Large Scale Honey production.. Viable ?

[Thymallus]

Our kids must be at school. And wife must be in good steady work. That I say, not only try.


Selling some surplus... What is that?

Honey that is surplus to my own needs. Do you want the exact hive averages so you can crow that your hives makes slightly more each year? and so you must be a better beekeeper?
Current average for this spring is approx 60kg/hive. Last years overall hive average was around 100kg per hive. Yes I know it's not very good....so go ahead and crow.

 

[Thymallus]

+1

There's also this thing called the interwebz or something like that

Apparently there is a thin dividing line between selling honey as a hobbyist and selling professionally via web sites and eeeeebbbbaaaay according to tax experts. There is an interesting sticky thread about it somewhere with the aim being "intention to make profit".

 

[Hawklord]

Honey that is surplus to my own needs. Do you want the exact hive averages so you can crow that your hives makes slightly more each year? and so you must be a better beekeeper?
Current average for this spring is approx 60kg/hive. Last years overall hive average was around 100kg per hive. Yes I know it's not very good....so go ahead and crow.

Are these figures for UK or your personal figures?

 

[daroco]

Apparently there is a thin dividing line between selling honey as a hobbyist and selling professionally via web sites and eeeeebbbbaaaay according to tax experts. There is an interesting sticky thread about it somewhere with the aim being "intention to make profit".

I'm guessing though if the OP wants to do it as a profession, at some point they have to bite the bullet and cross that line. The when is a tough call though. They need to get hanging onto their receipts for everything so they can claim back

 

[beebot]

I am a little confused by people saying you can't make money from beekeeping given the amount people are claiming. 100kg from one hive which is 220lb @ 500p a jar gives over £1100; or @ £2.40 for wholesale gives £540. Running 50 hives gives £55000 or £27000. OK running cost and some unproductive hives for one reason or another have to be taken into account but seems serious money to me.

 

[Tremyfro]

I am a little confused by people saying you can't make money from beekeeping given the amount people are claiming. 100kg from one hive which is 220Ib @ 500p a jar gives over £1100; or @ £2.40 for wholesale gives £540. Running 50 hives gives £55000 or £27000. OK running cost and some unproductive hives for one reason or another have to be taken into account but seems serious money to me.

I agree your math is correct...only you are lucky to get 30 lbs of honey per hive most of the time. Which would be £150 per hive ...50 hives = £7500. Half your hives might be unproductive due to swarming etc = £3750.
Not such serious money...but a nice reward for a hobby beekeeper.
I think it is possible if you have a source of nectar guaranteed...but who gets that with the fickle UK weather.

 

[beebot]

I agree your math is correct...only you are lucky to get 30 lbs of honey per hive most of the time. Which would be £150 per hive ...50 hives = £7500. Half your hives might be unproductive due to swarming etc = £3750.
Not such serious money...but a nice reward for a hobby beekeeper.
I think it is possible if you have a source of nectar guaranteed...but who gets that with the fickle UK weather.

'....given the amount people are claiming' is important part of my comment. Also 60kg for this spring alone. Choose different numbers for other beekeepers and of course it is different

 

[bpmurray]

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.

I know only one person who does it - he has over 200 hives and his honey is so good that it won the top prize in the London Show last year. He sells it through pretty much every outlet in Louth, and it's for sale across the country, so I'm assuming he gets rid of it all at premium prices.

He's very knowledgeable and runs courses locally, so gets a bit of extra income from that. I have no idea what he does with wax and/or propolis, and I don't know if he rears queens for sale (he does for his own use).

So obviously it can be done, but you need to be very good and have good contacts. Definitely not for the faint-hearted and definitely not for the get-rich-quick crowd!

 

[Dishmop]

I'm running 20 honey Hives , which will hopefully supply , 3 local outlets + Village fete & Farmers market.

lets be hopefull with you...

 

[dpearce4]

Unfortunately it probably doesn't scale up very well. How many markets would you need to do to sell enough honey to live on? And would it leave any time to actually be a beekeeper?

Why not Chris.

I do one farmers market it is 8-2 on a sat so actually take the whole day out. That one farmers market has ment I am able to work only 3 days per week to look after my new daughter as I am earning the same amount as 2 days salary per week in that (8days in total).

If I were to increase that to doing a farmers market each weekend spread over the area I live in that will be 4 days selling and that will give me a surplice that would mean I could earn the same as what I earn now in a full time job.

The issue I have is I don't have enough honey to do more than one market per month at the moment I need more hives which means more sites and that's difficult to find round here. To me its worth while selling direct to customers as it gives me the opportunity to interface with them and that gets me lots of repeat business.

There are also some high class retailers here that would happily take my honey for their shops if I were able to produce enough and that would get me £4 for a 340g jar that is still worth while to me than getting just £3 per lb from a wholesale company such as paynes as I can control exactly what happens to it.

It depends on your priorities I spose.

 

[Finman]

Why not Chris.

I do one farmers market it is 8-2 on a sat so actually take the whole day out. That one farmers market has ment I am able to work only 3 days per week to look after my new daughter as I am earning the same amount as 2 days salary per week in that (8days in total).

If I were to increase that to doing a farmers market each weekend spread over the area I live in that will be 4 days selling and that will give me a surplice that would mean I could earn the same as what I earn now in a full time job.

The issue I have is I don't have enough honey to do more than one market per month at the moment I need more hives which means more sites and that's difficult to find round here. To me its worth while selling direct to customers as it gives me the opportunity to interface with them and that gets me lots of repeat business.

There are also some high class retailers here that would happily take my honey for their shops if I were able to produce enough and that would get me £4 for a 340g jar that is still worth while to me than getting just £3 per lb from a wholesale company such as paynes as I can control exactly what happens to it.

It depends on your priorities I spose.

Just go for it if you believe your story yourself!
Do not tell others your business idea!

 

[hallshoney]

I only know of three truly commercial outfits one has about 1000 hives and a visitor attraction second has about 300 hives and sells nucs and Queens the third has just over 400 and sells just honey and apparently is on the point of giving up.

 

[Eyeman]

60 hobby hives at £6 a lb jar or 180 commercial hives at £2 a lb jar.
I know what I would go for!

 

[sipa]

Don't you people get it !

Farming bees isn't all about honey.
If you can't grasp that fact then don't bother trying.

 

[hallshoney]

Don't you people get it !

Farming bees isn't all about honey.
If you can't grasp that fact then don't bother trying.

Yes i get it. The point I was makings is you will always struggle to make a living from just honey sales.

 

[beebot]

If you get 100kg a hive I would be able to live of the honey money. Interesting that those that claim these amounts are remaining very quite. Are they scared of being rumbled about how much money they are making or are the numbers they quote just a fantasy average?

 

[Thymallus]

Have you worked out how you sell it and the costs and time involved?

 

[For want of a better word]

Have you worked out how you sell it and the costs and time involved?

IF you did and was totally honest .... you would not be selling honey at a measly £4.50 a lb !!!... £9.40 and you would still be giving it away!

I doubt if anyone could even make Camerons laughable " Living wage" from farming bees!!!

Yeghes da

 

[Thymallus]

Whilst not wanting to get involved in a political dispute, the minimum wage was not introduced by the Tories.
I know from experience that it is very difficult to make money from bees and honey. At my level if you offset costs that is a result. But if you paid yourself a wage for the time spent it is a loss maker for any hobbyist keeper.

 

[For want of a better word]

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

When would you get to sleep?

Yeghes da