How can I make money?

[Dougraymen]

I am a new beekeeper. I have inherited 2 hives form my grandfather and I fell in love with this hobby. Like any hobby you can make a little extra money doing it. So how do you make money from this hobby? Thanks

[BULLSEYE BILL]

The only sure way is to sell all the free stuff you got. At least you will make money once smile.gif

[Drugstore]

Dougraymen,
You can sell a little honey and that is about all with just two hives. If you are serious about making money,successful with your bees,then you need to increase your hives.You can sell more honey,make splits and sell nucs and hives. I wish you good luck.

[Todd Zeiner]

Doug, were you fortanate enough to be able to spend time with your grandfather as a beekeeper?
What fond memories you must have if you did?


"and I fell in love with this hobby"

Honey is the obvious avenue for profit, but is in reality not going to produce a large return, based on your scale now. You can get more hives and with that more honey. But with more hives comes more work and more time spent.

I'm still looking for the finaincial return on my investment. I have been at peace knowing I'm having fun doing something I enjoy and can share the experience with my children.

My "regular job" makes me money, but is not near as rewarding as beekeeping.

[ February 14, 2006, 09:11 PM: Message edited by: Todd Zeiner ]

[wfarler]

You can make a million dollars beekeeping. Here is the first step:

Step 1: Start with 2 million dollars.

[RaytownDave]

Here, here wfarler,

I'm a 2nd year beekeeper and honestly I've just spent a lot of money but had a heck of a good time. I think this is a hobby not a profession. :(

Dave

[BULLSEYE BILL]

The way to make a small fortune in beekeeping is to start with a large fortune ;)

[George Fergusson]

Don't let `em discourage you Doug. Just sell everything you don't use. That said, you won't make much money off 2 hives... part of the problem is you just won't have enough of any given hive product to make it worth the effort to process, package, and sell it. You probably won't even cover the costs associated with owning them even if you don't include associated costs such as a beekeeping publication or two, beekeeper association dues, etc. There's an economy of scale, and 2 hives just doesn't even begin to register on it.

Here in Maine, 2 hives would provide my family with about all the honey we'd consume in a year plus a few jars for gifts, all the propolis I need, and no where near enough wax.

[iddee]

It's easy to make money, even with two hives. Keep good records. Get two composition books. Label one income and the other expense. Record every cent you bring in, from selling honey to selling hives. Put the one labeled expense in the outhouse to replace the Sears catalog. At the end of the year, add up all your income and enjoy all the money you made.

[Robert Hawkins]

Did you hear that Doug? WAX??? I'm redoing the apiary changing from honey production to wax production. Customers are right here. Can you believe it. Beekeepers need beeswax. And they know how much you don't get so they'll pay what's reasonable if you can keep chemicals out of it. (Don't use apistan.)

Hawk

[BjornBee]

Define "extra money". Are we talking as example, "returns" of 10% of the actual costs (After spending a dollar, I had income of 10 cents), or are we talking 10% after the actual expenses are paid? (After spending a dollar, I had income of a dollar and ten cents).

[ScadsOBees]

Use your honey to make mead. That way if you are feeling down about the money you are making, you can break open a couple of bottles, then everything looks like a profit :D

In reality if you have all of the equipment you need and it is all functional and you can keep yourself from getting the rest of the stuff you "NEED", you can probably sell the extra honey in front of your house for a small profit. (after buying the bottles, of course)

But as you can tell from the posters above, you are going to have to sell a lot of bottles to pay off the shiny new extractor and the boxes and frames that you "NEED" in order to turn a profit.

Give it a year or more, sell what you can, enjoy the honey, but most of all, enjoy the bees. And if your wife gets snippy about how much she perceives you are spending then make sure that you only keep a "Income" notebook and refer to that a lot.

[MichaelW]

Short answer: you need more volume. Also experience (or luck) to yield significant marketable products per hive.

Or you can:
Don't think of it as making money, think of all the money you are saving by not buying honey.
Looks like our family of 3 will eat 33 quarts by next harvest, that is if we start rationing whats left. We started using honey in bakeing instead of sugar, which will up our needs next year another 10 quarts I figure. Make it a goal to supply your family with hive products then expand if you wish.

I wonder, whats the average honey consumption per beekeeper?

