Large Scale Honey production.. Viable ?

[BrianO]

Hi

See some members here have large numbers of hives.

Would love to know, really just out of general interest, can a decent living be made from the production of honey ?

Difficult I expect in our climate but maybe some have setups that deliver a good return ?

How many hives does needed approx. ? others employed, full time job ? Any info would be fascinating to see.

Cheers

Brian.

 

[Jimmy]

Define 'decent living'?

Here is a good place to start:

http://www.stratfordbeekeepers.org.uk/PENotes/BeekeepingAsACareer.htm

Also worth looking at Dan Basterfield's presentation on behalf of the Bee Farmers Association at Beetradex earlier this year, available here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcLDyctW-wI

Other requirements - Finman has said in the past 'A healthy spouse with a good salary' and see also Manley's Honey Farming about the need for capital to get you through a bad season or two.

 

[alldigging]

How to make a small fortune with beekeeping ...
Start with a big one!

 

[oliver90owner]

200+ plus hives?

 

[dexter's shed]

Hi

See some members here have large numbers of hives.

Would love to know, really just out of general interest, can a decent living be made from the production of honey ?

Difficult I expect in our climate but maybe some have setups that deliver a good return ?

How many hives does needed approx. ? others employed, full time job ? Any info would be fascinating to see.

Cheers

Brian.

doubtful just on honey sales, but maybe doable if you do everything, check out tim rowe and rose hives

as a comparison our out apiary club manager has 40 plus hives and still has a full time job, if it was money for old rope, we'd all be doing it

 

[Finman]

.
Keep your wife in steady work.

 

[Finman]

as a comparison our out apiary club manager has 40 plus hives and still has a full time job, if it was money for old rope, we'd all be doing it

40 hives x 15 kg x £ 6 is brutto £ 3600..... minus beekeeping costs and car driving ...

Depends how much you eate per year.

 

[sipa]

Making money out of farming bees is possible, not easy, but definitely possible.

But you must be ruthlessly efficient and cost aware.

Set realistic goals, do proper business plans and see where your breakeven is.
Don't rely on a single product, that's putting all your eggs in one basket.

Or look at it another way, what do you need/want to earn divided by the unit value of your saleable product minus costs. This tells you how much you need to produce to meet your target income.

 

[Dishmop]

Possible if yoo dont have to keep going back and borrowing the book.

 

[Thymallus]

Making money out of farming bees is possible, not easy, but definitely possible.

But you must be ruthlessly efficient and cost aware.

Set realistic goals, do proper business plans and see where your breakeven is.
Don't rely on a single product, that's putting all your eggs in one basket.

Or look at it another way, what do you need/want to earn divided by the unit value of your saleable product minus costs. This tells you how much you need to produce to meet your target income.

Are we talking small profit or livelihood as in sole income? My hobbyist accounts tell me I may make my smallest loss in years.

 

[BeeJayBee]

1) Would love to know, really just out of general interest, can a decent living be made from the production of honey ?

2) Difficult I expect in our climate but maybe some have setups that deliver a good return ?

3) How many hives does needed approx. ? others employed, full time job ? Any info would be fascinating to see.

1) Only if you've got a lot of hives. BFA membership, " ... is available to those running between 20 and 39 honey bee colonies"
http://beefarmers.co.uk/join-the-bee-farmers-association/

You're unlikely to make a living from honey produced by that many colonies, but if you sell bees and/or equipment as well as well it might be a reasonable start although not enough, initially, to keep a family and a mortgage unless in a cheap part of the country.

2) Many of the small-scale honey producers have a second job in the winter, either in this country or in Aus or NZ

3) ITLD has, I think, 2,000 colonies and a couple of employees. Could be wrong, you'll have to check with him yourself.

 

[Michael Palmer]

40 hives x 15 kg x £ 6 is brutto £ 3600..... minus beekeeping costs and car driving ...

Only 15kg Finman? That's less than production costs to me. 30-50kg is what I make here, but maybe our weather is better.

Don't you all make better averages than 15kg?

 

[Finman]

Only 15kg Finman? That's less than production costs to me. 30-50kg is what I make here, but maybe our weather is better.

Don't you all make better averages than 15kg?

I make 60-80 kg but British hobby beekeepers make 15 kg. Reason is that UK has too much hives. Yield depends on pastures. So, it is not easy to professionals either, if pastures are overgrazed.

 

[hallshoney]

I make 60-80 kg but British hobby beekeepers make 15 kg. Reason is that UK has too much hives. Yield depends on pastures. So, it is not easy to professionals either, if pastures are overgrazed.

15kg would be a reasonable average for my hives not because to many hives around but simply main flow comes from clover bramble rosebay willow herb. Weather is fickle two wet weeks now will see yield cut in half a wet July will see no yield. Heather is also unreliable this side of exmore see Hivemaker posting heather is out around him i had a look last night and it's along way off typical ling flow starts the end of august at the earliest

 

[Finman]

15kg would be a reasonable average for my hives not because to many hives around but simply main flow comes from clover bramble rosebay willow herb. Weather is fickle two wet weeks now will see yield cut in half a wet July will see no yield. Heather is also unreliable this side of exmore see Hivemaker posting heather is out around him i had a look last night and it's along way off typical ling flow starts the end of august at the earliest

This is one reason. If you do not have pastures, you cannot get honey.
But when you have 500 hives, you must find good pastures. IT is different than keep bees on back yard.
And you must have quite expencive property: Land, store houses, packing houses, cars

IT is same with cattle keeper. If you do not have fields, you cannot keep cattle 500 heads.

London has smallest yields, under 10 kg.

 

[Jed D]

Umm , this year ,
I'm running 20 honey Hives , which will hopefully supply , 3 local outlets + Village fete & Farmers market.
I also juggle a few other jobs around my bees , which include....
+ 2 days a week cutting Grass.
+ 2 Days a week Driving Trucks.
+ I'm also Saturday boy in the local Butchers shop.
Nearly forgot , last week I spent two days on a digger, clearing a drainage channel !!! ( well you can't inspect bees in the rain )

This is year 5 of beekeeping and it would be nice to breakeven !!!!
Trouble is , my wife keeps ordering new kit !!!

 

[wessexmario]

Trouble is , my wife keeps ordering new kit !!!

most beeks would love a wife like that !

 

[sipa]

If you can generate a min of £200 per colony per annum, then you have a fighting chance of making a living.

Then it's down to the number of colony's you can look after, 300 colony's would generate £60,000 gross.

If you wanted to get your investment back in year one, that's doable but better spread over five years.

You can build up colony numbers very quickly, 10:1

 

[Finman]

.
IT is strange if some one could live with honey production 30 kg/hive in UK and in Australia they get 300 kg /hive. According the laws of capitalism it is not possible in UK. And Australians regret that China keeps honey price too low.

 

[foghornleghorn]

.
IT is strange if some one could live with honey production 30 kg/hive in UK and in Australia they get 300 kg /hive. According the laws of capitalism it is not possible in UK. And Australians regret that China keeps honey price too low.

€3.10 a lb is freely available here, its similar to that per kg over there(possibly less).
To answer op don't see why not, but so many variables here, beekeeping sounds much more reliable in finland