Food for thought..........Mobile Honey Rendering Service

[Dr/B]

FYI.........food for thought


I was talking to another local beekeeper friend of mine, and he said he was going to take an old small rv camper and remodel it into a mobile honey rendering booth.  He's going to tear out the insides of this camper, and remodel it to be a one-stop honey processing "plant".  Waterproof everything, so when he finished he could even hose this camper out.  He wants to market his services to local beekeepers, and  have it where he can pull up to any beeyard, pull off the frames, sling the honey, filter, and jar, and replace the frames........all in one place........and all for a fee of course.  A one-stop processing plant.  I would guess he'd need the usual camper hook-ups with electric and water, or he'd hook up a generator with pressure water tank and be self-contained.

Here in Miss, the Dept. of Health regulates all honey processors.  If you sell honey, and render it yourself, you have to be inspected like any other retail food processor.  This little camper could be inspected by the Dept. of Health as well, and still be mobile, just like the hotdog stands you see at the county fairs. 

Anyone ever heard of anybody else doing this?


Dr/B :)

[rdy-b]

I thought about this while i was shuttling suppers back and forth. if it is your honey it might be worth it but there are places to take your honey and get it spun for 10-cents a pound. honey is heavy hard to haul alot any distance and still make money. small mobile trailer and such would not be able to spin enough and put in buckets or drums in one day and get passed minimum wage :-\ how much would you pay to have it done per pound? drums go for a buck or there about per pound. do you think somebody would spend 25-cents to have a man come and take care of it for him. thats 25% maybe you could do it for honey ? still need to get at-least four buckets for you so you make enough for a day and the rig. if you pull and spin 20 mediums thats about 10 buckets or 600lbs 4 buckets is 240lbs not quite half but still the man is losing to much honey i guess thats why they call it a hobby may be if you spread it out over a months time you could make something but i dont think a ho-bow rig would turn a profit  8-)

[Dr/B]

I've not really give it much thought, other than the novel of the idea. 

If it were me doin' it, I'd just use it at my own various bee yards for processing.  Also help out my local beekeeper friends for swapping honey, bees, queens and/or the labor.  I know one friend that has helped me for free, splitting hives, giving me free queens, etc..... just to be neighborly.  Most beekeepers I know are some super great people, and help each other as much as their spare time allows.


Dr/B :roll:

[rdy-b]

you will get better results if you tool up in your barn or shed you will be able to Help your friends out and maintain goodwill  that way you can grow or not there are just to many restrictions on a mobile unit if you do it right it is like playing monopoly with real money always put some back into the operation and dont become a slave to it ether  RDY-B

[steve]

And then there's the issue of passing along AFB..........
                                                         Steve

[Dr/B]

you will get better results if you tool up in your barn or shed

Here in this State, you cann't just "tool up in your barn or shed".  Or I should say you can if you don't get caught.  The Health Dept now wants to inspect where you process and require the same health codes as any retail food provider.  Ideally, one of my out buildings would be perfect, except for the health codes they are starting to enforce.  Dedicated hot water, drainage, garbage disposal..........all of which we've always took excellent care of these areas, but now the State has their own criteria you must meet.  The State claims it's related to recent Homeland Security and the safety of the food chain.  Honey sold to other retailers has to labeled where it was processed, name, addresses, etc.... and retailers are supposed to ask to see your Health Dept. certification.  I'm hearing more and more of "drop-in" inspections by the State inspectors.  It's getting more regulated than it used to be.  We used to to set up anywhere and process like we want to, but now the State more and more is getting involved.

there are just to many restrictions on a mobile unit

And now, more and more restrictions on home honey processing, at least in my State.


Dr/B 8-)

[Dr/B]

And then there's the issue of passing along AFB..........
                                                         Steve

I see your point but it's really no more risk than any other honey processor.  As long as you wash down/clean your equipment good and don't mix frames between different beeyards, I wouldn't think it'd be a problem.

[Jerrymac]

What is your state Dr/B?

[Dr/B]

What is your state Dr/B?

Mississippi

[Understudy]

You can do that in Florida but it must be inspected. I don't see why you couldn't in Miss. I am sure they have a way to accamodate the fair vendors when they come to town. You may have to register as a mobile vendor.

I am not sure about being able to service other beekeepers with it though. The AFB issue is one item. You could not feed honey back to the bees once it entered the extractor. The frames would most likely have to be redone. Maybe there is a cleaning method that could be used inbetween each beekeepers crop but you could only do one beekeeper at a time and could not comingle the hive bodies in the same area.

There are beekeeper associations that do a common lend lease among it's members but each member must throughly clean the extractor. There may be other conditions.

Sincerely,
Brendhan

[rdy-b]

around here the homeland security issue comes with a weight restriction and we arnt processing because we do not use heat that is we do not cook anything we are allowed to sell UNPROCESSED and RAW with a producers certificate. sounds like they have you tied up six ways to sunday  gota    do what you  gota do  ;) RDY-B