Maximum number of colonies...

[BMH]

I know a BF who was building up and was running 300 single handed, and a full time demanding job, but he was utterly exhausted the whole time. Not a good place to be.

PH

Wow. That's some serious extra curricular activity.

 

[For want of a better word]

Only fools and horses work....... stick to the day job or be dead by 50!

Chons da

 

[mazzamazda]

Stretching yourself to maximum is what you are wanting to do, this is the easy part, what you aren't factoring in is when it goes wrong. You did mention swarming and to be honest that is the lowest on my list, as you get bigger then so does the probability of problems and these take the time.

 

[Beefriendly]

Another way of looking at it is how much honey do you need to produce? Then look at ways of maximising honey production per hive per apiary. More hives does not necessarily equate to more honey but does equate to more work.
As others have said you can also end up with too many hives per apiary for the available forage. A self defeating circle.

 

[maddydog]

Traditionally I believe the number is around 50 per day. Seems to me that time of year and colony state are limiting factors. Sensibly spaced Apiaries and post-swarming I reckon 100 a day wouldn't be impossible.

How PH's mate tended 300 and a full time job I've no idea.

 

[SDM]

I dont think you can make your figures based on 1 year of running 50 either. Hardly any colonies made swarm prep last year. See how many are ready to pop after being shut in for several days. You wont be doing 6 mins per hive when a third of them need an a/s or like others have said your risk of issues goes up with numbers.
How far will your one day a week go when 2 or 3 have CBPV, some are swarming and all are starving and need feeding immediately . Can you make it more days at little or no notice if you have to ?

 

[wightbees]

I think your looking at it wrong! Rather than looking at how many colonies a day you can manage you should be asking yourself, just what your goal of achievement is?

 

[Hedgerow Honey]

I can look after 140/150 quite happily, only work a four day week in FT job which leaves plenty of time for bees.
The reason I can do this is no queen goes into her third year, this limits any swarming and I know what I am getting as they are all purchased from one of the top UK breeders, generally purchase about fifteen packages for the rape and to replace any losses, these are requeened the following spring, good breeding makes the work easy.
Extracting is as ever a pain but again good machinery is the key, I have spent the best part of sixteen grand in the last eighteen months just in the honey room, most things have been bought used to save on costs, I generally spend about ten days a year extracting.

 

[BMH]

I dont think you can make your figures based on 1 year of running 50 either. Hardly any colonies made swarm prep last year. See how many are ready to pop after being shut in for several days. You wont be doing 6 mins per hive when a third of them need an a/s or like others have said your risk of issues goes up with numbers.
How far will your one day a week go when 2 or 3 have CBPV, some are swarming and all are starving and need feeding immediately . Can you make it more days at little or no notice if you have to ?

I appreciate its been an easy ride so far.

I finish work at 12 on a Friday so that tends to be my beekeeping day at the moment. This means I have Saturday and Sunday as my buffers and yes, if I need to, I can spend the weekend working the bees. Thats not an issue at the height of the season.

If I double up, i will change to Saturday so I will have an extra half day as a buffer on the Friday.

 

[BMH]

I think your looking at it wrong! Rather than looking at how many colonies a day you can manage you should be asking yourself, just what your goal of achievement is?

I have thought about this. Its certainly not to go FT as I think I would knacker my back in no time but I would like the prospect of having a reasonable and seasonable part time business to provide a fallback if the worst was to happen in my current role.

 

[eltalia]

(edit)
I have an agreement with a bee farmer to extract and sell on my behalf, under his own brand.

You are already there then (FT) as you are outsourcing, effectively employing others, which
makes your outfit a commercial operation.
The info you seek is "commercial in confidence" among commercial operators so good luck
with extracting anything of value from your quest. Kudos for trying though in thinking about
the future before ending up like the "BF" mentioned in article #19 (PolyHive).

Bill

 

[Antipodes]

I heard an experienced beekeeper here say that a full time (single person operation) beekeeper can or could be expected to manage 500 hives for pollination.

 

[BMH]

You are already there then (FT) as you are outsourcing, effectively employing others, which
makes your outfit a commercial operation.
The info you seek is "commercial in confidence" among commercial operators so good luck
with extracting anything of value from your quest. Kudos for trying though in thinking about
the future before ending up like the "BF" mentioned in article #19 (PolyHive).

Bill

I'm not sure that in itself makes it a commercial operation. It's no different to taking wax to be converted to foundation. I'm paying him for a service. I'm certainly not employing him!

If anything, it could be argued, he is employing me!

