Bee keeping

4 posts
Wed, 01/01/2014 - 14:30 #1

Member for

10 years 11 months
Nath
Last seen: 12/25/2014 - 21:25
Joined: 12/29/2013 - 16:01

Bee keeping

Happy New Year everyone hope you enjoyed it. I have a few questions on bee keeping. I was wanting to find out how much is involved in keeping bees and if there is a profit to be made in them I am new to all this and any information would be much appreciated. Thanks Nathan

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Thu, 01/02/2014 - 13:27 #2
rmcpb
Last seen: 03/08/2018 - 21:05
Joined: 10/22/2012 - 11:13

Nathan,

Me again, looks like I'm the only one poking around in here at the moment.

We keep bees but at a hobby level. They are mainly for the pollination in the orchard and vege patch but we have a few hives out near the bush blocks as well. All up we have about 20 hives and get a good crop of honey off them each year BUT they are not anywhere near a commercial operation. You would need hundreds of hives and be prepared to move them after the flowering crops and trees. In essence you would become a bit of a gypsy following the blooms across the country.

We like them, the honey crop is great, the pollination is great but they are not a commercial sideline as far as we are concerned.

Cheers
Rob.

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Fri, 01/03/2014 - 17:37 #3
barb
Last seen: 09/17/2019 - 18:07
Joined: 11/23/2011 - 09:38
Hi Nathan, I'm here too, haven't checked in lately as I've been a bit busy doing some fencing- lost 4 kl of fences in the floods and tornedos in March 2013 here in Qld. Not doing anymore until it cools off as it was 40 here at lunch time. Anyway here is my input on the subject. I don't keep bees myself but have a friend who is a commercial bee keeper. He has almost a thousand hives and moves them all over the eastern coast following the flowering of various crops and trees. For example he takes hundreds of hives to NSW when the almond trees flower. He makes a fortune doing this because he not only collects the honey from the hives but is also paid a fee per week for each hive on the particular crop. He made $40,000 in the 2005-2006 financial year. He sells most of his honey to a very well known company with a brand that is on the shelf in every super market in Australia. I benefit from his enterprise too as he rests his hives here each year when the Blue gums and Iron Bark are flowering on the property and usually gives me a 30 kg bucket of honey for my trouble. I must have a ten year supply of it at the moment! If you ask around, you may find a commercial beekeeper who will teach you the basics of the trade and I'm sure that there would be quite a lot of books on bee keeping in your local library. Cheers and have a great new year, you too Rob, Barb
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Sat, 01/04/2014 - 18:40 #4
charlie
Last seen: 12/26/2018 - 09:21
Joined: 05/31/2011 - 09:44

Hi Nath,

I used to work for a commercial bee keeper who had around 200 hives. It was hard work, mostly manual labour as he did not have the scale to afford the equipment needed (truck, fork lift etc). Extracting the honey was also hot and hard work as it would be done in a tin shed mostly in the summer months. He used to sell his honey to local fruit / produce stores which supplemented his other income.

You will need to decide if you want to do it as a hobby or large scale commercial operation. As a hobby it can be very rewarding providing your family and friends with honey and other related products. As an example we used to melt down old bee hive frames frames to make candles out of which made great gifts.

You will find most cereal farmers won't pay for the pollution of their crops. Each year we have any number of bee keepers wanting to place their hives on our property for the pollination of the canola.

If you are looking for a basic guide basic guide to some of the skills and practices of bee keeping, you may be interested in the following book http://farmstyle.com.au/book/bee-agskills

Regards,

Charlie

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