1:03 20 to 40 pounds of honey per hive per year, did I got that right? So that's 9 to 18 kg. So to make an average full time income, you need about 800 hives. Is that so different in Wales compared to Germany or did I mistake that beautiful Welch dialect? :) I read about 50 kg per hive on many sources.
It’s 20lb in a really bad year and up to 140lb in a really good year. You need a lot of bees to make a living unless you jar it up yourself and sell nucs and or queens on the side.
@@gwenyngruffydd Thanks for the reply. Ok that sounds what I expected. I planned 200 hives, producing 5-10 tons of honey, jarring them myself and sell for 6-12 € per kg, should make 60 000 € yearly. We'll see if I can make it :)
My bee mentor had a couple of hives set up for propolis collection. He puts a sheet of mesh between the top super and crown board. The bees don't like the holes in the mesh and so fill them with propolis. To harvest, remove the mesh and flex it over a sheet so that the propolis flakes off.
Great video, thank you. Here's another idea for your list: if allowed in your area, you can use honey to make mead (honey wine), or as a carbohydrate source for making beer. Making money at this may be a regulatory "rabbit hole," but at least beer and mead are great products to barter with.
Hi, That’s very true. And I know of 2 beekeepers that make mead. One does a beer mead and another makes a wine mead. That should have definitely gone on the list. Thanks for the comment 😊
Loads more regulations and papers to sign with HMRC (if uk based) if you are to make meads. It's what I'm setting up a business doing currently and it's mind blowing how little advice there is online for it.
Great video and some important info that I havent come across any where else on youtube. Just a quick question. Land? You have a farm but how does one get going when they dont have a farm or land? Thanks Joey, Cork, Ire.
Joey Byrne hi, thanks! 😊 When I started keeping bees I didn’t have a farm or land. Even now most of my bees are on other people’s land and I pay them rent. Some people want bees on their land for no money..they are happy with the pollination that the bees do. I started with 2 hives in my parents garden. Then added bees at my parents in laws garden and worked up. Hope that’s useful?😊
Could you make up nuc with bees from supers when you are taking them off. And put mated queen in with them and get her established, then sell the nuc the following spring
Yes can’t see why not. Would need to move the nuc to another site if your not using brood frames to stop the bees flying back to the original location.
Hi gwenyn .I live permanently in uk because I’m working in a Greek company so at the moment I’m based here,my family got a honey business back home in Greece and produce quite big amount of honey each year I was wondering how easy is to sell honey in uk and which is the easiest way to sell it. Thanks in advance and keep up the good work,great videos 👍🏻
Hi, there is a good demand for honey in the U.K. most of the honey is imported. As we can only produce around 14% of demand. It’s relatively easy to sell U.K. honey in the U.K. as it’s in short supply. There will be a demand for imported honey but you will probably need to go through a packager and sell it in bulk. Unless you have a good brand in Greece and enter the market with an established brand. Are you thinking of selling Greek honey in the U.K.?
