# Mobile Honey House



## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

magnet man-I have thought about that myself but never went any further than thought. Used mini bus would work for small mobiie honey house even a winebago or delivery van. It would be nice to be able to take the "honey factory" right to the beekeeper. I have a twenty one foot camper frame that is just sitting in my field above the bee yard, glanced at the prospect of using it for a honey house or to haul hives and let at location until either polination or honey crop is completed. Dream, dream and dream some more! Sorry but I can't help you out on costs or details though. I do think it is a good idea.


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## sierrabees (Jul 7, 2006)

I have a 32 foot house trailor sitting by the barn that hasn't been used in years. I plan to gut it out this winter and set up a honey house. Even though I don't intend to haul it around it will put a piece of yard art back into action. It has electricity, septic system, heater, water heater, everything I need.


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## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

sierrabees- does the refrigerator,stove, furnace, air conditioner and shower all work--you have it made. Make sure that you provide us with pictures of the progress!


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## Sundance (Sep 9, 2004)

What would be the purpose of the mobile
honey house other than for migratory
purposed??


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

Q. What would be the purpose of the mobile
honey house other than for migratory
purposed??

A . I don't have a location where I can build a permant one but have a place where I can store a trailer at no cost. 

There is also a farmers market where my son wants to sell honey but it has to be bottled in a certified honey house. Tulsa does not allow any commercial food production from the home kitchen. 

It also lets me rent it out to help offset the cost.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

someone (one of those california bee keepers) had a honey house set up in what sounded like a dry van. they had it for sale... so perhaps you might wish to check in the for sale section.

the first time I heard of the idea of mobile honey extraction was like 30+ years ago.. there was a real innovative force on the west coast by the name of Powers. at the time he was the largest beekeeper in the us of a... if the olde memory chip hasn't failed he was one of the original partners in the Kona queen rearing operation.


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## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

Another advantage to consider is that in Pennsylvania the mobile honey house would not be taxed as a permanent building --every little bit helps.


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## honeyman46408 (Feb 14, 2003)

I know a guy that has one built in an old Refer trailer but he doesnt move it and he has Health Dept. aprovel.
I am not sure about taxes in Indiana but that is another idea.


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## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

> I know a guy that has one built in an old Refer trailer


I work for a refrigerated trucking company. We have lots of old refers.  

I occasionally see these food trailers that you see at fairs for sale and cheap. That may be the solution.

[ November 03, 2006, 05:25 PM: Message edited by: magnet-man ]


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I met some guys from Guatemala who used a Panel Van, you know, like a UPS truck.

They would go to each apiary and extract the honey during the flow. There was a hole in the side of the truck where a super was slid into the van and then slid back out after extracting.


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## Ishi (Sep 27, 2005)

My Extractor was used in a screened wagon about as mobile as you can get.


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## sierrabees (Jul 7, 2006)

I just checked out the trailer by my barn. Need to make some minor repairs on the propane line but everything works except the refrigerator. I just might turn that into an incubator. I'll have to rip out a bunch of carpet and replace it with washable floor covering. When I get rid of the mattress in the bedroom it will leave a flat platform about 14 inches high which will be perfect for the uncapping tank, extractor, and storage tanks. There will still be room for about four stacks of honey supers on the same space with just enuough space around the edges to move all around or place catch buckets. There is a folding door between the bedroom and the rest of the trailer so I could put a space heater in and make it a hot room. I can use all that cabinet space pretty much as it is rather than rip it out. The front part with it's little fold down table should make a good grafting space/office/storage. I can't wait for things to slow down enough for me to get this project rolling.

The down side will be getting all those heavy supers from the single door down a narrow hallway to the extracting/hot room. Might need to put in a skylight and crane and drop them in from above.(Just kidding about that although the idea does have it's appeal.)


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## power napper (Apr 2, 2005)

sierra--please take lots of pictures for us to ooooh and ahhhh over!


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## Fernhill (Dec 30, 2004)

We had a guest speaker at one of our meetings who has a fleet of used ambulances he uses as his mobile honey houses. Wide opening rear doors, plenty of electricity, climate control, floodlights, etc. The one we toured was a sight to behold.

Mike


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## KatyBusyBee (Apr 6, 2014)

http://www.internationalhoney.com/#!mobile-extracting/x88d5 My guess is a cool quarter million.


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## kilocharlie (Dec 27, 2010)

I think I would try to set it on the air-ride bags, and possibly add 2 or more outrigger supports. 

That's a lot of money to put into a truck box, so make sure the brakes are well-maintained and logged. Keep your tires decent, take photos, and add a lo-jack. If they are stealing beehives, they will certainly steal you rig!


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## crazylocha (Mar 26, 2013)

Believe they were at ABF in Jax this year. Best can recall, $400k.


