Price of honey bees :(

[sipa]

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I know that you can get queens £ 10 / piece from Italy. I do not know how much you must buy then..

Quite a bit less than 10 euro ea actually

 

[MartinL]

Perhaps a better system should in place for those who are generally unable to finance their first hive.

Yes,

Sit back on their fat ass and watch "Hive Alive" on their 62" TV while the rest of us go out to work & pay tax to support the benefit system!

 

[Finman]

Quite a bit less than 10 euro ea actually

I heard about 7€ but price does not rule when I buy queens. Price of one honey kilo.
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[thorn]

Yes,

Sit back on their fat ass and watch "Hive Alive" on their 62" TV while the rest of us go out to work & pay tax to support the benefit system!

Please keep your bigoted and irrelevant opinions off this forum.

 

[pargyle]

Please keep your bigoted and irrelevant opinions off this forum.

There's no place for gross generalisations here ... but ...I know people who sit on their fat *****, watching daytime TV whilst smoking themselves to death, only able to move their 20 odd stone with the aid of a mobility scooter - who never had any intention of working whilst the benefit was coming in and probably never will. Who manage to claim enough to live, eat, smoke and buy the latest phone ...

Yes ... they are in a minority and I begrudge nobody the available benefits when they are in need for any reason but ... I've had an employee leave a job that paid him over £20k a year because with his grossly overweight wife, (classed as unfit to work) and more than a handful of children the difference between him working and what they could claim in benefits and the benefit in kind from items like mobility vehicle, free school meals and the other 'freebies' associated with benefit claimants was so small he felt that he could make up the difference by 'doing jobs for cash locally'...

The few who take advantage taint the vast majority who are in genuine need - and bring about the prejudices and generalisations that are trotted out.

I'm not trying to start a war ... but there is a grain of truth in what MartinL is saying ... only a grain I'm afraid.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

There's no place for gross generalisations here ... but ...I know people who sit on their fat *****, watching daytime TV whilst smoking themselves to death, only able to move their 20 odd stone with the aid of a mobility scooter - who never had any intention of working whilst the benefit was coming in and probably never will. Who manage to claim enough to live, eat, smoke and buy the latest phone ...

Yes ... they are in a minority and I begrudge nobody the available benefits when they are in need for any reason but ... I've had an employee leave a job that paid him over £20k a year because with his grossly overweight wife, (classed as unfit to work) and more than a handful of children the difference between him working and what they could claim in benefits and the benefit in kind from items like mobility vehicle, free school meals and the other 'freebies' associated with benefit claimants was so small he felt that he could make up the difference by 'doing jobs for cash locally'...

The few who take advantage taint the vast majority who are in genuine need - and bring about the prejudices and generalisations that are trotted out.

I'm not trying to start a war ... but there is a grain of truth in what MartinL is saying ... only a grain I'm afraid.

Well said. There are many deserving cases about but sadly they get dragged down by the professionally unemployable who elect not to support themselves or their dependents. Any mention of examination of the true fitness to work immediately triggers public caterwauling until the investigation is abandoned.
The local press in my area are great supporters of the feckless so it creates a skewed impression that a high proportion of claimants fall into this category.

 

[For want of a better word]

Please keep your bigoted and irrelevant opinions off this forum.

Seems to me there are a lot of bigots around... some who keep bees!

Yeghes da

 

[Poly Hive]

Mirror please!

PH

 

[thorn]

MartinL is repeatedly trolling, introducing his bile into various threads. There's no place for that here.

 

[Softley]

MartinL is repeatedly trolling, introducing his bile into various threads. There's no place for that here.

Unfortunately, there are a few on here with that attitude. It gives the forum a bad name. It seems to be tolerated for some reason.

Whenever I look back at old posts from years back, I see a lot of names that aren't posting anymore. I wonder what puts them off?

 

[B+.]

I see a lot of names that aren't posting anymore. I wonder what puts them off?

Just look at my VSH and BBKA Bee Breeding Certificate threads in the Queen rearing and Bee Breeding section and you'll see why. Some people seem incapable of remaining on topic.

 

[Softley]

Anyone know why bees cost stupid ammounts to buy??

Appart from the farmers banking on the increase because of the publicity?

I have heard people talking about them costing £20 to £50 for a nuc but now around £200 mark and can see it only going up because thats where the money is at in beekeeping.

I presume that is part of the reason for the decline in beekeepers due to these big costs and losing a hive can add up.

Anyone want to give me a free nuk ... worth a try

Thanks

Back to the topic...

I think the resaon bees cost as much as they do has already been answered. A good nuc from a reputable source is worth £200. The costs associated with starting beekeeping are quite high, but people aren't making vast profits from selling bees.

I couldn't afford to start beekeeping on my own so I found a way around that. I went on a course and then spent a year in a training apiary to build up my experience - lots of hands-on with different colonies, maintenance, extracting, microscopy, etc. In my second year I volunteered as an assistant in the training apiary and started applying for grants with the community allotment I help out on. I also took my BBKA basic exam and got the certificate I needed before I could keep bees on a council allotment. We were given a grant for £1000 to set up an apiary, but this was on the basis of us running sessions where we introduce people to the bees - something we still do.

Cost to me £120 for the course and £100 for a suit. The grant bought us two colonies and everything we needed to run them, including a few cheap suits for visitors. That's a lot less than some people pay, but I certainly worked hard for it.

Regarding the BBKA swarm collector list somebody mentioned, I think nowadays you need to be a competent beekeeper and your Association Secretary has to put your name forward to the BBKA

 

[pargyle]

Unfortunately, there are a few on here with that attitude. It gives the forum a bad name. It seems to be tolerated for some reason.

Whenever I look back at old posts from years back, I see a lot of names that aren't posting anymore. I wonder what puts them off?