Gwenyn Gruffydd thanks for the reply,only 14%? 😲😲that’s because of the weather or because there aren’t many beekeepers?Yes I am thinking about it but I’m not sure if it’s worth it to try it and what’s the best way in order to make a profit of it . 🤔
Paok 1 9 2 6 Salonica yes it’s a bit of both. Weather can be very poor here and compared to other parts of the U.K. we don’t have the same number of bee farmers. There will be existing suppliers selling honey in bulk into the U.K. the best route into the U.K. would be through them. 😊
Dude I have just subscribed to your channel. Great video, I actually live in France so the regs here are probably really different to the UK. Ok so I want to get into beekeeping, at a bit of a crossroads with work. The factory I work for here is shutting down this year and part of French law is any big company shut down is to help the employees find new work of offer them a good wedge of money to start their own business. My question is, Is beekeeping lucrative enough to pull a good salary? And how many hives do you reckon are needed to be a full time beekeeper? Cheers Barret
Thanks Chris! 😁 Sorry to hear your losing your job. The average beefarmer has roughly 250hives. But you don’t need that much if you offer or sell other services or products as well. That would be a lot of work if you haven’t kept bees before. Start small build up the skill and knowledge and expand. That’s how I did it. I still work part time + I’m a beefarmer and livestock farmer. It’s great to have a diverse portfolio but great if you can tie them up under one brand. (That’s what I’m doing) My wife is also part of the buisness and she does all the admin and sales where I do the Beekeeing and farming. But Beekeeing is the biggest part of my portfolio and what I enjoy the most and will continue to expand on it. Hope that helps 😊 It’s doable and you’ll get better honey yields in France due to the weather. You have a lot of things going for you Beekeeing in France 😊👍🏻
@@gwenyngruffydd thanks for the reply. Yeah weather is pretty good here so we are quite luck but there are no bees, none at all. I put sugar water out just to attract some to garden to gauge the number of bees in my area and in two days there none. I grew up in South Africa and a tray of sugar water would have been carried away by the bees. I am a little disappointed to be honest. After a bit of research I have discovered that the bee populations in France are in massive decline, which is quite disturbing. Pesticides are the main culprit, climate change has not helped the situation either. I actually had the opportunity to train as a beekeeping while I lived in the UK, the local beekeeper offered me a job but I foolishly turned it down, now I am regretting my decision at the time. Such is life. All the best with your bees and great content. Oh yeah and the rugby 🏉👍🐝
Hi, we moving up the Highlands in two weeks. We got 20 acres of land 2 of that is flowered gardens, we going to start growing our own fruit and vegetables. My question iS how many hives should I get and when should I purchase them. I’m booking on a course in Inverness next year and hoping to get someone to help me until I’m use to it. Stay save. X
Hi! Exiting times!! 😁😁 to start I would say at least 2 hives. That gives you a lot more management options compared to 1. I would purchase the empty hives over winter then buy the colony of bees in the spring. No point buying bees now. Doing a course is very beneficial 😊 Good luck on your new adventure 😁😁
Great video! You mentioned about the pollination contracting, how would you get involved with that as bullmers have a lot of orchards near me? Thank you
Two ways really. 1. Call to see the landowner 2. I know the beefarmer manage a lot of contracts to members so you will need to be a member to gain access to it. My guess bullmers will be tied up. But the smaller independent growers would be your best bet. At the end of the day....don’t ask...don’t get! So it’s always worth starting a conversation. Hope that helps 😊
Hey Gwenyn. I live in the UK and I`ve been passionate about beekeeping and bee farming. Unfortunately I live in the city, Manchester and I am unable to live out of this passion alone but I was wondering if you know a website or a community where I could get connected and find small beekeeper businesses where I could invest or become partner? Thank you for your effort i sharing your knowledge. Great work!
Hi, Not aware of any websites that offer that. That’s a new concept for me. You could join your local Beekeeing association there will be lots of local beekeepers in that group you may be able to team up with?
Jake and Rebecca Schmitt hi, I would say 150-200 hives to be safe if that was your only source of income. If you have another source of income then 50-100 will be enough. Glad you liked the video! And thanks for the question
Slavomir Dzugan bulk price is very different to retail too. Bulk honey price in drums would be £2.80-£3.50 per pound for British Honey. British honey is very rare. 14% of honey in the U.K. is British.
@@gwenyngruffydd i see, i am surprised so few entrepreneurial people are not willing to jump on the boat as there is a solid business potential and you get to help the nature a bit, perhaps some incentives from government would go a long way and also education of the children to get them interested
@@slavomirdzugan8282 Agree, the biggest problem we have here is the weather!! Some summers are a total wash out!! That does increase the risk of the business.
@@gwenyngruffydd Someone said to me that in the north of England beekeeping wasn't a fruitful business cause there's no money in it. Hence my question. Thank you.