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## challenger (May 27, 2009)

I don't think anyone mentioned using a mobile honey house as a way to increase income by spinning other bees frames BUT, if so, I don't think it would fly due to found brood and other state guidelines???


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Ha ha. 46% increase in honey production? Sooooo if you really do run 3200lbs. per hour where exactly does that honey go? There are only a few scenarios where this is actually more efficient. Sorry, but a centralized extracting facility is almost always going to be more efficient and one heck of a lot cheaper as well. BTW there is no reason that GPS tagging cant be done in a centralized location, one only needs to tag the pallets at the time the honey is removed.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

jim lyon said:


> Ha ha. 46% increase in honey production? Sooooo if you really do run 3200lbs. per hour where exactly does that honey go? There are only a few scenarios where this is actually more efficient. Sorry, but a centralized extracting facility is almost always going to be more efficient and one heck of a lot cheaper as well. BTW there is no reason that GPS tagging cant be done in a centralized location, one only needs to tag the pallets at the time the honey is removed.


Ya Jim I asked about their production numbers... They are a bit sales pitchy on their unit. 90-100 boxes per hour... 
One of the best bee yard work motivators I have is driving into a late August bee yard to pull honey; "Oksy boys we have 30 min!" 
.......... If you get my drift..........


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

In theory those systems will run 3,000 lbs. an hour but in the real world a ton an hour is far more realistic. Sales pitchy, ya that sums it up. I could rebut most all of his claims, sure it's possible to haul your extracting room from location to location it's just not a very efficient way to do things.


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## crazylocha (Mar 26, 2013)

Spinner was very quiet. Figure 2 weeks n my coworkers will have that "fixed". Wax separator, maybe a month. Honey goes out to nose tank, then drum on need. Wasn't the only person who asked about " honey in the lines". Using backpack blower to get bees out sounded like fun. Working along side in the screen room? Hmm not sure about that. 

Sales pitch was pretty good though. Had one they use themselves. Demo unit was #2 at ABF with more refinements as they sold more. 

I can see it in FL sugar sand.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I give the guys credit, built a nice unit. Sold a few down south to migratory Beekeepers and clubs. The unit does fit a certain demographic.
But soon as guys get pitchy, I loose interest

We chug along with 30-40 boxes per hour tops with our 60 frame. Can't go any faster as that's all the uncapper will send through. And that's a good 8 min extractor cycle


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

With a Cowen 120 a 8+ minute run time with mediums and a 1 1/2 minute load unload time figures to around 80 boxes an hour. Even with steam that seems to about max the system out. With deeps you can push a little more honey through and can get close to 3,000 lbs. an hour if the honey is fairly warm and not too dry. If not, your spinner is probably not going to be able to keep up.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Jim how are you doing that through the same uncapper head as the 60?


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

If you add 2 additional bars you can run 120 mediums in around 7 minutes. Cowens told me the new ones are running even faster.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

But faster is not better. Pushing the wax off the frame is not optimal. I actually slowed mine down by one sprocket link, stopped the pushing completely, and that's including the time the oil heater quit


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Ian said:


> But faster is not better. Pushing the wax off the frame is not optimal. I actually slowed mine down by one sprocket link, stopped the pushing completely, and that's including the time the oil heater quit


Actually I generally agree with you Ian though it depends a great deal on how new the comb is. When I was told they were able to speed up the machine and still get reliable loading my first thought was why. The cutter already works faster than the extractor and sometimes excessive speed means more missed bars and there may be little or no actual increase in the number of frames run. It's all I can do to keep up de-boxing and scraping boxes the way it is.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

My wax is generally newly drawn so ya, that's the deal there. I don't run dark comb honey frames, big heavy honey frames gotta be cut right :thumbsup:


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## sakhoney (Apr 3, 2016)

my honey house is in a 20' sea can - I guess I could load it up and with a generator move it around - I have a cowen uncapper, 32 frame extractor, and a 550 gallon stainless tote with related catch pans & pumps needed to move honey around and enough room for 2 pallets of boxed honey. Other honey stored in another sea can beside this one.


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## pinkpantherbeekeeper (Feb 10, 2016)

Couple of thoughts...

On a hobby beekeeper level, a trailer or panel truck would work for a honey house. As others have mentioned, there really isn't a lot of benefit. The OP situation seems to have a pay off if using a trailer. Around my area, you could get a very nice prefab storage shed for $2500ish. Which is really cheaper than an enclosed trailer (new).

An idea though on a mobile honey house for someone selling at farmers market... If you could pull the trailer, panel van, food truck, etc right up to where you are selling the honey, I'd bet you would make more money. If you get in the niche urban markets, I would imagine this would be a good hook to sell your honey at a higher cost. Allowing people a look at how you bottle honey or even bottling it on site, would appeal to some. However I don't know how the set up costs and operating costs, would compare to sales.


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