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The Business of Beekeeping
Some Things to Consider When Launching a Commercial Operation
By: Ross Conrad
While beekeeping can be a fun and interesting backyard activity, it can also be a profitable business and does not require a large bank loan to get started. If a beekeeper is adept at proper hive management, does not take on too much debt all at once and is willing to consider multiple income streams, a small profit can be realized within the first year or two.
Start up investment
Getting started in beekeeping today will typically run somewhere between $800-$1400 for a hive or two. This just covers the basics: bees, hive components and equipment, a hive tool, smoker and veil. Too many times I have heard the story of a person that starts out with around ten hives, and harvests hundreds of pounds, or even a thousand pounds of honey their first year. Dollar signs appear in their eyes and they make big plans to expand and get serious about beekeeping as a business the following season, only to never be heard from again. Beekeeping is farming and there are no guarantees in agriculture. While some may be tempted to jump in whole hog, a more considered approach is to build a business slowly, keeping costs to a minimum and increasing your skill and competence as you go.
Location
A beekeeper can own, rent or try to find free locations to set up their apiaries where their bees can forage. Many beekeepers will offer a case of honey (approximately 30 pounds) annually to a property owner who makes their land available as an apiary site. Beeyards that are surrounded by lots of pollinator forage and host a minimal amount of industrial agriculture activity are the most valuable places to keep bees. Where ever you decide to keep bees, be sure to follow the municipal beekeeping ordinances and state regulations for registering hives and operating a honey processing facility. In some places hives are kept stationary year-around, while in other areas bees are moved during the season, sometimes multiple times a season. Much depends on the beekeeper’s goals and the amount and quality of local forage as well as the number of hives the area can support, which is something established beekeepers in the area can inform you about. Other factors that make an ideal apiary location are easy accessibility, a local water source, a respectful distance from other people and apiaries and a well-drained location. In Northern areas it can be beneficial to have a wind break of some kind (hedge row, building, fence, etc.) to block the prevailing winds. In Southern and desert locations afternoon shade is advisable, while full sun exposure is usually preferable in the north.
The honey house
Every beekeeping business will need a place to assemble and repair equipment, extract and package honey, mix up bee feed, store honey and equipment, etc. If you are single you can probably work out of your house initially, but if you are married or have a partner and want to maintain domestic harmony, find a separate place to conduct your beekeeping work. Some beekeepers will rent a place while others will build a ‘honey house’ specifically designed to make handling equipment and honey efficient. Large operations will have a dedicated building for their business, while smaller operations and those just getting started might use a shed or garage. Whatever you use, make sure it is well maintained and keeps out bees, rodents and other pests.
Transportation
Whether you own, lease or borrow, you will need a vehicle for moving bees and hauling equipment, honey, etc., from one place to another. While some beekeepers will use a station wagon or pickup truck, large operations typically use flat-bed trucks often equipped with a bee boom, or carrying a forklift, so hives do not have to be moved by hand.
Sourcing bees
Whether you obtain full sized colonies complete with equipment, purchase packages and queens, buy nucleus colonies, or split your existing colonies, you will need a source of bees. Ordering bees through the mail is risky as the bees may die during transport. Some beekeepers work with animal control agencies, along with police and fire departments to catch swarms and remove colonies that have taken up residence in buildings or other unwanted places. Using bait hives to catch swarms is typically not reliable enough a process to build a business upon.
Income generation
For-profit beekeeping can extend far beyond simply selling honey along with the byproduct of honey production: beeswax. While the largest beekeepers earn their incomes primarily by providing pollination services, depending on your goals, there are numerous ways to make money commercially from bees.
Besides honey, beeswax and pollination, the basic products from the hive that have the potential to be harvested in quantity include royal jelly, pollen and propolis, and to a much lesser extent, honey bee larvae and bee venom. All the products from the hive can be combined with each other and/or additional ingredients to produce a myriad of value added products such as candles, salves, balms, flavored and varietal honey, creamed or crystallized honey, comb or chunk honey, soaps, moisturizers, face masks, creams, shampoo, honey sticks and candies, the list goes on.
Buying out another operation is a common way for beekeepers to obtain good apiary locations in areas that are already saturated with bees.
Another source of revenue that can be created from honey bee colonies and is increasingly in higher and higher demand as the environment becomes more and more degraded, are bees themselves. Packages, nucleus colonies and queen bees are highly sought after as new beekeepers take up the craft and experienced beekeepers seek to replace annual losses, or look to expand their operations. There is also a small but important market for swarm removal services available to those with carpentry skills and tools.
The steep learning curve required for a beginner beekeeper today has also created a need for teachers, mentors and guides to help new beekeepers get up to speed. This has created a strong demand for beekeeping classes, workshops and consultation services from experienced beekeepers. Many local beekeeping organizations offer such services to their members, but often the need outweighs availability. Such educational work can be done in person or online, or the written word through articles, blogs and books.
Back in the days of the California gold rush, the most reliable way to earn a solid living was not to pan or mine for gold, but to sell tools, equipment and supplies to the hoards of fortune seekers that flocked west in search of riches. Unfortunately, given the existential threats to beekeeping from the onslaught of chemical based agriculture and our collective inability to get serious about ending the production and use of fossil fuels, keeping bees alive and healthy is more challenging than ever. If you’re not having luck keeping bees themselves, a more reliable way to earn money in the beekeeping industry may well be to simply offer beekeeping equipment and supplies to other beekeepers and not try to earn a living from the bees directly.
Markets and marketing
Who are your customers going to be and how do you intend to reach them? It’s easy to start out working with family, friends, neighbors and word of mouth, but how do you intend to reach beyond this circle? Are you going to focus on retail or wholesale markets? Will you offer everyday household items, high end or commodity products? How will you stand out from the competition? Can you offer better pricing, higher quality or a unique product or service that is not readily available in your area? The answer to such questions will help you determine the kinds of packaging and labeling you will use.
“Every beekeeping business needs reliable transportation. This lean, green, beekeeping machine was converted over 15 years ago to run on waste vegetable oil that I collect from local restaurants. With over 470,000 miles on the odometer, she is still going strong.”
When it comes to reaching new customers, the minimum requirements are a business card and a website. After that, you’ll need to decide whether to add additional marketing channels such as catalogues, or through newspapers, magazines and newsletters as well as online advertising and social media. When advertising, it is a good idea to somehow measure the effectiveness of each ad so you can direct resources to those avenues that work best. For example, offering a coupon and seeing how many are redeemed is one way to get a sense of how many people are coming to you as a result of a particular advertising channel.
Turning a backyard operation into a sideline business can be a fun and profitable way to expand your beekeeping activities. With forethought, planning and clear goals in mind your chances of success increase greatly.
Ross Conrad is the author or Natural Beekeeping and co-author of The Land of Milk and Honey