[DANIEL QUINCE]

I go through 5 lb/month just for my tee. Once I will get some honey from my 2 hives, I'll be using it more. I’m planning on at least 3 more this spring. My neighbors use it for baking and I started dropping a word here and there about local honey being a good prevention for allergies. Lots of kids these days have allergies and my son can sell it at school. I already have parents asking. The way you market is everything. No wander sales people are the best-paid people in US.

[Dave W]

Dougraymen . . .

>how do you make money from this hobby?

My one hive produced eighty-eight, 8 oz jars of honey last year (2005).

I sell my 8 oz jars for $4.00 each.

My 2005 honey is all GONE smile.gif

$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$ smile.gif

How much money do you want to make? smile.gif

[HarryVanderpool]

Go to your local bee meetings and talk to as many commercial beekeepers as possible.
They are always getting requests for one or two hives for pollinating small orchards or truck-crop patches.
It is impractical for them but perfect for you!
Charge $100.00 minimum for a two set.
3 crops or more annually are possible.

:cool:

[Propolis30]

Wow Dave! I sell my stuff way too cheap I guess. I sell a 1.5 pound bottle for $5. Mainly becasue a bought several cases of the bottles a few years back and I hate dealing with change. I think when these run out this year I will go down to a smaller size bottle but keep the price at $5. Go to a 1 pound bottle maybe?

My first year beekeeping I spent almost $1,000 on supplies (hives, extractor, suit, containers, labels, sugar, paint etc. etc.) and I only got $80 worth of honey that year. I still am a long ways from getting back my inital investment but all it would take is one good year. Maybe this year!!! I honestly don't care though. I love the hobby.

[BULLSEYE BILL]

The REAL money in beekeeping is in providing removal services for city folks. I can make up to $1000 per week during the summer picking up swarms and removing colonys from homes. That buys a lot of beestuff! smile.gif But it's a lot of hard work :(

I sell my honey as chemical free for five dollars per pound.

I sell the rendered honey from the cut-outs to mead makers @ seventy-five per five gallon bucket.

My employees buy all my tall skinny bottles with some kind of liquid in them. ;)

[TwT]

yah removals, the killer bee man has made a living on it for some years now , and he does pretty good from what I have heard, have done TV shows already....heck i did 4 removals my first year and got 3 hives and charged $100 each, had fun doing it too...even had a few call me wanting me to consult them on how to get hornets and yellowjackets out of basements and houses... city folks will pay for anything!!! ;)

[DANIEL QUINCE]

Bill, what are your rates for removals? Do you work with somebody with construction skills?

[LEAD PIPE]

I have 1 hive but I'm getting a second this year. My plan is to get my 2 daughters involved (age 10&7) and have it be their business. They can sell honey to neighbors and relatives. I always had a paper rout as a kid and it taught me a lot about money. I just don't feel comfortable about sending my kids out into the streets everyday.

[power napper]

Have not made any money yet! My bees are more for physical therapy--you usually have to pay for physical therapy and even get a bit of free apitherapy besides. What job can you have that is all up to you--no particular starting time, no demand of eight straight hours, can work an hour or two only if desired (real flex time)and can even take a power nap when needed. I feel that the bees are a necessary thing in my life, thank goodness money isn't everything!!

[ainsof]

<I wonder, whats the average honey consumption per beekeeper?>

Never kept track of how much my family eats, but I've been making meads for 18 years now and average about 200lbs per year doing that alone.

Finally had the wise idea to start my own hive this year smile.gif

[Jim Williamson]

Doug, I guess it depends on where you are, but down here in Georgia, my son and I do a farmers' market with 5 hives. We sell quarts for $10 and pints for $6. We didn't have near enough last summer. This year, we're trying to increase as much as we can without stymying honey production. We track expenses as iddee suggested, but we don't use the expense log in the outhouse (don't have one of those). If you don't mind working for 25 cents an hour, you'll turn a good profit. I haven't quit my day job, but it's the most fun my son and I have had ... ever. He's 14 and we've been doing this for 5 years. He even buys dinner once in a while.

[mick]

I have begun to reed the book "50 years amoung the bees" by Miller or whatever its called., its at work now.It seems things havent changed in 130 years.

With a couple of hives I spose the best way to make money is honey and candles. Source the best looking clear jars you can get, maybe you will have to buy some fancy jam or something and reuse the bottles, at least they wont cost you much then. Make the best labels you can, make the whole package look as enticing as possible and you should get at least 30% more for your product.

Candles are always a winner, easy to make, cost very little to make too. I love the ones you can make from an cardboard milk container, fill it with ice then add the hot wax. It sets and looks like swiss cheese, very attractive.

