I agree with those who have pointed out that there are quite a few years
of scarcity mixed in with the bumper crops in the bee business. This is
my 7th year operating commercially, and we have had 2 honey years, one
marginal year, and 4 years that were very disappointing (including this
one). Fortunately this year, although the beekeeping has been bad, the
fishing has been excellent-- I never thought I'd catch so many huge
salmon, seabass, and albacore. That's another story though, but I can't
help talking about the fishing because it has been great.
Anyway, I started with 2 hives, have almost 500 now. My initial goal
was to double the hive count every year, but I have been averaging a bit
under double every year recently because everything is so expensive.
Has been quite a roller coaster, but that does keep it interesting, and
the entertainment value is really what it is all about for me. My goal
remains to grow to 2,000 hives, but right now I am at a transitional
point where I need to adjust management practices / learn new skills to
increase efficiency for handling more hives. By the way I finally
bought my own bee truck this year since the rental truck broke down last
winter in the almond orchard.
When someone asks me about the business aspect of apiculture, I explain
that you have to always be running as fast as you can just to stay in
one place. There is always something, or some one, trying to kill your
bees. If you want to increase then you have to "go crazy" and do
whatever it takes to keep going. Fortunately the economics for
beekeeping products are currently favorable since we have almond
pollination and honey is expensive.
It is fairly simple to be profitable in the good honey years. It takes
some creativity to be profitable in the crop-failure years. I would
suggest that new beekeepers make the goal of never allowing their
business to be unprofitable. That is easier said than done but I think
it is really important. And you have to remember, there is a
surprisingly large array of things, (external factors as well as
beekeeper-error PPB) that can and do kill your bees... Eventually
something is bound to kill a bunch of them.
Hopefully my experience thus far is helpful to someone.
Jeremy Rose
San Luis Obispo, CA
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