[Dominic]

Mikey, 300-400 hives would probably make you about 20,000 a year after expenses, and before tax. You could take care of them working about 25-30 hours a week average through the spring and summer, if you are well orginized, plan ahead, and work efficiently. One man can realisticly take care of 500 hives, if he is good shape. If moving hives, he will occasionally need to hire someone to help, although I have moved full hives without help before.

Keep in mind, you will not get rich from this. The best you can hope for is to make a confortable living. The rich guys are Dadant, Mann Lake, Subee, etc. When you can pay other beekeepers a dollar per pound, then bottle and package 200,000lbs a day, and sell it to the large chain stores, you can get rich. But most of those businesses have been around almost a hundred years.

I also plan to grow into a commercial operation, but I don't plan to make a living until I pass 1000 hives, and have a good market carved out. I'm hoping that most of my income will be from nucs.

Mann Lake's founding: 1983

Not all big guys have been around for a hundred years. You just need a good business plan, a lot of determination, and some time to get it all into motion. As with any business, though, if you want to make money, you need to be able to plan ahead of time, to be able to predict revenues and costs to properly evaluate what's worth your time, and what equipment is worth its costs. People need to know about your product, like your product, and be willing to pay the price you want for your product.