duw, embarrassment!
I have nigh on 1000 supers and uncap with an electric knife into a plastic tray.
I've looked at various machines and I'm not quite sold yet. I lnow of a 1000 colony operation not too far away where their multitude of supers get scratched by uncapping forks by the staff for extracting.
I'm still unsecided on a screw press, theres something about the pressed honey that doesnt scream quality to me, alright gor set I suppose.
I market a few tons all potted and labelled by hand too (mostly not my hands anymore thankfully!)

 

[Curly green finger's]

@Hachi all done manually uncapping that is and i am chugging along , im pretty much full time , I am looking at equipment to buy to help speed the process up .

 

[Nige.Coll]

An uncapping machine is a game changer as is a 64 frame extractor. 15 supers an hour is easy work.

 

[Curly green finger's]

OMG.
This is the stuff of nightmares. I don't let my husband or any children, mine or step, anywhere near labels. They never get them the same level or straight !!!!

My older guys are well versed in putting labels on jars , even the younger ones aren’t to bad

OMG.
This is the stuff of nightmares. I don't let my husband or any children, mine or step, anywhere near labels. They never get them the same level or straight !!!!

 

[maddydog]

Hi James

CGF is having huge crops [making a sizeable "wedge" from sales at £11/lb] which, must be taking a long time to extract manually. I was looking during lockdown at buying an automated honey extraction line and am wonder what he has or is thinking of buying?

With this year's crop I could pretty much fill curly's 12k jars but as I get half his price there's no money in the kitty for automation (I wish) Considering he can't be more than 40 miles away as the bee flies it's amazing the difference in price

 

[Sutty]

Just made my first sale to a retailer. When I kept bees previously I sold it all at work and to friends.
24 of 340g hex jars at £6 each, I think they will retail at £7.99. They expect it to sell quickly & will want more soon. I only took 24 for them to have a look at.

 

[Hachi]

Just made my first sale to a retailer. When I kept bees previously I sold it all at work and to friends.
24 of 340g hex jars at £6 each, I think they will retail at £7.99. They expect it to sell quickly & will want more soon. I only took 24 for them to have a look at.

Excellent!! Shame you're not a few more miles west, you could have shared in CGF's £11/lb bonanza

 

[Somerford]

I think the key thing in the current market is what price , locally, customers will support.

Clearly we’re about to enter a severe cash crunch with many families finding their discretionary spending ability to be or about to be compromised. You can see the value supermarkets already making headway on this which means people ‘trade down’ for items just to keep food on the table

Of course there are those families for whom the cost of living issues are a non-issue and life will go on pretty much as it was - maybe one foreign holiday instead of two a year ….

I thought I’d seen a change already as demand for 8oz jars had started to increase but then 12oz rose again and the scales tipped the other way.

Maybe people will still want a treat, and value quality local honey and be prepared to pay a premium for it.

Certainly the margins will be squeezed though as jar and lid prices continue to rise and in October sugar will see a jump too when the beet crop gets harvested as the sugar factories use gas. I’ve heard rumours of a 30%+ increase in sugar prices from then..

At the end of the day you know your local market. You know what price can be sustained and if it brings a return on your efforts (and pays for the new bee suit / smoker / apiary expansion / Thornes sale) then all the better.

Just don’t undervalue your honey - which I’m already seeing on places like Facebook marketplace with hobbyists selling their crop at rather low prices …

KR

Somerford

 

[Murox]

Excellent!! Shame you're not a few more miles west, you could have shared in CGF's £11/lb bonanza

Just shows the regionality factor I think. I have maintained £5 for 227g (8oz) to all buyers. The one local shop (deliberate on my part) that buys in sells at over £7. Curiously I have interest now in in 113g (4oz) jars and not as " favours"; selling happily at £3 a jar.

 

[Somerford]

Just shows the regionality factor I think. I have maintained £5 for 227g (8oz) to all buyers. The one local shop (deliberate on my part) that buys in sells at over £7. Curiously I have interest now in in 113g (4oz) jars and not as " favours"; selling happily at £3 a jar.

It’ll be thimble fulls next