This is one of the best bee business video I seen mate ! Thanks for sharing
Thank you! Glad you enjoyed it! 😁
This is my first year of Beekeeping Thanks for the pointers - a really useful insight.
No problem! Good luck on the journey of Beekeeing 😊
1:03 20 to 40 pounds of honey per hive per year, did I got that right? So that's 9 to 18 kg. So to make an average full time income, you need about 800 hives.
Is that so different in Wales compared to Germany or did I mistake that beautiful Welch dialect? :) I read about 50 kg per hive on many sources.
It’s 20lb in a really bad year and up to 140lb in a really good year.
You need a lot of bees to make a living unless you jar it up yourself and sell nucs and or queens on the side.
@@gwenyngruffydd Thanks for the reply. Ok that sounds what I expected. I planned 200 hives, producing 5-10 tons of honey, jarring them myself and sell for 6-12 € per kg, should make 60 000 € yearly. We'll see if I can make it :)
My bee mentor had a couple of hives set up for propolis collection. He puts a sheet of mesh between the top super and crown board. The bees don't like the holes in the mesh and so fill them with propolis. To harvest, remove the mesh and flex it over a sheet so that the propolis flakes off.
It’s amazing how much they can produce!! 😄
I love the backup singers.
😂 the joys of filming videos and lambing at the same time
Backup singers? No, that's Wednesday and Thursday night.
Great video all in one info, even about sponsoring a hive great idea.
Thank you! 😊
Thank you for the video, good tips. I will have to cracking making more hives I think. LOL.
Hi Sylvia, glad you liked the video😊 thanks for the comment 🐝🐝
Beekeeper from Morocco, good luck👍
Thanks for watching from Morocco 😄👍🏻👍🏻
Great video, thank you. Here's another idea for your list: if allowed in your area, you can use honey to make mead (honey wine), or as a carbohydrate source for making beer. Making money at this may be a regulatory "rabbit hole," but at least beer and mead are great products to barter with.
Hi,
That’s very true. And I know of 2 beekeepers that make mead. One does a beer mead and another makes a wine mead.
That should have definitely gone on the list. Thanks for the comment 😊
Loads more regulations and papers to sign with HMRC (if uk based) if you are to make meads. It's what I'm setting up a business doing currently and it's mind blowing how little advice there is online for it.
I bet, sorry but I have zero information on mead regs.
@@gwenyngruffydd it's alright, I've (finally) got all the info I need now. It's a bloody nightmare though
That’s good! One good thing about it being hard is.....it puts other people off less competition for you!! 😄
Great video and some important info that I havent come across any where else on youtube. Just a quick question. Land? You have a farm but how does one get going when they dont have a farm or land?
Thanks
Joey, Cork, Ire.
Joey Byrne hi, thanks! 😊
When I started keeping bees I didn’t have a farm or land. Even now most of my bees are on other people’s land and I pay them rent.
Some people want bees on their land for no money..they are happy with the pollination that the bees do.
I started with 2 hives in my parents garden. Then added bees at my parents in laws garden and worked up.
Hope that’s useful?😊
Could you make up nuc with bees from supers when you are taking them off. And put mated queen in with them and get her established, then sell the nuc the following spring
Yes can’t see why not. Would need to move the nuc to another site if your not using brood frames to stop the bees flying back to the original location.
Thanks for the great knowledge you share, beekeeper from Morocco.
Thanks for watching! 👍🏻
I came for the info, I stayed for the accent
thanks for watching and staying!! 😀
Hi gwenyn .I live permanently in uk because I’m working in a Greek company so at the moment I’m based here,my family got a honey business back home in Greece and produce quite big amount of honey each year I was wondering how easy is to sell honey in uk and which is the easiest way to sell it.
Thanks in advance and keep up the good work,great videos 👍🏻
Hi, there is a good demand for honey in the U.K. most of the honey is imported. As we can only produce around 14% of demand.
