On Jul 12, 2005, at 7:42 PM, Grant Gillard wrote:

> My thoughts on moving from hobby beekeeping to sideliner:
>
> I'm headed in the direction of a sideliner, though at present I'm
> only at 60-some hives.  200 hives seems a long way off.


Hmmmm!!!  How do you determine the boundary between hobby beekeeping
and sideliner?  Do you use $$$$s earned,  #####s produced, or number
of colonies?  I am retired, does that make me a full time beekeeper?
(my wife thinks I spend too much time with the bees).  I have kept
bees for over 30 years with as many as 20 colonies and as few as 3.
My production has never exceeded 2000 lbs.  I likely produced 2000
lbs with the 20 colonies but 2 years ago produced 1000 lbs with 4
colonies.  I got tired of colonies that would be OK if I just gave
them time.  Why keep colonies that produce 50 lbs or less when hives
in the same yard produce 300 lbs I thought.  Quality queen-stock from
a reputable breeder is the answer.  I sell all my honey at the end of
the driveway.  I live in an area that attracts tourists, especially
in the autumn.  I have sold $3500 - $4000 in liquid and comb  honey
each year for the last 3 years with a maximum of 6 colonies and
always run out of honey before I run out of customers.  I don't know
how much honey I can sell here before I have to try additional
marketing approaches, but hope that the splitting I did this spring
will bring me close to $10000 from 16 colonies.  $10000 is not enough
to live on but is a substantial portion of the pension we are living
on.  Does this make me a sideliner?

Bob Darrell
Caledon, Ontario
Canada
80W44N
PS  Anyone going to Apimondia in Dublin Ireland?  Maybe we can meet
for a pint

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