Honey Bee Farming Income | Business Ideas

Some people raise bees for a hobby, others do it for a business. As a business, it could raise enough to support a small family. If you have the interest or resources to start a honey farm, explore the possibility of getting into business with it. Our guide will help you by providing some basics of starting a honey farm. Honey farming could be a hobby, but it could also be a full-time job that could support a small family. Small bee farmers can produce average of 100 lbs. of honey per year. If you are into honey farming as a hobby, you can turn that interest into a business. If not, and you are outright interested in getting into business, try working as a beekeeper employee for a while, even just part time, to assess whether beekeeping is indeed for you. You will have to spend some money in the start-up of beekeeping, but before you start investing money, you might want contact beekeepers in your area, who will be happy in helping you out and in most cases point you in the right direction for local beekeeping equipment.

If you are thinking of keeping bees as a hobby or as a sideline business, below is a quick guide to raising bees because there are things you should know before making a start.

The Right Cloths and Equipment Used

• One of the most important pieces of clothing a beekeeper wears is the veil. Bee stings on the face can be very painful and can damage the eyes and ears.

• Wear white or light colored coveralls. If you are not using boots, don’t wear dark socks. Boots that fasten over the coveralls or in the coveralls should be worn. A wind breaker jacket will help you to avoid being stung. Pants, veil, sleeves should be fasten securely so that the bees don’t get in the clothes.

• You will need at least one hive, and a good place to get one is your local store or beekeeping society’s from your area.

• You can buy this equipment new or used. If it is used you will want to make sure it is in good condition, also have it examined by the Apiary Inspection Service for any possibility of disease. The normal price for beekeeping equipment is $250-$450.

• You could build your own hives, which is not difficult at all, if you have the time, but make sure your dimensions are correct because bees will build combs where you least want them.

Getting the Bees.

• There are several ways to acquire bees, no matter which method you choose the right time to buy bees is spring, established colonies will cost you more, but they can be worth the extra money.

Package bees

• The package of bees consists of 2 or 3 pounds of bees with the queen bee in a different cage (Beginners should be able to handle them easily)

Introducing a New Queen

• The most common practice of introducing a new queen requires an introductory period of about three days the queen is placed in a cage and is fed by the colony bees though the wire gauze which covers the cage. The only way she is let go is when workers bees eat the candy entrance, or the beekeeper can decide to let go the queen into the colony self willingly.

• The quality of the queen plays a role in the success of the colony. As a beekeeper you may notice a difference in the production of honey from one colony to the next. The difference in production can depend on several factors, and one being the queen.

• It is obvious that guide is just a quick look at what’s required, make sure you research before you start purchasing equipment, and get all the information so you can make a good decision as to whether bee-keeping might be for you.

Honey Farm Essentials

• If you have decided to pursue the project, be sure you have the farm, vehicles and the equipment needed to start the business. For a small farm, you would need bees with queen, brood chamber, honey containers, honey boxes, attire (hat, veil, and overalls), hive tool, scratcher for unsealing the honey, manual or motorized extractor, and freezer for storing honey. Alternatively, you can operate a large honey farm by buying honey from small farmers and distributing it to schools, restaurants, households, pharmacies and hotels under your own label. Usually, small farmers do not allot time and energy on marketing their produce. As a bigger outfit, with perhaps between 10 and 20 employees, you can do extensive marketing. Expect to spend about $100,000 for fixed assets and working capital when starting.

Tips for Bee Farm Keepers

• Research honey production standards that might be applicable to you. Feeding bees artificial pollen could be an issue in your state.

• If you are taking care of a small honey farm full-time, you can do it alone, but hire someone to help you extract honey when the time comes. You’d need to hire hand for bigger farms or else your operation could fall into pieces for lack of manpower and proper maintenance.

• Employ your family and kids especially if you are farming full-time, it will help keep expenses down and is a good way to start the children young into the business.

• The kind of honey produced depends on what they are fed. Different flowers, because of their different complex sugar ratios, produce different flavors of honey. The most commonly used plants by larger honey producers is canola. Experiment on different kinds of flowers, to see the results. You could specialize in producing a certain kind of honey for a niche market.

• Heat employed when extracting honey affects the quality of honey, some small operations avoid it as much as possible to preserve the quality of their produce.

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