Beekeeping as a career?

[AdamWalker]

  Hi, I'm a new forum member and of 16 years of age. I am very interested in the honey bees and have been reading all about them and their keeping on the home site. However I was wandering, with all of the time beekeeping consumes as a hobby, and all the money put into it, can it be possible that beekeepers have jobs?? Or is it that they make enough money from selling the honey that they can support themselves and make beekeeping a career?

[JP]

Adam, many will tell you that if you want to get rich, don't expect to do so as a beekeeper.

Not trying to discourage you, but beekeeping is a type of farming. You will have good yrs and bad yrs.

If you want to make it rich and beekeep, get a well paying job and do beekeeping as a hobby.

Perhaps one day you can retire with that hard earned cash and beekeep into your latter yrs.


...JP

[Michael Bush]

Beekeeping is not a very consistent source of income.  Like all agriculture it's tied to the weather and many other things out of your control.  It's a good addition to other pursuits and some people do make a living at it, but it's boom or bust.  IMO it's better to diversify and do beekeeping along with something else to smooth out the cash flow.

[Moonshae]

Beekeeping also tends to be seasonal, so there can be a bit of down time. Many people manage dozens of hives in the evenings after work and on the weekends. I'd bet some people sacrifice much of their vacation time to deal with hive management. If you're doing it as a part-time business, there are sacrifices to be made, just like starting any other small business, whether it's making jewelry, soap, woodcarving, or anything. Even though it may be hard work, enjoying it may help relieve the stress built up from the full-time job that pays most of the bills.

[lovelyembalmer]

I have to agree with the rest.  My husband and I both work and do the bees in the evenings and weekends.  When you have a bad year and loose hives you can figure the price up and can loose from $100.00 to Thousands of $$$.  Unless you get into raising bees and queens, the honey part will not make you alot of money, just at your age, enough for good pocket change.

Keep up the intrest and make it a hobby.  It will keep you out of trouble.

[bassman1977]

Sell nucs.  There was a recent article (I'll find it and post the info when I get home, if I remember) on how you can make $900 per hive, just by selling nucs.

[Ben Framed]

Some go the professional route.  Just a few hives for the benefit of hobby is enough for me.. JP and MB offer good counsel and advise in my opinion...

[BeeMaster2]

I guess that Adam decided not to bee a beekeeper. He started this thread one day and came back the next day to read the answers and never come back on BeeMaster again.
Jim Altmiller

[salvo]

Hi Folks,

Well, you actually can end up with a million dollars,... but, understand, that you must start out with two million dollars.

Sal

[Terri Yaki]

His research revealed that he couldn't make a living at it so he moved on. Maybe he'll return as a hobbyist one day.

[Ben Framed]

Hi Folks,

Well, you actually can end up with a million dollars,... but, understand, that you must start out with two million dollars.

Sal

That is the old saying!   

[JurassicApiary]

I've made a full time job of performing cut-outs and swarm removals...and those bees in time produce honey and provide supplemental income, particularly around the holidays.  The removals, however are my bread and butter--far more lucrative than honey, and I can set my schedule as I see fit, typically doing 2-3 cutouts per week on average + swarms.  It slows in the winter, but that's good because we do fairs with our honey and other products for the holidays, so the schedules compliment each other.  Removal work is demanding enough that I'm upgrading from my pickup truck to a full size Transit van to accommodate all of my equipment.  Find your niche and do your job well; The word will spread...it's the best (and free) advertising.  There's no substitute for hard work.

[Michael Bush]

I've seen this attributed variously to different people, the last was Thomas Jefferson:  "Success is all about luck.  But I've noticed the harder I work the better my luck gets.

[Terri Yaki]

I've made a full time job of performing cut-outs and swarm removals...and those bees in time produce honey and provide supplemental income, particularly around the holidays.  The removals, however are my bread and butter--far more lucrative than honey, and I can set my schedule as I see fit, typically doing 2-3 cutouts per week on average + swarms.  It slows in the winter, but that's good because we do fairs with our honey and other products for the holidays, so the schedules compliment each other.  Removal work is demanding enough that I'm upgrading from my pickup truck to a full size Transit van to accommodate all of my equipment.  Find your niche and do your job well; The word will spread...it's the best (and free) advertising.  There's no substitute for hard work.

