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Thread: Third party services

  1. #11
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    Quote Originally Posted by Nellie View Post
    I can do something along the lines of: http://www.thehivehoneyshop.co.uk
    Did you notice that say they will remove swarms of both honey and bumble bees?

    If you're seriously thinking of offering a honey extraction service then you might consider the people in my BKA who have bought their own extractors rather than hire a club one at £1 a day, because they reckoned their petrol money would be recouped in next to no time and, if they choose to sell it on, second hand prices are quite high. The club extractors are, currently, housed at the north of the area. For those living in the south the round trip is about 100 miles, so double that to collect and return an extractor.

    The only people I know who do more than break even from beekeeping-related activities are those with hundreds or thousands of hives, people who offer private lessons to newcomers and those who raise and sell stock. It might be different in your area.

    I think that offering a service which saves people time and effort might only appeal to those with spare cash and not enough spare time. Would you also offer collection and return?

  2. #12
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    I honestly don't know at the moment. The extraction facility is as much for me but if you've got it... I think the honey extraction is less likely to be used compared to frame cleaning. I know it's not a particularly difficult thing to do DIY, but it comes down to space and mess. I physically can't fit the necessary kit where I am at the moment, so I'm having a few fun and games trying to sort out something that will let me clean frames in bulk but doesn't take up a lot of space.

    I am in the sandal wearing, brown rice eating, support your local business, down wiv Starbucks and Tesco part of town so there is an element of thinking about every conceivable thing I can do. So I want to sell honey and wax and propolis related things, but also offer workshops, talks on the one hand and things that might be useful to beekeepers on the other.

    There are a reasonable number of things that I find a pain to get my hands on, OA, Acetic acid, enough Ambrosia etc when I need it rather than trying to get hold of enough of the stuff and having to find somewhere to store it and so on.

    I do have some acceptance of the point around the extraction, I bought my own extractor for similar reasons.

  3. #13
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    Default Oh dear

    Beekeepers are notoriously tight fisted. Read that three times and ponder for fifteen minutes.

    Cleaning frames? can you make it cheaper than buying new?

    Extracting.. forget it there are so many issues it's just not funny. Bob Couston found that out the hard way. That's not my honey being the first one. Moisture content another, I gave you twenty supers there should be 600lbs not 350.. and so on and so on... complete nightmare.

    Having tried to be altruistic over the years and been bitten more than once very hard in the a**e I wouldn't even think about it. Sad I know but that is how it is and it's far better to be given hard and painful advice BEFORE the money is spent, than to be told AFTERWARDS... oh I knew that wouldn't work....

    PH

  4. #14
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    That's why I asked the question.

    I'm prepared to believe its a non starter, and that what seems a good idea in your head doesn't pan out that way in reality.

    I can dream though

  5. #15
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    The trick is to avoid the dream becoming a living nightmare.....

    PH

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    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Poly Hive View Post
    The trick is to avoid the dream becoming a living nightmare.....

    PH
    Having had personal experience of just such a thing I whole-heartedly concur. The financial loss also cost me a whole lot of time which was the hardest thing to set right.

    But it's still good to bounce ideas around, we have no chance of achieving anything beyond the ordinary if we don't 'have a go' at some point.

  7. #17
    Senior Member Jon's Avatar
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    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.

  8. #18
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    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.

  9. #19
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    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

  10. #20
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    Quote Originally Posted by Calum View Post
    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...
    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.

    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.

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