how much do you spend on your bees 2

[newportbuzz]

just wondering how much people spend on each hive per year.
the poll ran for a day or two but some options were missing so i asked admin to pull it so it can restart with all the options there since there is no way to edit it once its started.

i am sorry for wasting your time to anyone who contributed to the first one.

am interesed in budgeting for my bees for a few years and i can guess what is likely to come up but this gets a much bigger sample so thats why i am running the poll.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Been going one year - last years hives were a combination of bought in and a whole hive with four supers (in cedar) which a friend made for me. Since then I've been stocking up for next year with more flat pacKed broods, supers and frames - I've bought in feeders (quite a collection now) built my own 5 and 6 frame nucs, hive stands, dadant type OMF floors and roofs.I'm prety handy with my hands as I did a lot of carpentry training with my dad as a youngster which helps a bit (tools, space and time are the only thing I lack now!)

 

[Nic Rhodes]

I could vote on all bar no expenditure at all

 

[Skyhook]

I refuse to say, in case my wife reads this!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

know the feeling!

 

[newportbuzz]

I refuse to say, in case my wife reads this!

tis set on anonomus so you should be fine. very intersting spending patterns coming up already tho.

 

[Onge]

Just frames, no wax.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Must admit I'm struggling to make sense of this. "How much" presumably means "What are you spending your money on". And are we talking about what happened in 2011, what we expect to happen in 2012, or life in general?

 

[drstitson]

Buy decent quality gear in first place so annual costs (excluding plans for increase in colonies) should just be frames, foundation, jars, labels etc.

 

[newportbuzz]

Must admit I'm struggling to make sense of this. "How much" presumably means "What are you spending your money on". And are we talking about what happened in 2011, what we expect to happen in 2012, or life in general?

was aiming on adverage per hive per year.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Been going one year - last years hives were a combination of bought in and a whole hive with four supers (in cedar) which a friend made for me. Since then I've been stocking up for next year with more flat pacKed broods, supers and frames - I've bought in feeders (quite a collection now) built my own 5 and 6 frame nucs, hive stands, dadant type OMF floors and roofs.I'm prety handy with my hands as I did a lot of carpentry training with my dad as a youngster which helps a bit (tools, space and time are the only thing I lack now!)

Spot the deliberate mistake!Sorry - I meant Dartington inspired OMF floors.
And as to how much I spend, I suppose the answer is TOO MUCH!

 

[pbh4]

We had a mixed first year losing a couple of swarms and gaining one. We spent most of the year building up a couple of small colonies and got very little honey. We bottled most of it in 40 tiny (40 g I think) jars to give to family and friends as gifts. My wife calculated that we should charge £8 per jar to cover our costs. Obviously that is only the costs she actually knows about

Paul

 

[Teemore]

I started by buying a couple of brood boxes and making open mesh floors, crown boards, roofs and supers. That covered my first two colonies. Since then i have expanded and to cover the expansion i have purchased new brood boxes and made OMFs, CBs, roofs and supers. I bought the mesh and used a mix of salvaged and purchased materials for the rest. Add to the mix a MB poly national (inc. floor, extra BBs and roof), a couple of Kielers, 4 Paynes poly nucs, a MB Nuc adapted to national size and a few other nucs i made myself. Over Christmas i plan to make spare floors for my existing hives and to finish off another 10 supers. I'll also be making up extra equipment for further increase in 2012.

All hives this year were on new frames and wax and for next year i plan to be swapping in at least three new frames with foundation into each hive.

 

[drstitson]

"All hives this year were on new frames and wax and for next year i plan to be swapping in at least three new frames with foundation into each hive."

by all means expand broodnest this way but bear in mind that each full hive will need A/Sing (and/or splitting) so should end up with new frames and foundation in each "new" box.

Anything then left on mostly 2 year old frames next spring (2013) will need shook swarming or BCC'ing.

 

[thedeaddiplomat]

Wasn't sure if 'treatments' covered the costs of the current Lady DD's visits to the health farm (or the drying out centre!) - so left that one blank.

Seems to me a reasonable cost to add in though, given that I send her there so that she can recover from her exertions at the apiary.

 

[Hivemaker.]

by all means expand broodnest this way but bear in mind that each full hive will need A/Sing (and/or splitting)

Depends if you only have swarmy bees.

 

[oliver90owner]

Wasn't sure if 'treatments' covered the costs of the current Lady

I am not sure whether it is treatment for the bees or the hive fabric.

 

[newportbuzz]

Wasn't sure if 'treatments' covered the costs of the current Lady

I am not sure whether it is treatment for the bees or the hive fabric.

i had meant it as the bees. But i understand what you mean and i should have put that in, but it has a lot of options as it is and paint and oils are proberly not the major expenses.

 

[newportbuzz]

Wasn't sure if 'treatments' covered the costs of the current Lady DD's visits to the health farm (or the drying out centre!) - so left that one blank.

Seems to me a reasonable cost to add in though, given that I send her there so that she can recover from her exertions at the apiary.

go for it its about opinion anyway. possibly i should have left an option of a sore back as this seems to be a very valid cost for a lot of beekeepers.

 

[countryman]

as i am a hive builder i keep most of the seconds for myself so only have to get treatments and wax foundation along with new queens each year