It’s relatively easy to sell U.K. honey in the U.K. as it’s in short supply.
There will be a demand for imported honey but you will probably need to go through a packager and sell it in bulk. Unless you have a good brand in Greece and enter the market with an established brand.
Are you thinking of selling Greek honey in the U.K.?
Gwenyn Gruffydd thanks for the reply,only 14%? 😲😲that’s because of the weather or because there aren’t many beekeepers?Yes I am thinking about it but I’m not sure if it’s worth it to try it and what’s the best way in order to make a profit of it . 🤔
Paok 1 9 2 6 Salonica yes it’s a bit of both. Weather can be very poor here and compared to other parts of the U.K. we don’t have the same number of bee farmers.
There will be existing suppliers selling honey in bulk into the U.K. the best route into the U.K. would be through them. 😊
Paok 1 9 2 6 Salonica you could contact independent Greek food stores if there are any? That should be a good route in too. 😊
Dude I have just subscribed to your channel.
Great video, I actually live in France so the regs here are probably really different to the UK.
Ok so I want to get into beekeeping, at a bit of a crossroads with work. The factory I work for here is shutting down this year and part of French law is any big company shut down is to help the employees find new work of offer them a good wedge of money to start their own business.
My question is, Is beekeeping lucrative enough to pull a good salary? And how many hives do you reckon are needed to be a full time beekeeper?
Cheers Barret
Thanks Chris! 😁
Sorry to hear your losing your job. The average beefarmer has roughly 250hives. But you don’t need that much if you offer or sell other services or products as well.
That would be a lot of work if you haven’t kept bees before. Start small build up the skill and knowledge and expand. That’s how I did it.
I still work part time + I’m a beefarmer and livestock farmer. It’s great to have a diverse portfolio but great if you can tie them up under one brand. (That’s what I’m doing)
My wife is also part of the buisness and she does all the admin and sales where I do the Beekeeing and farming.
But Beekeeing is the biggest part of my portfolio and what I enjoy the most and will continue to expand on it.
Hope that helps 😊
It’s doable and you’ll get better honey yields in France due to the weather. You have a lot of things going for you Beekeeing in France 😊👍🏻
@@gwenyngruffydd thanks for the reply. Yeah weather is pretty good here so we are quite luck but there are no bees, none at all. I put sugar water out just to attract some to garden to gauge the number of bees in my area and in two days there none. I grew up in South Africa and a tray of sugar water would have been carried away by the bees. I am a little disappointed to be honest. After a bit of research I have discovered that the bee populations in France are in massive decline, which is quite disturbing. Pesticides are the main culprit, climate change has not helped the situation either. I actually had the opportunity to train as a beekeeping while I lived in the UK, the local beekeeper offered me a job but I foolishly turned it down, now I am regretting my decision at the time. Such is life. All the best with your bees and great content. Oh yeah and the rugby 🏉👍🐝
Barret Mcdermid 😁 well I hope you pick it up and get bees into the area! 😁😁🐝
Thanks for the support 😊
Hi, we moving up the Highlands in two weeks. We got 20 acres of land 2 of that is flowered gardens, we going to start growing our own fruit and vegetables. My question iS how many hives should I get and when should I purchase them. I’m booking on a course in Inverness next year and hoping to get someone to help me until I’m use to it. Stay save. X
Hi!
Exiting times!! 😁😁 to start I would say at least 2 hives. That gives you a lot more management options compared to 1.
I would purchase the empty hives over winter then buy the colony of bees in the spring.
No point buying bees now.
Doing a course is very beneficial 😊
Good luck on your new adventure 😁😁
Max is 10 hives an acre. Spread them over the land to keep the disease down
Great video! You mentioned about the pollination contracting, how would you get involved with that as bullmers have a lot of orchards near me? Thank you
Two ways really.