Id reckon after a couple of years you would be covering your beekeeping costs and eating into the set up costs too. Then one day youre making maybe a hundred bucks, which is still a nice drink in anyones language.

Im about to finid out all this too.

[Michael Bush]

>I have begun to reed the book "50 years amoung the bees" by Miller or whatever its called., its at work now.It seems things havent changed in 130 years.

Yes and no. Not many people are wintering bees in cellars these days, but most of it is still beekeeping. smile.gif It's a great book.

[Robert Hawkins]

You can make as much as you have time to make. Can you produce and sell both honey and wax? Propolis? Pollen? Venom? Can you open a clinic and give apitherapy?

With two hives you can start selling honey. Use your wife's pint and quart canning jars. six bucks a pint or ten for a quart. Maybe buy some honey bears. Two years ago I went broke. The family got a quart of honey, and honey bear, a quart of dill pickles and a quart of peaches. They were happy and it saved me a bundle.

I also sold out of honey. Here's how. Always have a $10 quart ready and with you. In the car, labelled and not crystallized. I keep five more on top of the water heater(warm). Ready to grab. Take it out of your car and look at it. Inspect it every time you enter the car. Make it a habit.

People will stop you and ask for more. I had one guy at church, where I don't try to sell it but I do still inspect, ask for a five gallon bucket(60 pounds). Tell the kids they can keep half of what they sell. If you can't sell out five hives worth, you're not trying.

That's not counting the wax, etc.

Hawk

[sqkcrk]

[ February 28, 2006, 12:27 PM: Message edited by: sqkcrk ]

[Hillside]

You need to realize that if you consume much of the honey yourself, it is an avoided expense, which is the same as making money.

Around here decent honey sells for around $4.00 a pound at the store. Bad honey for about $3.00. If my family consumes 100 pounds per year of my honey, that's $400.00 dollars of expense that I avoided. (asuming I would have purchased the decent honey)

It's easy for a family to use 100 pounds per year if you use it for baking.

As far as selling is concerned, if you can sell 50 pounds per hive at $4.00 per pound, that's $200 dollars per hive. Then you have to figure out a way to keep your expenses below that amount.

When you buy equipment, it seems horribly expensive, but you can amortize that cost out over many years. A complete hive may cost $150 dollars or so including shipping, but if you get that equipment to last ten years, it's only $15 per year.

You can also build top bar hives cheaply if you scrounge up materials. That could lower costs.

When it's time to sell the honey, you'll find most people won't buy any at all, but about 15% to 20% of people buy honey, and of those 15% to 20%, a few of them will buy LOTS of honey. You need to find those few people.

[Hillside]

I've always been afraid of making candles for sale. Someone burns down their house and blames your "faulty" candle.

There is probably a small market for fire starters that are used in fireplaces. There are several recipes for them on the internet and in books. Since these are supposed to start fires, I would hope that the potential for law suits would be smaller.

[iddee]

>>>When I got out of high school, 1971, I went to work at a place that provided me room and board and $100.00 per month and use of the truck to go to town. I had everything that I needed. A job I enjoyed. An opportunity to be with folks I enjoyed being with and doing things with. Room abd board and transportation and entertainment and companionship.

Then I figured out that I was making about .20/hr. That spoiled it, at least somewhat. And I moved on.<<<<

If my math is right, you were working 500 hours a month. If a month has 30 days and you were working 7 days a week, you were working 16 2/3 hours a day. No wonder you moved on. Sounds like my pappy's story of walking to school in three feet of snow barefoot.

Now for the topic. I bought less than a thousand in equip. and supplies in '05. I got over 1200 for removals, ended up with 6 hives and sold an unknown amount of honey and 2 hives. I think that is a fair sized profit for the second year of being back in bees.

[sqkcrk]

[ February 28, 2006, 12:28 PM: Message edited by: sqkcrk ]

[iddee]

No harm meant. I was just feeling my wheaties this morning and decided to chid you a little. When I worked a milk dairy I worked from 3 until 9 or 9:30, whenever finished. Of course, that was AM and PM, 7 days a week. Totalling about 85 hours weekly, with sleep broken into two periods, so I know where you are coming from.

