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Wed, 13 Jul 2005 01:14:55 -0400 |
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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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