1. Call to see the landowner
2. I know the beefarmer manage a lot of contracts to members so you will need to be a member to gain access to it.
My guess bullmers will be tied up. But the smaller independent growers would be your best bet.
At the end of the day....don’t ask...don’t get!
So it’s always worth starting a conversation.
Hope that helps 😊
Gwenyn Gruffydd okay thanks! I have a small herd of cattle and bees so finding your videos very helpful
James Parslow that means a lot to me. 😊 glad your enjoying them and getting value from it.
just found your channel and subbed ,, thumbs-up,, thank you for the video, bee blessed and safe
Thanks Russ!! and you too. Wish you all the best!
You are the goat. Thank you so much.
Thank you 😊 although I’m not sure about that! 😅
Hey Gwenyn. I live in the UK and I`ve been passionate about beekeeping and bee farming. Unfortunately I live in the city, Manchester and I am unable to live out of this passion alone but I was wondering if you know a website or a community where I could get connected and find small beekeeper businesses where I could invest or become partner?
Thank you for your effort i sharing your knowledge. Great work!
Hi,
Not aware of any websites that offer that. That’s a new concept for me.
You could join your local Beekeeing association there will be lots of local beekeepers in that group you may be able to team up with?
@@gwenyngruffydd Thank you so much for the advice. I will look into it. Keep up the good content, you are killing it.
Thanks Victor, much appreciated 😊👍🏻
very insightful. good channel. Greetings from Uganda
Thanks 😊
Great video man! How many hives do you need to keep to be able to make a decent living?
Jake and Rebecca Schmitt hi, I would say 150-200 hives to be safe if that was your only source of income.
If you have another source of income then 50-100 will be enough.
Glad you liked the video! And thanks for the question
If you're in the UK, is it pounds or kilos?
Kilos first but you can still have the pound next to it
When does the bee farmer magazine come out Normally doyou know
I think there’s one out imminently!
I really like this video!
Thanks 😊
Hello in Uganda how can get trained in bee keeping because I have an interest
Probably the best thing to do is find a local beekeeper to you and help him out. Or a beekeeping group or club would be better
how much is it nowadays for a pound of honey sold to buying out company in UK?
Slavomir Dzugan retail is between £6-£10 per 1lb jar of honey.
@@gwenyngruffydd wow, you guys are lucky, you can get ballpark of 2-2.50 euros from large buyers in europe if you sell more than 1500kg
Slavomir Dzugan bulk price is very different to retail too. Bulk honey price in drums would be £2.80-£3.50 per pound for British Honey. British honey is very rare. 14% of honey in the U.K. is British.
@@gwenyngruffydd i see, i am surprised so few entrepreneurial people are not willing to jump on the boat as there is a solid business potential and you get to help the nature a bit, perhaps some incentives from government would go a long way and also education of the children to get them interested
@@slavomirdzugan8282 Agree, the biggest problem we have here is the weather!! Some summers are a total wash out!! That does increase the risk of the business.
Is it true that there's no money in beekeeping in the north of England?
Plenty of forage in north of England. And plenty of heather the further up you go.
@@gwenyngruffydd Someone said to me that in the north of England beekeeping wasn't a fruitful business cause there's no money in it. Hence my question. Thank you.
Wales is probably one on the hardest places to make a living from beefarming due to the level of rain we get. North of England will be ok 👍🏻
@@gwenyngruffydd Thank you so much for your reply. What you said gives me lots of encouragement.
😊😊😊
Great video 💪💪💪
Thanks 😊
A guy from Wales, with a sheep in the background. For some reason I'm not surprised 🤔.
This video was made at lambing time when all the sheep were in the shed!! lol
nice background music 🐐🐄
😃😃
@@gwenyngruffydd stay blessed ✅💯
The accent is like a jamaican with UK
😁😂😂
@@gwenyngruffydd All respect though man thanks for the information. Happy New Year!
@@yellowstoneranch9251 your welcome 😊 happy new year to you too