NZBF Does the beekeeping industry makes you excited to get into the field?

[Gabor 337]

On 9/02/2019 at 11:03 AM, yesbut said:

Illegal. 

it is without the consent of the property owner or person in charge of the area you are wanting to fly above.

Not illegal with consent.

 

 

[Jamo 261]

I was excited to be going to today's lunch spot.

Edited February 11 by Jamo

[Gabor 337]

I would not mind going commercial, but.

First of all, there is a giant surplus of honey, prices are low. And I live in a small house in Auckland, I don't even have room for 4 hives at my own place so I would need places elsewhere, places without bees and I don't think it would easy to come by, having a million hives in the country. Competition is OK, but get hundreds of hives starving in overcrowded areas is not competition, just crazy. Plus the wood shop, storage, place for extraction, vehicle(s) , overhead... 

I would export (I guess) and that comes further costs. (I'm just speculating like I have the proper knowledge to scale up anyway :) 

It is an interesting field and not easy, no quick money at that but I would think twice to invest in it now. 

[Daley 4085]

1 hour ago, Gabor said:

I would not mind going commercial, but.

First of all, there is a giant surplus of honey, prices are low. And I live in a small house in Auckland, I don't even have room for 4 hives at my own place so I would need places elsewhere, places without bees and I don't think it would easy to come by, having a million hives in the country. Competition is OK, but get hundreds of hives starving in overcrowded areas is not competition, just crazy. Plus the wood shop, storage, place for extraction, vehicle(s) , overhead... 

I would export (I guess) and that comes further costs. (I'm just speculating like I have the proper knowledge to scale up anyway :) 

It is an interesting field and not easy, no quick money at that but I would think twice to invest in it now. 

That sums up most sensible peoples opinions I think

[Gabor 337]

4 minutes ago, Daley said:

That sums up most sensible peoples opinions I think

 

I take it as a compliment. 

I have huge blind spots how the commercials are operating, I only have a vague understanding of it. I watch loads of beekeeping videos on YT, mostly locals and Australians and some canadian ones and read this forum a lot, it always pays what one can read between the lines written by commercials...

 

I tried to do the maths and find out how many hives (what size of operation) would mean viable business with some minor safety nets, allocations for unplanned events etc. and I failed miserably.

Every new hive brings lots of things with it (woodware costs, foundation/wax on frames, travel costs, time, clothes wear and tear, treatment cost, splits, requeening, cost of extraction, storage, lifespan of boxes and frames, smoker fuel, spring feed, you name it) and to be honest I thought it is a backbreaking but simple work mostly in beautiful places. Came out it is way more complex than I assumed initially, not just from the financial side but the practical operation, plannign ahead, and so on. I was totally right with the beautiful places tho

 

If the industry would not be this crowded, small operations struggling/driven out by externally funded big players, I would be happy to take the risk but from my point of view a small one either must do something very special to survive or facing mountains of disadvantages to start a business out of commercial beekeeping. I don't really believe a hobbist with few colonies in the garden can turn it to a stable, lucrative business. Maybe in a very long run, constantly investing in it for years. 

 

And 500g of honey in the supermarket is still $10-12