[Joel]

Doug as a new beekeeper I would suggest it will take a few years before you have this craft down to the T's. Much depends on your goals with beekeeping. If your goal is to have a relaxing hobby I would not let money be a factor. Business often minimizes the enjoyment factor. If your goal is to have a sideline hobby that pays for itself and adds a little pocket money then you need to be thinking about 25-50 hives and a marketing plan to sell the `1500-3000lbs of honey you will produce each season. I would be your local farm market would easily do that. Running 10 hives is much different than running 50. If your goal is a business to keep your family then you need to look at all aspects of the hive production, honey and honey products, beeswax and related products, proplis, bee pollen and or pollination, nucs, queens, what aspect are you good at, what do enjoy. That area is where you will have the most motivation and success. It takes around 300 hives to make a decent living today. Walter Kelleys book "Keeping Bees and Selling Honey" is a good start. What ever level you decide start small, build in measured steps and concentrate on being a good beekeeper. Stay focused on selling retail, the rest will come with experiance.

[Propolis30]

Kind of funny........I'm a winemaker and got into beekeeping soley for the "free" honey to make wine and mead. I haven't made a batch of mead since I started beekeeping. I just can't give up the $80 in honey to make 5 gallons of mead. Maybe I just need more hives!!!!

[FordGuy]

propolis, I need help with some grapevines i bought can I give you a call?

[sqkcrk]

[ February 28, 2006, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: sqkcrk ]

[iddee]

Does that mule come with saddle, or just a burlap bag?

[Sourwood]

iddea,

We live fairly close to each other. How much do you charge for a removal?

[sqkcrk]

[ February 28, 2006, 12:31 PM: Message edited by: sqkcrk ]

[Propolis30]

FordGuy......sorry but I would be of no help with a grapevine question as I don't own any myself. I wish I did though. All of the wine I make comes from wild plums, wild black berries, and wild grapes at my parents 140 acres.

[ February 21, 2006, 08:10 AM: Message edited by: Propolis30 ]

[beegee]

Making more money with more hives reminds me of that story about the guys who were buying watermelons in Florida for $1.00, trucking them to NYC and selling them for $1.00. The one guy told his partner they weren't making any money. The other guy said, "yeh, maybe we should buy a bigger truck?"

[sqkcrk]

[ February 28, 2006, 12:15 PM: Message edited by: sqkcrk ]

[Propolis30]

No they just needed a trailer! smile.gif

[Darrel Wright]

"You need to realize that if you consume much of the honey yourself, it is an avoided expense, which is the same as making money."

No, it's better, because you pay taxes on income but not on the savings of avoided expense.

If you want to technically make money (not counting your time) in a very small scale operation, the way to go is top bar. It takes up much less of your money and much more of your time.

[sqkcrk]

Oh, right! And since my time isn't worth anything, I'll be raking it in hand over fist, right?

[ February 21, 2006, 06:15 PM: Message edited by: Michael Bush ]

[iddee]

Sourwood, I sent you a PM.

[Dougraymen]

This is Doug again. I have finished with going through my grandfathers belongings and I have everything I need. Honey extractor, Bee suit, uncapping knife, the works. I also have enough supplies for at least 25 Hives. Will I at least break even if I populate the empty hives.

[iddee]

Any business depends on proper management. You can make good money, IE: 2,000.00 annually, with 25 hives, with proper management. You can also lose money and all your bees with improper management. Know your job and do it with pleasure, or you will definitly LOOOOSE.

[GDH]

As everyone seems to agree, making any significant profit from bees alone taks a large operation and a large expense of time. The pollinators are an example. Or, like the gold rush days, the beekeepers suppliers might be the other way, but that requires a high capitol startup.

If, on the other hand, you have an acre of land and make the beekeeping a side business, planting about 40 apricot trees can be quite profitable. Have you seen the price of apricot in the store? About 50 cents each. A mature apricot tree can produce well over a 1000 cots each (40 X 1000 X $0.25 = $10,000). And what you can't sell fresh, you can dry. With a little more land, you can spread your season out with cherries, peaches, plumbs, pears and apples. The bees are a then a sideline and ensure pollination.

Sorry about being a little off topic, but this is the approach being used for my little 40 acres farm.

[Dave W]

Why does "making money" and "greed" always go hand-in-hand?

[Joel]

{Making more money with more hives reminds me of that story}

Beegee, just because you aren't able to make making money working bees doesn't mean others don't. I think Doug is a little smarter than the fellows in your watermelon story, I can assure you I am. We did very well last year off 150 hives, in fact better than we did with 25, 50 or 100. Of course the law of diminishing returns dictates there is a limit.

