How To Make Money From Your Bees Whether You Have One Hive Or Hundreds
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- Опубліковано 9 лип 2024
- In this video I discuss my thoughts on how to make money from your bee operation whether you have one or one hundred hives.
#beekeeping #bees #beekeeper
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I bought my bee gear off a guy that had hospitalization due to bee stings. He did not mention that it was all still full of bees. 3 double deeps and a 5 hour drive home in a hatchback. So far they are all still alive. Let’s just say I got for half the cost of a starter kit.
Yeah those opportunities are awesome. Well done.
Love it, very useful. After the coldest winter of my life here in Texas, I'm pleased to say all my hives made it.
When the cold hit you guys I saw a bunch of posts about people being prepared for massive losses as a result. I initially didn't think that would be the case, as bees can deal with cold really well. So I'm glad yours made it, and I hope that's everyone's experience.
I'm in Conroe, TX and my hives survived last week also!!! Good for us!!
@@jodidetuncq9060 Real close by to me, Im in huntsville.
Excellent presentation and spot on. I have learned a few of these lessons the hard way. I have also learned that "experience" is that thing you get just AFTER you needed it. Heeding your words here will help folks bypass some very difficult learning curves. Keep up the good work!
Yeah, learning lessons is frustrating like that, I agree totally. Thanks for the comment, David!
Love the breakdowns and specifics per hive quantity. You do great job with topics that dont have a lot of info in depth
Thanks, Chris!
Thanks Brett for all you do, I take a lot of notes with your videos. Keep up the good work hopefully will see more videos soon.
Excellent video. Appreciate all the tips!
I love your intro. Hello bearded bee 🐝 people !! 👋🤙🏼
That was a great video - lots of great advice and food for thought!
Thank you from an Irish Bearded Beekeeper. 😊
Thanks, Pat!
BeeUtiful Bearded Beekeeping Wisdom shared in this video!!!!! What a brilliant video brother!!! Honesty, you nailed so many excellent points to to think about! ✌️🐝🐝🐝
Thanks, Tim!
Great video !!! Good coverage on most important topics. My 4th year, and my goal is growing my number of hives. Honey as a by product. Hope you have a great year, and hope spring arrives, and bee survive 😊
Thanks, Richard, I too hope you have an awesome bee year.
Very helpful video. Thank you!
Very informative. Thank you.
Im going in to my 3rd year this year.
Year one 2 hives, year two 7 hives, this year, 40 hives and as many splits as possible, with mite treatment being a priority as usual.
That kind of acceleration makes me happy because it reminds me of me! Good luck dude, I think you're going to have a lot of success.
@@BKBees Thanks!
Im in love with bees and totally committed. Especially because the honey from only 6 hives covered my property taxes last year.
This comment just made me so happy! I’m going into my 2nd year and am hoping to make a bunch of splits and hopefully catch swarms! I’m hoping to end this year with 8-10 hives and will continue to go forward from there.
I'm curious how did you make 40 hives from 7. Were you purchasing them, making splits, trapping them.....?
@@namentatic4978 Good question, I split my way from 2 to 7.
Now I have 33 nucs on order to receive in May, and I already have the empty hives to put them in. From there I will hope to grow exponentially!
Splits away!
Thank you bearded beekeeper. Very nicely done. Great info.
Very helpful video!
Thanks for the video!
Great advice. I agree with everything you have said. Relax the first year or two and learn as much as possible.
You're right about the start up costs also. My first year I spent about $2,000 but I got 350 lbs of honey which surprised me. Gave 50 lbs away to friends and relatives and sold the rest for over $2,000 so it was a break even year. Now most of the sales of honey will be profit. Take care and have a good weekend.
Very cool.
Finally a POSITIVE outlook on beekeeping. This is excellent my friend. Beekeepers/Groups scare people from starting by emphasizing expenses and how bees die. I have an outlook like you do. Thank you for this video 👏👌🖐
Thanks for the comment. I do enjoy making videos about the good stuff, and I feel I talk a LOT about mites and disease so videos like this are nice.
@@BKBees Absolutely 💯. It gets tiring listening about Mites. I agree it needs to be watched too, but it seems mites and how expensive bees are took over lol. Again, love this man.
Great video with great advice! Thx for sharing your experience! Greetings from Belgium!
Thanks, Clement!
Good info for those who are stepping into it a little deeper 👍
Thanks for the great video!
