I recently made come comments about the increased production of two queen
vs single queen colonies.  Someone replied that my two queen colonies made
85 lbs. while two single-queen colonies make 60x2=120 lbs.  Apparently it
never entered his mind to think about the cost of operating a hive.  This
is typical of most beekeepers, and is one of the reasons why the industry
is in its current economic straits.
 
Over the years I've talked with many beekeepers who wanted to give up jobs
paying 40K  or more per year to go into commercial beekeeping.  They had
been developing their plans for two years but had never analyzed what it
costs in cash and time to operate a commercial operation.  Neither had they
consulted commercal beekeepers about their costs.  They had talked about
the income side, but not about the time costs.
 
Here in the west I estimate that it costs $110.00 approximately to operate
a hive per year in a commercial operation which moves bees to CA, then to
WA for pollination and then produces a honey crop either in WA or in the
Dakotas.  That amount is only the cash out of pocket for expenses including
temporary help.  It does not include owner/manager costs or salary.  From
my observations and discussions with numerous small businesses it appears
that a 1,000 hive operation should pay its owner/manager $40,000 per year.
That is $40 per colony, making the total income necessary to operate a
1,000 hive operation about $150,000 per year.  Estimates suggest that
current income is:  $35 for CA pollination, $35 for WA pollination, a five
year honey production of 60 lbs. at $.80 = $48 for a total income of
$118.00 per hive.  This would make an ower/manager salary of $8,000, unless
they can reduce costs without reducing production or income, or increase
their number of colonies, if they could increase their income to cost ratio
at the same time.
 
Beekeepers here are currently reporting 20 to 50 percent losses of colonies
from October to February.  The management and replacement costs of these
losses must be borne by those colonies which produced income last year, or
the last few years, if you are working with averages.  One beekeeper
recently told me, his operation costs were $113 per hive.  Let us suppose
this was on 2,000 hives, then his costs were $226,000.  Twenty five percent
losses means that next year 1500 hives must pay for their own costs, plus
those of operating the 500 colonies being replaced.  That means that 1500
hives must now pay the approximate $226,000 operation costs (now $150 per
hive) plus owner/manager salary.  With 25 percent losses, operation costs
have now gone up about 33 percent on surviving colonies.  Will income go up
to cover these costs?  Not likely.
 
So if a single queen colony produces an income of $118, and a single
double-queen colony produces 85 lbs. of honey, then the latter creates an
income of $138 per hive.  This is $20 per hive (not $8) or $20,000 in
owner/manager salary (not $8,000, or a 250% increase) less the slight
increased work of operating the two queen colony).  So the cost/income
ratio of single queen colonies is $110/$118 vs a two queen colony of
$110+/$138.  Two single queen colonies would have a cost income ratio of
$220/$236.  Obviously, the variables in commercial beekeepers management,
colony response, queen loss, mites, nutrition, honey crop, and the age of
bees in the fall will all influence the numbers suggested.
 
It appears to me that operating two queen colonies, all other things being
equal, significantly increases beekeeper income while increasing
operational costs only slightly.
 
James C. Bach
Yakima WA
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509 573 4245