Doug, the best work in the world is work you love. You have some good answers from positive folks on this thread who do make money beekeeping, It's not any easier or harder than any other business if you enjoy it. Like anything it takes time to develop. If you enjoy it the work will be rewarding. I think the hardest part is being a farmer and a businessman, I don't think our brains were meant to work that way.

Have fun, hope you make a bundle!

[ February 24, 2006, 12:01 PM: Message edited by: Joel ]

[Flyer Jim]

Doug,Joel is right. I was given 10 weak hives ( too weak to go to almonds) 4 years ago. So far I haven't been in the red yet. Last year I had 80 hives in almonds this year 150 in the almonds $125-$135 each. Then there is cherys and a little honey,I'm still making bees. Yes I'm close to the almond orchards but you have all the equip. I started with no equip. and 10 weak hives. If you listen to the people who tell you you can't, they'll be right. Of course beekeeping is hard work. When I check my hives down by the river I always have to take my fly rod.
:D Jim

[FordGuy]

Yeah, you want to make money at beekeeping? Get a job!! With a big commercial beekeeper. Someone with 10,000 colonies is probably always looking for some new blood, who is enthusiastic about learning about beekeeping. You'll have quite a unique experience.

Of course you could always work for FordGuy and me. Room and board and you can ride the mule to town on Sunday after church. Right Ford?

$100.00 per week, now. Inflation, you know. [Wink]

sorry mark, i just saw that..

working for me would make a poor man poorer...

Regarding the original question of how to make money - I decided recently I would never become a rich man. If the question is how to make a whole lot of money (which I detect was not the question, but some may have interpreted it that way) I have no idea. If you want to make enough money to be the equivelent of a minimum wage job, this is probably do-able.

You had asked a question about using your Grandfather's 25 hives and buying packages - you know, what I'd do is to get with a local pollinatino guy and ask him if he could help you place 23 of them for 10 bucks more than what a new package will cost. Then you know going into it you are actually going to at least break even. As for the remaining two hives, set them at your local yard or maybe your home. Better to have two so you can compare them. If you just have one, it's always hard to tell whether it is doing good or not.

Seems to me that to make money hou hae to utilize all aspects of beekeeping, from marketing your honey to using the hives for pollination.

These are just my opinions, and I am just a small time beekeeper and I don't make a living from my hobby, but I think more every day that maybe I should.

[James Henderson]

I think making money in beekeeping is a matter of perspective. I figure since I purchased my home a couple of years ago, I am loosing money every day via interest payments. However eventually I will make money in the future either by paying it off faster or as property values increase and through remodeling and landscaping, equity, and if we get spanked by more hurricanes. I hope the latter does not occur.

I figure beekeeping is an investment in the future just like my home, stocks, and 401(k)s. Like any investment there are risks (hurricanes, disease, honey market) as my recent experience with GM and Google stocks plummeting. Perhaps within a decade, I will turn a profit selling honey and honey products.

As with any business, I think the key is MARKETING and producing an excellent product. Spread the word that your have honey for sale.

Since I got into this hobby last fall with my free hive, I have essentially sold (reserve orders) my entire 2006 crop that I'll generate with my 8 hives I'll have in operation by mid-April. Next year I'll at least double or more my operation and I doubt I won't have a problem selling it. I don't really like honey all that much, so I won't be eating up my profits.

Build you a website for your honey product(s), produce some business cards, put a sign up in your front yard and on your vehicle, tell your friends, enemies, coworkers, clients, and family. You will be surprised how many orders you'll get. I mentioned on my last business trip to a clients that I was a beekeeper. They asked if I could sell them at least a half gallon of honey each when it is available.

I've already received numerous requests from many neighbors, friends, and coworkers for both extracted honey and cut comb.

Put a lable with your contact information on your bottles. You can offer a discount if local consumers provide their own glass bottles thus saving you purchasing (plus shipping costs) your own containers.

As others on this forum have mentioned, try to get a niche market that is not strong in your neck of the woods (e.g. cut comb, sourwood, or other floral honey).

How about combining beekeeping with a business such as nursery operations or farming or perhaps fit it into your own business.

Just a few thoughts.

[Ribster]

On the same subject, has anyone read this book in the betterbee catalog called "Building a Sustainable Business". If so, did it help/have much info that would relate to a beekeeper looking to get into business?

Here it is on amazon:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1888626070/sr=8-1/qid=1140918917/ref=pd_bbs_1/002-1295468-1896024?%5Fencoding=UTF8