Keeping bees for profit...

[Poly Hive]

I do, do you?


If so how?

Share your tips here.

PH

My top tip? buy at x, sell at y, and make sure y is higher than x... lol

 

[viridens]

I assume that you mean financial profit? I think that we all hope to at least get an excess of honey for all our efforts. I aim to cover my outlay and keep friends and family happy, -never seem to do much more than that...

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Always add value - you need to stand out from the norm.
Your honey may taste excellent but no one's going to buy it if doesn't look good. You've got to sell it.

 

[Poly Hive]

I mean financial profit yes.

PH

 

[Headnavigator]

I've lost track of outlay and I've not been at it a year - what's this 'profit' thing you speak of?

 

[timaye100]

Keeping bees for profit

I don't keep bees for profit, but would love to if it could provide the same sort of income as my day job.

I have a friend in New Zealand who does - his big tip is "standardise everything" - hives, disease management & prevention, maintenance etc

Tim

 

[VEG]

Dont give the honey away sell it lol

 

[Winker]

I dont make anything back yet, but i do hope to in the comming years. My Tip is:

Turnover is Vanity
Profit is Sanity

 

[Chris Luck]

Your honey may taste excellent but no one's going to buy it if doesn't look good.

Ummmmm, mine doesn't "look good" if you mean polished and homogeneous BUT it sells well because people increasingly want the real thing, raw with nothing messed about and free of treatments, they can buy the other stuff in the supermarket....

...oh, that's a yes, I do keep them for profit in every sense of the word.

Chris

 

[Poly Hive]

Well yes Chris but given the choice between well presented honey and the same quality but badly presented who wins the sale?

No brainer.

PH

 

[Chris Luck]

The book not the cover, I never have enough honey, but then of course I don't actually maximise my production.

Chris

 

[Chris B]

I keep bees for profit.

My tip would be try different apiaries because some are better than others.

 

[beebreeder]

And try different Queens as some are far more prolific than others, some good for honey and some good if you want bees for Nucs. The big one for me is time management, getting things done efficiently so that my time is used most profitably.

 

[RoseCottage]

I would have to say that for an amateur beekeeper selling honey - good presentation is vital for a profit.

Volume on its own is unlikely to be enough for the amateur but honey that is premium marketed and presented allows for much bigger margins and so a chance to turn a profit.

Honey is honey...cheap or expensive.

premium honey is just honey in a nice package that attracts and persuades the customer to pay that little bit more.

As an amateur with the cost of 4 hives in 3 years and producing only 165 lbs last year...making a profit is challenging enough. Making a little bit of effort can, and does, go a long way,

Sam

 

[thedeaddiplomat]

I'm just in my third year of beekeeping.

I could break even ...

...if I could just sell each jar so far produced for £250!

 

[Nose Ma]

Keeping bees for profit must be an entirely different proposition from those like me who keep them more as a pet/hobby.

A few thoughts from the world of accountancy for you:

1) Are you sure you make a profit? Does the cost of the equipment, drugs, time, etc work out to be less than your sales?
2) Are you dealing with financing costs properly?
3) Are you dealing with taxes properly (VAT, income tax, NI, capital allowances etc)
4) Have you done a "profit profile"? Do you know, for example, what makes you the most money. Is it the honey? Is it the wax? Is it pollen? is it Mead (watch duties again there), is it nucs, is it polish etc? The most profitable is where to try and concentrate breeding/effort.
5) Somene mentioned adding value - selling candles rather than wax would be a good example of that. Can you get more for a candle than the wax+time+equipment for making candles?
6) Would you wish to run "open days" or courses for people to show them hives, like breweries do tours?
7) Can you differentiate in some way - say do graded honey packs of three jars as tasters?
8) Publicity - any way you can try convincing local chefs to use YOUR honey, and tell people. I see you are Derbyshire - The Bay Tree in Melbourne is a brilliant place, the chef may help you.
9) Branding, pricing and thinking. New Zealand honey is very similar ours, but they've managed to come up with this health index thing, and charge a fortune for high indexes. Think about something similar - but watch unproven health benefits. Likewise look at Fortnum and Mason. Same stuff, twice the price.
10) Prized - if you win honey show prizes, get the prize on the label (XXX Apiary won the Gold award at XXX in 20XX) etc

 

[Chris Luck]

Honey is honey...cheap or expensive.

premium honey is just honey in a nice package that attracts and persuades the customer to pay that little bit more.

Oh how wrong can you be, I think you need to have a look at food chemistry and how various treatments and processing can effect it, and perhaps I should make it clear that I said profit in every sense of the word, profit for me, profit for my customers, profit for wildlife and the environment, profit for the bees with no nasty treatments.

I'd like to think that for most people that there's a lot more to life than financial gain and personal greed.

Chris

 

[louiseww]

I'm just in my third year of beekeeping.

I could break even ...

...if I could just sell each jar so far produced for £250!

Nice one! laughed and know what you mean, I am in my second year of keeping bees but third year of learning about it.Initially made a note of everything I spent, but have given that up this year, it is too, too depressing - I would be happy if I just broke even say in five years time!
Louise

 

[chipper]

My Tips....Keep only as many hives as you have time to manage well.
Time is your most precious commodity, use it well......

 

[Chris Luck]

I would be happy if I just broke even say in five years time!

I guess that will depend on whether you expand or not Louise but no one should kid themselves it's either well paid in terms of time spent or that there are quick returns, but of course the quick return bit is the same with most businesses be they large or small, full time, part time or what ever. The good news is that your hives and equipment can always be sold for a decent price should you ever want to if you look after them.

Chris