You can take a nuc in the spring to sell and control swarming, will not affect honey production. Then you can nuc the production hive towards the end of the flow, take only 2 brood from each, helps control swarming again, the brood will not contribute to honey production and not needed in the dearth so grow that summer nuc to expand your own numbers.
That's nice in the South. We don't have that kind of long season up here in Michigan though. At the end of the flow is the start of winterization.
@@BKBees I'm in Nova Scotia we probably have a very similar season. The spring flow starts end of May and ends mid July, we move brood above an excluder and nuc the hives for 3 weeks in May as they progress and need it; leaving 4 frames of brood below. Mid July pull honey, then nuc again only 2 brood from each, these nucs are used next spring to replace winter loss. There's a small fall flow first of September but we are feeding by the 3rd week.
@@sidelinerbeekeeper that's a great plan. Sounds like you guys are really in tune with your area. To be honest we just moved up here, so this year I'm pulling honey next weekend and again in August. Then we'll be feeding and treating and getting ready for winter. Hopefully as my knowledge and familiarity with the season grows I'll be able to pull a bit more from them. This year with the move in March, and not really knowing how long in the Fall I'm going to be able to feed, we're playing it way safe.
great video thanks!!
Thanks for sharing this info. It was very helpful. Getting my first nuc in May.
Thanks for the comment. Feel free to comment any questions you might have, I'm always happy to help.
Hi Bruce man i missed your videos. Good to see you. You are giving me the advice i need as a 4th year beekeeper with expansion as an issue.
Keep up the good advice !
Thanks, Brian!
Started with 1 then 6 then 22 this year 40 lol
Wow man, thanks for this video. I've kept bees for about eight years now, always fluctuating between 1-6 hives. I finally buckled down last year and went from 2 hives in March to 33 now. Operator error cost me at least another ten, but that's been a huge learning experience that I think will pay off this year. My goal this year is to head towards a couple hundred and see what happens lol. This video is great for someone in my position because it takes all the info and scenarios that I have rattling around in my head and organizes it into a coherent format. I'll probably be watching it repeatedly this year to keep my head on straight. I've got around 50 five frame nucs waiting for bees and I'll have at least 50 more built, along with 130ish single deep setups ready to go by April. Hopefully I'll be dropping queen cells in the next 5-6 weeks and then crossing my fingers. Anyway, thanks for putting out this content and good luck with the upcoming season.
Awesome. Thanks for this comment I'm super glad to know I've helped some. Good luck in your expansion.
@@BKBees Thanks. I don't have any yo-yos though... I guess I'll put that on the list lol
Dang dude, you're really going in deep this year, we're all routing for you!
@@IFarmBugs hey thanks, I appreciate it.
Excited to find another bearded beekeeper! Seems like practically everyone I see is clean shaven 😏
I've done a ton of research but am not even a month into officially being a beekeeper myself. (Have already experienced a bee crawling around in my bushy beard, so I imagine that's why so many shave lol)
I've subscribed and am looking forward to checking out more of your videos! 😃
Hi Bret I bought a couple of those small foam mating nucs with the intentions of just trying to use them to mate a few queens and move the queens out after she starts laying and just keep rotating cells in them as I create them. I was using 2-5 frame deeps last year to do some but I realized you need more resources and room to do it so thats why I was thinking of trying the smaller ones along with a few 2 and or 5 frames ( i have a few divided to make two 2 frame deep nucs I even split a 10 frame deep 4 ways to see which way worked best for me.... Time will tell thanks for the video......
Yeah you're at the exploration stage, I think you'll have a much better idea of what kind of nuc is best for you after this upcoming year.
First!!!!! You definitely have to account for all the background cost in the bees. Thanks!
Dang your fast!
@@BlanchardsBees It just popped up while I was on-line. LOL!!!!
great info. pick one direction to go, or you go nowhere.
Another great video. I started with 3 and as of last there was 82. I'm planning on selling nucs this year. I raised a few queens last year but still have a lot to learn. I did have some success but some downfalls too. I'm scared as hell right now. Winter seems like it's gone on forever now. So many variables can happen. I've done all I could to get them through but it still don't help not being worried. I can't imagine the wait in northern Michigan.
The wait gets easier with time. You'll get more confident in your skills and method and the wait gets easier. Not totally easy or comfortable, but better than what you're going through right now.
@@BKBees how many hives do you run?
@@brianwho4533 around 250.
I use to have ten hives one of my best hives was an AHB they produced 6 honey supers with in 2 months of being removed from an old church they weren't too stingy but man I love those the others struggled not too bad but I lost all when the county sprayed for mosquitoes I miss them
Get some more! That's a sad story though, for sure.
