Bob writes:

> The first rule of commercial beekeeping is "healthy hives".
> The quickest way to bankruptcy is 80-90 % losses two years in a row.
> The same with all business but few beeks really look at costs.

I don't think are many (if even any) beekeepers that don't "really
look at costs". Only the astronomically wealthy or people with
Alzheimer's aren't thinking about each and every dollar.

Beekeepers usually diversify. Some get into other hive products,
including the sale of bees. Some buy and sell honey from other
producers. Some hold down other jobs. To define a commercial beekeeper
as one who makes ALL his living from bees is unfair and wrong.

I prefer a definition that includes anyone who is *trying to make most
of their living from bees* and/or has at least 300 hives. Having this
many hives or more is definitely no hobby.

Your "first rule" is bit of a hard nut to crack. Really, the first
rule is to have a business that is in the black. Naturally one can't
hope to do this with diseased bees, but we are in an era where few
people have really healthy hives, or if they do, they only have them
by never letting their guard down. "Let alone" beekeeping is a thing
of the past.

As far as taking those sort of losses goes, that is precisely why
beekeepers must diversify. In the past, beekeepers had plenty of bad
seasons. That's why so many got big into pollination. There are plenty
of locations that are fabulous some years and some years no honey is
made.

Beekeeping is not farming like raising raisins. You can get insurance
on most crops so if you have a bad year you can ride it out. The savvy
beekeeper is trying to make money a variety of ways: pollinate, sell
nucs, bottle honey, teach, do research, you name it.

In fact, I don't know anybody who doesn't "really look at costs". The
days of driving into town because "we've run out of milk" are over
when the gas to go and get it costs more than the milk.

-- 
Peter L Borst
Danby, NY USA
42.35, -76.50
http://picasaweb.google.com/peterlborst

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