Cost, yield and the numbers that change what you do next season.
Honey sells; the question is whether it sells for more than it costs, across enough hives, to be worth the work. Where a beekeeping business makes its money, what each hive really costs, how many hives an income takes, how to price honey, and the rules that come with selling food.
Read the post »Typical figures for the first hive, the second one, and the year-on-year costs of feed, treatments, replacements and jars, with the income side alongside. What the averages leave out, and why the number that matters is the one your own records will give you.
Read the post »Most beekeepers know their total spend and their total income. Very few know which apiary is carrying the others, what a kilo of honey cost them to produce, or which hives lost money for two years running. The per-hive figure is the one that changes what you do next season.
Read the post »