I think it's possible to make a few bob on the side in a good year but the idea of making a decent living from beekeeping seems pretty tenuous.
Weather wise where I live there are rarely any good years.
This year I extracted 400lbs of honey, reared about 40 grafted queens and made up about 20 nucs but that involved a massive amount, ie, almost all of my free time over the summer.
The other possible income stream is tuition but I think that should be the domain of the local associations.
make nucs, and plenty of them. I sell about 10-15 per year, two other guys I cooperate with sell upwards of 60 per year.
The going price is 120€ and we don't get close to meeting local demand. Its certainly much less work than harvesting and selling large amounts of honey.
-there are so many poor quality beekeepers that continually loose their colonies that this market will not dry up soon...
Virgin wax for creams and lip balsam sells for silly prices aswell on (german) e-bay (I've seen people pay 8€ for 100g), lip balsam also sells really well, I do a small run in the winter of honey beeswax and olive or grape seed oil for 3€/25g.
Tuition the domain of the LA?????????
Err........ Depends does it not on the competence of said LA. Having been a committee member of a seriously moribund and very large Assoc, their tuition was shall we be kind and say a bit behind the times.
Can you make money from bees, for sure you can but how... it all depends. You can go big, witness Denroasa, or you can go specialist witness Struan, or you can go a bit of everything and the gentleman who does with magnificent candles escapes my memory at the moment, but yes it is possible.
But note all these routes, do not encompass the "bloody beekeeper" as the wife of a very successful friend of mine calls them. That is the ones that turn up for some foundation, and then after picking the brains for an hour or so say "well yes but I only want two sheets...."
PH
Nucs in our area started at, I think, £150 or £175 this year. Locally mated queens were from £30, Danish buckfasts were silly money. There's only one "reliable" supplier, who always has a long waiting list.Originally Posted by Calum
At least one of our committee members offers private lessons starting at £40/hour per person, for small groups of up to 6 people. I can't comment on the quality of their tuition.
wow, come to Germany I'll give tuition for half that and throw in the beer for free!
That's why I think the BKA should be the vehicle for tuition as beekeeping is full of big egos who think they know better than everyone else whether they get the results or provide an adequate service. Don't worry Neil, not thinking of you!I can't comment on the quality of their tuition
I was at a committee meeting of my BKA yesterday evening.
Sometimes I disagree with other committee members on issues and I expect people to disagree with me if they think any proposals I have are not viable. That seems to me to be a perfectly healthy situation.
Beekeepers need to work together within an organization towards common goals - and in an ideal world neighbouring associations have similar goals. If they don't, it is good to get together to sort out the common ground. This can be difficult when not everyone is a team player.
Last night we spent a lot of the meeting discussing queen rearing and nuc supply. This is one area where a coordinated programme will trump the individual every time as the nucs are largely standardised for quality and are not made up with a mish mash of mongrel and imported queens.
The proposal is to supply nucs which remain at the association apiary for a while while the beginners get a few weeks tuition re. their management.
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