Regardless of that, it is a commercial operation and I complete self assessments and declare any profit (or loss) to HMRC

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

 

[eltalia]

I heard an experienced beekeeper here say that a full time (single person operation)
beekeeper can or could be expected to manage 500 hives for pollination.

I'd call on your hearing, bloke.
Retired from running a 250 (~) box pollinating outfit for a decade plus, we in
season had one employee just to cover that which both of us could not
handle outside of trading hours in the other business.
That said, there are any number of cowboy outfits running more than 100
boxes through many places in this Country and *why* those of us who do
know are so concerned that the AFB map is getting added to on mainland
Australia every other day.

Bill

 

[eltalia]

I'm not sure that in itself makes it a commercial operation. It's no different to taking wax
to be converted to foundation. I'm paying him for a service. I'm certainly not employing him!

If anything, it could be argued, he is employing me!

Regardless of that, it is a commercial operation and I complete self assessments and
declare any profit (or loss) to HMRC

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

Your definition(s) differ to mine - no problem with that.
The headsup on taking advice is not affected.

Bill

 

[deemann1]

Would it work out better to team up with another beek that you can trust

 

[Stedic]

I offer my view on the basis of running 5 hives, so clearly not experienced in running multiple hives.

BUT - I think I would be asking myself a slightly different question, which would be: "How many hives can I run, based on one day a week, without it becoming a chore?"

I wonder if you might be wise to hold at 50 for another season. Perhaps you could put your additional time this season into increasing productivity per hive, setting up a queen rearing business and/or selling a few nucs? Or trying some pollination contracts? Finding the maximum number of hives for each apiary? If by October you feel you had spare time, then you will know you can increase by a few hives?

This also perhaps spreads out the additional cost of equipment, so you are not left in a pickle if you have a bad year honey wise, or AFB takes out 2 apiaries or whatever.

 

[Antipodes]

I'd call on your hearing, bloke.
Retired from running a 250 (~) box pollinating outfit for a decade plus, we in
season had one employee just to cover that which both of us could not
handle outside of trading hours in the other business.
That said, there are any number of cowboy outfits running more than 100
boxes through many places in this Country and *why* those of us who do
know are so concerned that the AFB map is getting added to on mainland
Australia every other day.

Bill

Hi Bill, here he is in the recording. You can have a listen yourself if you like. (Start at the 5 minute mark perhaps).https://www.abc.net.au/radio/programs/tas-country-hour/pollination-services/9870170
He does mention that the single beekeeper would have to work very, very hard.

 

[BMH]

I offer my view on the basis of running 5 hives, so clearly not experienced in running multiple hives.

BUT - I think I would be asking myself a slightly different question, which would be: "How many hives can I run, based on one day a week, without it becoming a chore?"

I wonder if you might be wise to hold at 50 for another season. Perhaps you could put your additional time this season into increasing productivity per hive, setting up a queen rearing business and/or selling a few nucs? Or trying some pollination contracts? Finding the maximum number of hives for each apiary? If by October you feel you had spare time, then you will know you can increase by a few hives?

This also perhaps spreads out the additional cost of equipment, so you are not left in a pickle if you have a bad year honey wise, or AFB takes out 2 apiaries or whatever.

Number of good points there.

Fact is - 50 in a day is a chore. Its hard work but I love it. Im 33 and enjoy the physical side of things. My day job is very sedentary so I long for a hard days labour come the end of the week!

This season I will be making 50 splits regardless as I have 50 spare double nucs (12 frame). I will be rearing my own queens again from my most productive colonies (thinking about bringing in a breeder queen if anyone has any recommendations).

I will overwinter these in their nucs regardless and then make a decision over winter as to whether I should sell them or buy hives for them to go into.

I did the same this year and it worked well. Ive probably sold 40/50 nucs over the past 3 years so the expansion is mostly funded from that. There is a bit of guesswork involved in terms of overwintering success and when to buy hives to get them at their cheapest (without buying too many).

Not much in terms of pollination contracts around here and I have found moving hives is where it tends to take up most of the time, so I dont think ill consider that for the time being.

Having read the comments on this thread, it does seem that a slower, more gradual expansion is the best idea. I think I will stick to increasing by 10/15 a year until I reach capacity.

Thanks for all your comments. I find it helpful to talk things through!

 

[GuyNir]

Having read the comments on this thread, it does seem that a slower, more gradual expansion is the best idea. I think I will stick to increasing by 10/15 a year until I reach capacity

I think this is the right way to do it