I was able to make a decent amount of comb honey with out having to buy the comb honey stuff, i just user foundation less medium frames still used wedge but cut the wedges out and rubbed some bees wax on the bottom of the top bar. The way my bees are doing with out foundations i am doing the same with the deep frames. In my mind when it comes to cycling out old comb it will just make it easier to do. Just gotta make sure you put them between frames already drawn out. What you talk about in this video is where i messed up my first year, every time my bees wanted to swarm or the hive got crowded i would make nucs then post them up on craigslist or facebook and sell them, then that winter the two 10 frame hives i had did not make it out of january. Last year my second year i bought two package made nucs never will i buy them again, and then bought a couple of hives locally that was already over wintered, one guy i bought from said he used to sit out in a field many years ago and follow bees back to their hive and then remove them and put into 8frames so those bees come from locally wild bees. I did make some splits i mean that seems inevitable when first starting unless you have the money to just keep adding space to the hive but i kept those splits so far the only hives that survived was ones out of local over wintered stock. This will be my third year and i am hoping to go into winter with 10 or 15 hives made out of those over wintered bees. My number 1 goal this year is build up 15 healthy hives any honey will be a bonus even though i give most of it away for now. Also one thing i love about those overwintered bees is i never had to treat them mite counts was low when i checked in august the package nuc bees on the other hand those things was loaded with mights
Sounds like a good plan. I think you'll hit 15 with no problems.
Sounds like a good plan. I think you'll hit 15 with no problems.
After I got into bees I was told it is like golf. It will be much more expensive than you think, take more time than you think, and will be more frustrating than you think.
The 1st two definitely true. I’ve not found it frustrating even though a dead out is close.
You'll see the frustrating side at some point. You'll get a group of bees that just won't accept a queen or one that won't stop making cells, or an angry hive that you just can't work. It happens to all of us. I like the golf analogy, I suck at that too, lol.
This video is great
Thanks brotha.
Do you only treat with formic acid or have you used oxalic as well?
I use formic, oa and apivar. They all have their specific uses.
Some good info friend! Might I suggest doing something with your volume in your video's. It's really hard to hear you at times.
Yep, a microphone is definitely needed. I'll get one before too long hopefully.
@@BKBees do appreciate all the great advice. I went into my first winter with 7 hives this year. I've been documenting my progress on my channel so others can see my mistakes. LOL
My girls made it through the winter!
Congratulations!
Hello! I’m a new subscriber, can you touch base on making money with pollination services? Thank you
Hi Brett. Do you buy your sugar from Walmart or do you buy it in bulk somewhere. I contacted Pioneer sugar here in Michigan. you have to buy 2000 pounds to get for 0.53 cents a pound. still not as cheep as Walmart. Any help on locating a good sugar source would be greatly appreciated.
I need a good bulk source for sugar.
Jody in Fowlerville mi.
I am wondering the same thing you are, unfortunately. I buy walmarts out for miles around every August and September.
@@BKBees Lol I do the same thing. I think I might order a few pallets of sugar from them soon. Thanks for the reply.
Another profit strategy.......make mead. It takes about 12-18lbs of honey (depending on alcohol content desired) to make about 6.5 gallons of mead. That's 33 bottles of mead that can be sold at $18-25 bucks each at the mass marketer scale. You can command a higher price. At the cheapest sold, that's $594 minimum.
Granted, to sell alcohol, you need an alcohol license, but a meadery license is the easiest to get. A beer license is the hardest. Bartering with alcohol is allowed, though. I am not sure how much a hive produces a year on average, but I know it is easier to sell fermented honey than regular honey. Any corner grocery store carries honey, but next to no one sells mead in quantity, for it is rare and desirable.......and the ladies like it.
I've sold honey to meaderies, but I've never made it. I wouldn't have thought the demand would be very high, but I'll take your word for it. I do plan on doing a "Making Money From Bees" series, where we make all of the different hive products, I might need your help when I get to the mead episode.
@@BKBees The demand can vary from place to place, for sure. Gotta be sure there is a demand for it locally or online. The catch is that mead takes about a year to ferment and age properly. I tend to look at a bottle of honey like a drug dealer looks at a kilo. "Let's see....if i cut this with just the right amount of water, I can get more mead out of it...like so......". I don't run a meadery, though I plan to once I get started with bees. It is a retirement plan so I don't get bored.
