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My customer service skills are very bad.
There's some beekeepers around here who can sell 1000lbs of honey in a heartbeat.
There's some beekeepers around here who can sell 1000lbs of honey in a heartbeat.
I think I did ok. I grew bees and got some honey. I spent almost $400 on an extractor so the sales paid part of that back.Congrats. It was a really good year in our area. I have lots of honey from my 4 hives but just give it away to friends and co workers. Really should try to sell. Now feeding to get ready for winter.
Over wintering is key. I'm hoping I can keep 10 hives on my lot. My emergency move to site is my aunt's house but it's 35 miles away. I've seen a little nook that would be perfect for bees about 2 miles from the house but I don't know who owns it. I do have one of the Dadant support hives and a 5 frame nuc ready. My wife recently asked me to teach her to install a package so that's 1. I had been thinking about going to 8 hives next year but not sure.Good job KS.
So get them thru winter, have a couple more hives ready, by spring, for splits or swarms.
do the math on how many supers you need next year, makes a good winter project getting ready.
Optional start looking for a second site.
GG
That's a good place to be. At some point the new equipment expenses have to drop off. In my head I think I want 25 hives. We'll see if I think that when I have 10.I think I am about breaking even now. I am making about as much on sales as I spend.
I didn't think I could be a salesman. Years ago I worked sales in a camera store. Good photographer, bad salesman. I tried selling floor cleaning jobs for a friend's business. Sold 2 out of nearly 300 sales calls. I'm a social person. I'll talk to people anywhere and everywhere. I will talk about bees to anyone that doesn't move away. I go to the grocery store to get food safe buckets from the bakery. They don't like to give them away so I show them pictures on my phone and they give me a bucket. It's easier for something that I truly enjoy.My customer service skills are very bad.
There's some beekeepers around here who can sell 1000lbs of honey in a heartbeat.
My social skills are also quite bad.I didn't think I could be a salesman. Years ago I worked sales in a camera store. Good photographer, bad salesman. I tried selling floor cleaning jobs for a friend's business. Sold 2 out of nearly 300 sales calls. I'm a social person. I'll talk to people anywhere and everywhere. I will talk about bees to anyone that doesn't move away. I go to the grocery store to get food safe buckets from the bakery. They don't like to give them away so I show them pictures on my phone and they give me a bucket. It's easier for something that I truly enjoy.
ks
I'm just wondering - how much discount (from your "retail" jar price) you normally give clients that buy in bulk like the example above? I sell buckets at about 30-40% discount (based on weight) vs jars, not sure what others do.I've got three coworkers who make mead. Each of them bought a 60 lb bucket (5 gallons) of honey from me this year. I kept only about 20 lbs for myself. I asked them to bring me the bucket. Easiest sales ever. No packaging. No hassle. And the best part is, combined with some spring nuc sales, it paid for my new electric extractor. My shoulder is no longer up for hand cranking.
You could always start a moonshine still. I'm sure you could whittle down that 5 year honey bucket to maybe a year. And I'm sure some white lightening would sell better than mead.My social skills are also quite bad.
I'd basically need to find someone who I can sell the honey to who can then market it themselves or something like that.
For now, I just have enough honey for myself for about 5 years.
yes, after you get the equipment the cost drops off if you keep the same number of hives. I bought some equipment this year, but did not need to buy much. Some of the equipment I bought was to replace the 1 box hive that I sold. At this point going forward I think my biggest expense is going to be containers for selling honey and mite treatments.That's a good place to be. At some point the new equipment expenses have to drop off. In my head I think I want 25 hives. We'll see if I think that when I have 10.
I have pretty simple goals here. A fun hobby that pays for itself that might pay for some nice vacations. My wife has been retired for a year now. I've got 5 if things don't south of where they are now.
I hand cranked an extractor at a club meeting for 10 minutes before it was somebody else's turn and that convinced me to get a motorized extractor. I'm reconsidering having all deep boxes....it paid for my new electric extractor. My shoulder is no longer up for hand cranking.
I'm in a similar position as last year. The swarmed queens are one year older. I didn't have queen excluders in. I had added a 3rd deep and moved some frames of brood to try to get them to draw comb but they were not interest. I have a little more comb but double the bees. It's all good.Great first year! And whatever you did to overwinter the bees must have worked, repeat. As far as swarming, give them room and if need be pull the excluder if you use them. Better to have your queen in the super than have her gone.