$8 to $10 a pound plus the price of the frame.

 

A lot? It's a specialty 'product'. If they just want to eat it, you could give them an ugly one. If they want to display it, that's another story. Deep frame is roughly 5# of honey, right? That's 5 times $8/pound for me. I know honey prices vary from person to person. But my starting figure would be $40 for a deep frame. Factor in what a frame of comb is worth... maybe $5-10 additional dollars, the frame (and any foundation) $2-3, the labor of frame assembly? If they were going to eat it I'd find them a decent comb and would charge $80. For a showcase frame probably closer to $100.

But I also wouldn't really want to do a lot of business selling frames full of honey. So I'd be apt to price myself out of it.

 

If I could get that kind of money down here, It's be gone, gone. Down here I finally had to drop my 4X4 squares to $8 to get them to move. JW, down here it's not a specialty product. The old timers like it and that's about it. At the farmer's market people look at it, handle it and then think it's 'neat' and then buy the bottles. But then I cut a bunch of them in half and shoved them in a pint and backfilled with honey and I couldn't keep enough on my table. But then you have Savanah Bee blowing and going at $24. Different market regions fascinate me. I started at $20. A fella who also sells at the market told us it doesn't sell well down here when he came by, and he was correct. I learned in my other side business, the markets are very different from region to region, and even from coastal to rural a 100 miles away. Yea, if someone down here offered me $1000 to $1250, I'd be packaging me up a super to sell. Of course buying new equipment every year would be a hassle, but I could make it work for that price......:thumbsup:

 

A shallow yields 4 squares of comb honey - I don't know what your area gets for comb honey but Savanah Bee Co gets $24 each. Near $100 frame but consider they've got pretty packaging and good internet marketing.

Are they asking for pretty first drawn comb to display and eat (that commands a premium price) or just "something to extract"? Do you have enough drawn comb and/or is it easy to get drawn in your area? Where I am, I figure I give up a super of honey to get a super drawn out - as such, I'd price it at double the price of my extracted honey. A bulk purchase MIGHT get a 20-30% discount IF you have enough quantity that you feel inclined to do so.

 

If it was someone that I knew or a neighbor, $50. Otherwise I wouldn't sell. You figure a nuc with 5 frames will be $140-200, but you're gonna get old comb, old frames.

New frames, new comb, capped honey? I plan on selling $10/lb. 30-35lbs per shallow = $30-35 per shallow frame (honey alone). The frame costs $2-$4 plus shipping, let's say $5.

I'm at $40 before I account for the lost production by requiring bees to draw that frame again. If it takes 8lbs of honey to 1lb of wax, we're looking at $80/lb for comb.

Comb may not weigh a lot compared to honey, but the trade-off will be there in waiting for them to draw it plus time lost storing plus any other functions they could have fulfilled instead of drawing comb.

 

How about if you could get $100 or $125 per shallow frame? $1000-$1250 for a super full, no extracting, no bottling....

 

I'd quit my job and just do this...

 

ordy28, yep.

Obviously, if you can get a grand for a drawn and full shallow super you take that money. But that's gotta be a one time buy... or a massive idiot haha. Either way, you're probably not selling 100 a year at that price.

Funny how a slight tweak in packaging like adding a little chunk of cut comb to a jar can make them go crazy over them, huh?

 

Do i expect to get the frame back?

How much of my time is in building a frame?
Are you putting thin surplus in the frame? Are you just useing a starter strip?

If your selling it in the super, is that a "show" super - one that you just assembled and painted and never sat on the hive? or is it one that sat on the hive for 3 months and is full of sticky gooey propolis that the customer needs a hive tool to remove the frames.

All the above considered, If i had someone ask me - a show quality med frame - Id sell for $60-80. If they routinely sold for that I wouldn't feel bad about upping it to $100.

 

I sold at a small fair recently, sold 2 pounders for $20, another beekeeper there selling 3 pounders for $15....
Thinking I should have bought all his and re-packed it

 

On ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/1kilo-Honey...ycomb-Honey-In-The-beeswax-/282025076855?hash=item41aa012877:g:fwYAAOSwYmZXGaXw

We sell the 4x4 cut comb boxes for $12.95 at the restaurant. Sells pretty well. People think it is good for their allergies. We think it's just plain good.

 

The point is to avoid selling.

The other point is that if you buy a small piece, you pay more than you would for the whole. The question isn't "how much for a shallow super." It's all about 1 frame. Like I said, if it's a buddy, I sell for what it's worth. Anybody else, pay me.