I hired a beekeeper years ago to remove a hive (turned out to be three) from a rental property we owned and I think he made a living at it but otherwise, you are the only other one I've heard of doing that. Are there many out there or is it a rarity? Is being on HI a unique situation for it?

[Ben Framed]

I think that is awesome Jurassic! What more could someone ask for? Doing something for a living that you love, while living in what is described as paradise! It's very nice to hear from you with you post (plural) today. Keep up the good work, while keeping up the good post!

PS send pictures. And if you are making videos let us know! JP and Schawee use to do it all the time!

Phillip

[BeeMaster2]

Terri,
I used to do a lot of bee removals from homes, rental properties, commercial properties storage sheds and apartment complexes.
Most of the time I really enjoyed it, sometimes it was a real bear, especially in 98 degree heat and high humidity.
If you want to try it, bee sure to charge properly for your time. I had one job that was in a strip mall tower. I was expecting 6 feet of vertical comb and it ended up being 12 feet tall. A one day job turned into 2 full days with Judy helping me.
Jim Altmiller

[JurassicApiary]

I've seen this attributed variously to different people, the last was Thomas Jefferson:  "Success is all about luck.  But I've noticed the harder I work the better my luck gets.

Ha, I haven't heard that before, but the saying is on point.  I'll add that one to my bank of knowledge.  ;)

[JurassicApiary]

I've made a full time job of performing cut-outs and swarm removals...and those bees in time produce honey and provide supplemental income, particularly around the holidays.  The removals, however are my bread and butter--far more lucrative than honey, and I can set my schedule as I see fit, typically doing 2-3 cutouts per week on average + swarms.  It slows in the winter, but that's good because we do fairs with our honey and other products for the holidays, so the schedules compliment each other.  Removal work is demanding enough that I'm upgrading from my pickup truck to a full size Transit van to accommodate all of my equipment.  Find your niche and do your job well; The word will spread...it's the best (and free) advertising.  There's no substitute for hard work.

I hired a beekeeper years ago to remove a hive (turned out to be three) from a rental property we owned and I think he made a living at it but otherwise, you are the only other one I've heard of doing that. Are there many out there or is it a rarity? Is being on HI a unique situation for it?

There's only but a handful of us on the island that do this.  Of that, perhaps only three of us make a full time job of it...for a population close to 1 million people within a radius of 40 miles.  There's far more demand than we can handle especially in the summer.  I'll get 3-5 calls a day on average...And I can't handle more than 4-6 cutouts a week at peak season...it's exhausting, hot work.  During the winter things slow down, but with all of the family gathering holidays, an uptick occurs as people who ignored bees that moved in during the summer get pressured to remove them to prevent family members from getting stung.  Our primary swarm season is about March through October, although I have been called to swarms in December and January since our weather is nowhere near freezing anytime.

[JurassicApiary]

I think that is awesome Jurassic! What more could someone ask for? Doing something for a living that you love, while living in what is described as paradise! It's very nice to hear from you with you post (plural) today. Keep up the good work, while keeping up the good post!

PS send pictures. And if you are making videos let us know! JP and Schawee use to do it all the time!

Phillip

Indeed, I love doing removals--they challenge me as each is unique.  I love it when customers tell me at the end that it looks like I was never there--that's my goal!  I have been meaning to start posting photos and clips from my removals in the Removals board but haven't gotten around to it.  For a while I was making videos but it's a lot of time to put them together nicely.  But I've been wanting to start that again as well.  Perhaps I'll get some camera equipment for Christmas.    If time permits, I'll post some pics and vids.  In the meantime, here's my new van as I'm in the process of loading and transferring the equipment into it from my truck (it just arrived on the island last week).  I'll have plenty of room for multiple catch boxes (I have 3 bee vac boxes), lots of NUC's for swarms, and other equipment and supplies.  I love that I can stand it fully and walk inside the van without having to duck or bend over...what a relief for my back!  Solid partition between the cargo area and the passenger cab so no bees (hopefully) up with me too often except for an occasional hitchhiker.

[Ben Framed]

Oh yea! You?ve got it going on! Doesnt sound like you have missed a trick! What type bee vacs are you using?

Phillip