Some of them are now dead ... some have moved out of beekeeping ... some have other priorities and others get fed up of being challenged by the people who seem to think their way is the only way ... But ... there's an awful lot of members who still dip in and read, even when they no longer post.

Hobby based Forums have a life - people come and go ... new blood comes along and very often the same questions get asked - you can understand, to some extent, that people who have often, in the past, posted answers and comments to questions raised many times get to the point where they must think 'oh no, not another person asking how to make 2:1 syrup or when should they apply Oxalic'. Rather than saying ... use the search function or link to a prior thread they just don't post and leave it for someone else ...

Fortunately, there are the next generation of forumites coming along like Millett etc. who are still prepared to give an answer to a question that's been raised a dozen times.

It can get a bit 'samey' at times but there's always something I find that sparks an interest.

Most forums are a bit spikey - it's something you have to live with in a forum with light touch moderation - some people can't take it and leave. There are still a lot of members on here and some that go back a very long way and still post ...

 

[Into the lions den]

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I know that you can get queens £ 10 / piece from Italy. I do not know how much you must buy then.
.

Yes you can, but they are produced queens rather than bred ones, and will almost certainly be plain ligustica. You can get even cheaper from some other provenances. You would also need to be taking into the hundreds though each producer's price breaks vary, and quite possibly from the deep south of Italy where the producers are 'for some odd reason' having 'difficulties' moving their product.

On the other hand if you want bees from the best breeders you need to be paying 14 pounds or so *at source*...and that is for a big consignment too. Any importer selling them on carries the costs of working with the NBU, suffering any losses that happen, UK paperwork, posting and packing etc, and relating to the client. Adds up to at least 1.50 a queen.

Buy the £10 ones if you want, been there, got the tshirt, had the high feed bill and low production, and the increased winter losses. At todays prices the difference between a nondescript cheap queen at £10, and a decent bred one at £15 is less than a kilo of honey, and to a £30 one is around 3Kg of flower honey.

A US supplier's ad once said (in ABJ) 'Good queens don't cost, they pay.'

UK beeks amaze me at times......they will pay a fortune for their desired minor variant on standard equipment......then skimp on the most important thing of all......the quality of bees they put in the gear. Generalisation of course but its a definite tendency. Others are the opposite of course.

 

[madasafish]

Unfortunately, there are a few on here with that attitude. It gives the forum a bad name.

Compared to the time when this forum was infested by the anti neonicotinoids zealots - and they were getting banned - this is all sweetness and light.

.It seems to be tolerated for some reason.

I have heard the phrase "snowflakes " used but I don't know what it means...

 

[Finman]

Yes you can, but they are produced queens rather than bred ones, and will almost certainly be plain ligustica. You can get even cheaper from some other provenances. You would also need to be taking into the hundreds though each producer's price breaks vary, and quite possibly from the deep south of Italy where the producers are 'for some odd reason' having 'difficulties' moving their product.

On the other hand if you want bees from the best breeders you need to be paying 14 pounds or so *at source*...and that is for a big consignment too. Any importer selling them on carries the costs of working with the NBU, suffering any losses that happen, UK paperwork, posting and packing etc, and relating to the client. Adds up to at least 1.50 a queen.

Buy the £10 ones if you want, been there, got the tshirt, had the high feed bill and low production, and the increased winter losses. At todays prices the difference between a nondescript cheap queen at £10, and a decent bred one at £15 is less than a kilo of honey, and to a £30 one is around 3Kg of flower honey.

A US supplier's ad once said (in ABJ) 'Good queens don't cost, they pay.'

UK beeks amaze me at times......they will pay a fortune for their desired minor variant on standard equipment......then skimp on the most important thing of all......the quality of bees they put in the gear. Generalisation of course but its a definite tendency. Others are the opposite of course.

Funny thing is that those 10€ queens are reselled 45€/piece.

This summer I reared almost all my queens. Origin was a Finnish 1500 hive owner. They seems good. Big laying.
,
I can use foreign queens in spring and then I change them to Finnish.

.

 

[For want of a better word]

Back to the topic...

I think the resaon bees cost as much as they do has already been answered. A good nuc from a reputable source is worth £200. The costs associated with starting beekeeping are quite high, but people aren't making vast profits from selling bees.

I dread to think how much the fifty or so Cornish (Amm) Native dark bee queens produced this year cost me.. the DNA analyses was provided free (B4) as part of an ongoing research programme.... did have one cheeky sod expect me to give them away!
Nucs of yellow stripeys went for £185 which included the frames, but the nuc box returned.
It is an indulgence!

Yeghes da

 

[Finman]

I dread to think how much the fifty or so Cornish (Amm) Native dark bee queens produced this year cost me..

Yeghes da

Own queens are not free.

I use to rear queens on swarm fever hive. Then I take mating nuc bees from same hive. That hive does not bring yield.

What is the price. When I sell honey, what is production costs? Who knows!

When I rear own 20 queens, compared to bought, I keep pure money 800 € in my pocket.

.

 

[For want of a better word]

Own queens are not free.

I use to rear queens on swarm fever hive. Then I take mating nuc bees from same hive. That hive does not bring yield.

What is the price. When I sell honey, what is production costs? Who knows!

When I rear own 20 queens, compared to bought, I keep pure money 800 € in my pocket.

.

And you can afford to run a Lada?

I have yet to meet a wealthy beekeeperer who did not start out that way!

Rom time.. so Yeghes da to you my little snowperson!

 

[Finman]

And you can afford to run a Lada?

:

No one has afford to Lada. IT consumes 10 litre / 100 km. When Soviet Union stopped, all Finnish old Ladas were sold to Russia 20 years ago.

Lada was actually old fashion Fiat.
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