Is SC business plan, small sell?

[forgeblast]

I really appreciate the info. What is the typical honey crop from a normal commercial hive?
Is there more money in pollenination vs honey?
Thank you again Oldtimer I really value the info.

[Oldtimer]

OK well I don't know what a typical honey crop is in the US. Hardly anybody gives hard figures, but recently Honeyshack, who is a semi commercial beekeeper in Canada, mentioned 180 to 240 lbs per hive per year.

I also don't know what pollination pays in the US, maybe some US beeks will chip in.

But what commercial beeks do to get a good financial return, is sometimes quite far removed from what a treatment free person would consider acceptable. So it's about what you want, and your own opinions on how things should be, and then, would that actually make me enough money to live on.

[hpm08161947]

In this area, pollination represents about 2/3 of the gross. Honey is just not a big thing here in the SE. 30-80 lbs is probably a typical yield per hive. If you have the inclination to deal with the clientale... nucs or shook bees could probably equal honey in gross dollars.

[Oldtimer]

If you have the inclination to deal with the clientale....

Ha Ha! Therein the dilema!

[forgeblast]

I really appreciate all the info. I never realized that pollination was that profitable. I always thought that honey was where the $ was.
Its real helpful to me because we are trying to maxamize our time, along with using our property to its fullest. I know that our bees will stay part of the over all plan,
but now I have to rethink a few things. thanks again.

[hpm08161947]

I really appreciate all the info. I never realized that pollination was that profitable. I always thought that honey was where the $ was.

It depends on where you are... I can think of guys in the big honey areas that no doubt would say that honey was the major part of their income.... but not that many on them.

[Oldtimer]

Just as an example of that, where I live in a built up suburban area, most people have gardens with many types of flowering plants, the hives on the lawn of my house would normally get around 300 lb's annually. But last year I had to put some at a site around 15 miles away, a country area which is a kind of "green desert", very little bee forage, the hives not only got a dismal crop of maybe 60 or 70 lb's, but also had other problems like swarming for no obvious reason.

Location is one of the most important things.

[hpm08161947]

Makes sense. The best "Locations" are the ones with diverse flora.... some of the worst are the monocultures of the countryside. In this area, our best honey producing are called "Carolina Bays", seems like something is blooming all year. Google "Carolina Bays" and you will get an interesting read.

[Fusion_power]

Typical honey crops in the U.S. run about 80 pounds average in the southeast to about 250 pounds average in the better areas with sweet clover. Pollination will run about $140 to $150 in almonds with additional pollination from maybe 2 more sets into fruit bloom and maybe veggies like cucumbers which will typically get $50 to $70 per colony. Long and short of it, a colony can easily return $250 per year on pollination contracts. If the beekeeper has a good place for a honey crop such as in the Dakotas, he can fit in a crop that can run several hundred pounds per colony after doing 2 or 3 rounds of pollination. There are a lot of gotchas in those numbers though so best to ask a commercial guy how he does it.

DarJones

[jim lyon]

http://usda01.library.cornell.edu/us...02-25-2011.pdf
250 lbs? Years back it happened a lot but as farming practices have changed honey crops have declined. The Dakotas do raise a lot of honey but its primarily because there are a lot of bees shipped up here each summer. The USDA numbers pretty much speak for themselves.

[Roland]

Around 200 lb average, in the 40's, but not around here in a LONG time.

Crazy Roland