Poly hive musings.

[fatshark]

Trog ... I think we need to tag that last suggestion of yours as a "top tip".

Calum ... and add to your calculations queens throughout the season at perhaps €20-30 ... I'm well-aware of this but hoped it could be kept a secret as well All this discussion of profit is delaying me getting the Bentley serviced ...

By the way ... what possible reason would anyone have for 1000 Chinese grafting tools? Or any, for that matter. They're not single use versions are they? I use a paintbrush and lick it between larvae. I paid £2 for it ... by my reckoning I'm nearly €245 in profit for grafting tools alone

[The Drone Ranger]

I think you make a really good point there Calum. To be honest the aspects of beekeeping that interest me concern the bees themselves. Their life cycle and the breeding and improvement of them. Honey's all well and good but it interests me far less. So like you I would prefer to be producing nucs and queens as a means to make a little bit of income from beekeeping.

Years agp I used to sell some hives of bees when I had too many
That's a sort of side effect of using swarm boards if you don't recombine you end up with 2 brood boxes of bees
It was almost always a complete pain-- Folk would arrange to collect the bees then change their mind and want to come the following weekend.
They would agree the price then haggle to pay less when they came to collect
They would ask for hives to be kept and not sold then still haggle about the price
They told sob stories -- in one "deserving" case I agreed to sell the broodbox with floor crown board roof and 11 frames plus full colony of bees for £40 where my deserving needy customer then announced "well if they are that price I'd like 3"
I sold 2 complete hives new boxes from Stanfordham Broodbox super all frames bees roof floor crown board and excluder £100 x 2 to a hotel
They expected training and support forever so when the staff member looking after the bees left they expected me to drive there as often as it took to train someone else and get their honey crop
I have had some people buy bees in a wooden 5 frame nuc for £50 they let them die and came back for more I gave them the replacements free they let them die as well for the cost of some sugar syrup
I have had people ask me for a queen for their hive which swarmed and was queen less I give them the queen free they go away with it I ring up to see how it went
"Oh I think we had a queen in there after all" Ok what happened to the one I gave you " we just let it go" Go where for gods sake
No! No! selling bees is not a prospect I could be dragged back to
In fact when Perth and Angus were asked not to move bees or sell them after the EFB scare I was happy I just had to say "sorry no can do"
I met lot's of nice people selling them bees but also enough of the other kind to last me a lifetime

[Jon]

DR. I know exactly where you are coming from with that tale, especially the bit about lifetime support.

[drumgerry]

I think there's a danger that because we're all such bee enthusiasts we can try too hard to help people when they get bees - much as you describe DR. For myself I don't mind the odd email if someone's in need. But what I'm not prepared to do is make up for people's lack of effort to learn for themselves. I think we all have to make it very clear to new beekeepers that we don't have the time to hold their hands when a bit of research or a quick scan of Ted Hooper's book would solve their problem.

I don't think we have to trip over ourselves to please potential buyers when bees are in such demand these days. But like I said I'll answer a few questions and help out where there is a genuine need or for a suitable fee (and I make no apology for that). It's taken us years to acquire these skills and this knowledge guys. We shouldn't be selling ourselves short! In what other sphere would people be expecting decades worth of expertise for nothing?!

[fatshark]

Academia!

[drumgerry]

Fatshark - lecturers get paid!

[gavin]

By the way ... what possible reason would anyone have for 1000 Chinese grafting tools? Or any, for that matter. They're not single use versions are they?

I accidentally put one through the wash the other week. It came out as good as new. Just thought I'd throw that one in in case there are any improverished academics (ha! contradiction in terms ... ) looking in.

[fatshark]

Fatshark - lecturers get paid!

They get paid to lecture ... but the entire peer-review system, on which science is funded and published, is based on goodwill and is unpaid.

Gavin ... "Chinese grafting tool" and "It came out good as new" is not necessarily a strong recommendation

Just back from setting up my Ben Harden system for round 2 of grafting ... bees are in a great mood and so am I

[gavin]

Years agp I used to sell some hives of bees when I had too many

[snip]

I met lot's of nice people selling them bees but also enough of the other kind to last me a lifetime

I've sent several people your way over the years and never actually met you (AFAIK). They were all nice people as far as I could tell LOL!

Anyway, just wanted to say that I know you *gave* six colonies to a local social enterprise (and lots of your time), and I've always thought that an act of extreme generosity.

I used to give colonies away but am now selling as it does take work, and does cost me materials, time, petrol and honey. I don't know anyone I've sold colonies to who you'd say was in the category of a PITA who does little to advance their own beekeeping skills, but I know they are around.

You can blame/thank me for the advice not to move colonies out of Perth and Angus in 2009. As EFB is in the Lothians and Aberdeenshire and much more under control than it was then I think folk should relax a little, although it is a disease that pops up after lying hidden (in bees possibly) so moving bees to completely unaffected areas must be wrong.

[fatshark]

DR and Jon
I sell nucs to beginners in our association, very rarely to anyone else. We are a large association and have a lot of beginners. My experience is generally very positive. We work hard to train them, operating a loan hive scheme for their first year and provide mentoring (not necessarily from the nuc vendor). They do sometimes need help, but they are generally grateful to receive it. In my first year I lost/killed the Q in my purchased nuc (I discovered later she was probably an import) and the guy I bought it off provided me a frame of eggs to get going again. I generally have queens spare and am usually happy to supply them to help careful beginners who are keen to learn.

Are your negative experiences with association members or Joe Public?