I know I am a year late, but you mentioned not knowing how much a hive produces in a year. Not sure if I can answer that accurately, (I'm in my first year of beekeeping currently, myself) but I was watching a video earlier today where they were extracting an average of about 3.5 lbs per frame. So what you described would be roughly half of a super if it was completely packed.
And I believe that I've heard a few different youtubing beeks say that if a hive is thriving it can fill out an empty super in about a week during the peak nectar flow.
So... I guess how many of those you would get in a year would depend on how long the flows last in your area and how harsh the winters are (which would help determine how much you need to leave for the colony).
@@johnandjacquelinewarren9979 Ah. Thanks for the answer. We have some fairly random harsh weather here in missouri, so I figure two hives would be a good starting point, just to play it safe. Or maybe one large horizontal hive, for that matter.....to save my back for when I get older. Oh, just fyi, legally you are allowed to produce 32 gallons of alcohol per year for "personal consumption"...so to speak....in missouri.
@@vilefly For those years that you just need to drink a gallon of mead every 4-5 days.... 🤣
I haven't used a horizontal hive, but one nice thing about that idea is you could have more than one colony in there if you want to.
Explain honey sticks, looks like a lot of work. Never seen any supplies such as the straws or equipment to get honey in or sealed
Nah people at our level just buy them from larger manufacturers. It should really only be as an enticement to the area of the store that contains your real honey.
Haha that one had me wondering and searching the internet too...
Sagan! 🤘🏻🤘🏻
Yeah that's a staple on the bookshelf.
Great video I got a ton out of it. My question is I live in Maine I have two big colonies and two small ones. I have a 9 lb package arriving at the beginning of April an PhD two nucs ordered that are set to arrive in in mid to late May. I tried my hand at queen rearing last year failed and none of the cells took. I plan on trying again and I think I will be able to succeed this time. I want to have 30 hives in the next 3 or 4 years. How do you think I should get the word out about my queens? Also how do you think I can expand quickly but also rear 10-15 queens a year to keep my hives with young queens and sell a couple?
I think facebook is a good spot to sell your queens. Make posts when they're almost ready and when they're ready, with pictures of the queens and the resulting brood.
In order to grow and have a queen op, I think it's important to use 5 frame nucs as mating nucs, with the plans to have them go into winter as singles. Use each cell starter once, give it a cell at the end of the round to become a single. Run two or three rounds through your nucs and then give them cells to keep.
Also, feed feed feed. Those nucs need almost constant food, and will need a big influx of syrup when you migrate them to 10's in July or August.
@@BKBees Thanks I really appreciate the advice. I plan on running 3 frame mating nucs. I did the math and I will have all do my queens mated by the 10 of July. I plan on running 6 three frame mating nucs. This means once all of the queens mate in July I will pull three for requeening or selling. Then I will have 18 frames of drawn frames with bees. I will move 6 frames into 3 singles then feed till they fill the 10 frame box. What you think of this plan?
@@thatguy3456 That's perfect. I very much like my success rate when putting nucs into 10's in mid to late July, I don't think it'll take as much food or effort as you think. Good plan.
@@BKBees Thanks I appreciate the help!
This will be my first year I have built some new boxes I have built some hives what were you recommend for the first year I know build up but should I even offer one nuke
Nah, make yourself some nucs if you can, and inspect your bees a lot, writing notes and trying to learn as much as you can. Sell a nuc or two in a couple of years when you're really confident in your skills.
@@BKBees I have found to beekeepers but they don't want to show you anything I asked one why just out of curiosity he told me more he taught me less money he will make in the future I told him I understood and thank you for your time. But I got about 50 nucks built six complete beehives I was thinking about building a couple resource hives where you have the whole box at the bottom and nuke boxes on top have two hives in one box. I was thinking when they build up I could take half and make nukes and if I make all the nuke of them that I need I could just put a honey super on top and let them make honey does that sound right
If you ever get the chance check out "A Canadian beekeepers blog" on UA-cam he's awesome to watch...😁
Ian Steppler and Randy Oliver are really the only other beekeepers I watch on UA-cam. Well them and the occasional 628DirtRooster video. So yeah I agree, lots of great content on Ian's channel.
@@BKBees Then you should look the latest Bob Binnie videos ;-). Greetings from Germany!
@@BKBees I watch you, bushman bees, Ian steppler and if you can sit through a webinar the bibba videos are full of info... especially the Roger Patterson vids. Keep up the great work ....looking forward to this season
your volume sucks i can barely hear your narration.
More recent videos are better. Equipment upgrade.