# Inspections 100 hives



## cklander (Dec 18, 2016)

Hello there,

I'm sorry for my bad English, I hope you'll understand what I mean....

For a researchproject I'm looking for information about the business models of commercial beekeepers. 

I've got the following questions assuming you've got 100+ hives:

Please call the number of hives you own in your comment.....

1) how much time it costs you to inspect the hives?
2) what is the way of working during the year?
3) do you prevent swarms? If yes, how do you do?
4) how often do you inspect the hives normally during the year?
5) how often do you replace the queen? (every year / 2 years ....)
6) do you queen reaering by yourself or do you buy new queens?
7) what's your favorite part of the job?
8) what's your most important part of income? Pollination / honey etc.
9) what was your total investment? Can you specify that? (F.e. hives / bees / transport material etc.)
10) what's your net profit for each hive a year?

Thank you in advance!


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## beesohappy (Jun 3, 2009)

I'm curious to.


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## fieldsofnaturalhoney (Feb 29, 2012)

Ironically, I can't remember the answers to any of those numbered questions:lpf: However, since I am not commercial, I do not have to.


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## cklander (Dec 18, 2016)

fieldsofnaturalhoney said:


> Ironically, I can't remember the answers to any of those numbered questions:lpf: However, since I am not commercial, I do not have to.


 If you can answer a few..... that would be marvelous!


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## babybee (Mar 23, 2012)

For commercial bee outfits, there are not 2 that are the same. I have made honey and almond pollination my most important streams of income and bee sales a distant third. We requeen annually by raising our own cells. New queens aren't likely to swarm. We are always checking our bees, and I am full on hands on owner. We can do any task we need to do in a week to two weeks with the exception of splitting and taking off honey. My investments are very high, returning almost all profits back in. As for profit, I doubt anyone will tell you that as it seems too personal. The best part is the freedom of being self-employed in general.


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## Eduardo Gomes (Nov 10, 2014)

babybee said:


> The best part is the freedom of being self-employed in general.


Yes for sure.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

I've got the following questions assuming you've got 100+ hives:

Please call the number of hives you own in your comment.....

1200

1) how much time it costs you to inspect the hives?

We make a round every 2 weeks. Depending on jobs needing done

2) what is the way of working during the year?


3) do you prevent swarms? If yes, how do you do?

Spring splits, queen replacement, space and population control 

4) how often do you inspect the hives normally during the year?

One or two brief brood inspections, one thourough , anything that is flagged gets attention 


5) how often do you replace the queen? (every year / 2 years ....)

Usually 2 years is a ripe age 

6) do you queen reaering by yourself or do you buy new queens?

In house queen rearing, we also buy some in

7) what's your favorite part of the job?

When the wintershed doors close for winter

8) what's your most important part of income? Pollination / honey etc.

Honey

9) what was your total investment? Can you specify that? (F.e. hives / bees / transport material etc

I simply can't understand why this question keeps coming up ?? Get ahold of you bee supply store, price some hives, look up used equipments listings, value your building and property. 


10) what's your net profit for each hive a year?

Again, run the math
Don't expect anything spectacular


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## cklander (Dec 18, 2016)

Thank you very much for your answers!!!!
:thumbsup:


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## mbc (Mar 22, 2014)

I've got the following questions assuming you've got 100+ hives:

Please call the number of hives you own in your comment.....

250

1) how much time it costs you to inspect the hives?

I try and get round twice a month during swarming season once a month at other times and a quick round after every gale

2) what is the way of working during the year?

Maintenence jobs during the winter eg. frame building


3) do you prevent swarms? If yes, how do you do?

If I find them building cells I might artificially swarm but also preemptively split to make nucs

4) how often do you inspect the hives normally during the year?

I try and inspect everything thoroughly early on in spring and then once a fortnight during swarming season then just put boxes on top apart from problem hives 


5) how often do you replace the queen? (every year / 2 years ....)

When they lose performance, usually towards their second winter

6) do you queen reaering by yourself or do you buy new queens?

Raise my own

7) what's your favorite part of the job?

Queen rearing and lunch time

8) what's your most important part of income? Pollination / honey etc.

Honey>nuc sales>queen sales>pollination

9) what was your total investment? Can you specify that? (F.e. hives / bees / transport material etc

Woodwork, I'm fortunate to operate on family property and pay nominal rent.
Trucks and trailers and sugar bills are the other major expenses

10) what's your net profit for each hive a year?

I recon to make ~£200/colony as a seven year average, some years it's a loss


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## pleasantvalley (May 22, 2014)

Here's some aggregate info from a few years ago in Alberta. I'm sure you can add 15-20% to every number in there since the info was collected from 2010 or so.


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## Adam Foster Collins (Nov 4, 2009)

Ian, so you only inspect the brood two or three times per year? Can you talk mor about that specifically, like about the timing and what the difference is between 'brief' brood inspections and 'thorough' ones?

Adam


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## AAIndigo (Jun 14, 2015)

I just inherited 100 so I just finished up my 1st year.

1) how much time it costs you to inspect the hives?
I worked them every weekend

2) what is the way of working during the year?
I have 4 yards so I do 1 or 2 yards every weekend

3) do you prevent swarms? If yes, how do you do?
Split the hive when QCs show

4) how often do you inspect the hives normally during the year?
I run 4 fame double nuc boxes. I tip the hive and inspect from the top and bottom. If I see QCs then I do a full inspection

5) how often do you replace the queen? (every year / 2 years ....)
Every year. I sell all wintered survivors as nucs in the spring

6) do you queen reaering by yourself or do you buy new queens?
All done by myself. Done during the weekday and planted on the weekend

7) what's your favorite part of the job?
When all are winterized and I'm drinking bourbon thinking of the coming year

8) what's your most important part of income? Pollination / honey etc.
Selling bees

9) what was your total investment? Can you specify that? (F.e. hives / bees / transport material etc.)
Nothing yet (with the exception of sugar and treatments). I was fortunate enough to find a kind hearted beekeeper who was looking to get out of the business. I will will pay back over time by selling future nucs. 100 double nucs for 250.00

10) what's your net profit for each hive a year
1st year so hard to say but figure 75 double nucs make it through the winter. Thats 150 nucs selling for 175. Once pulled you requeen and sell 150 to 200 for 160.

I have a full time job that allows me to escape at crucial times. I am able to pull out during a weekday and step in if I find issues like one yard swarming. I will go out and check the other yards. Drought was a problem here in the Northeast. I spent most of my fall feeding.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Adam Foster Collins said:


> Ian, so you only inspect the brood two or three times per year? Can you talk mor about that specifically, like about the timing and what the difference is between 'brief' brood inspections and 'thorough' ones?
> 
> Adam


First Out of the shed I'll tip each hive back to test weight and count cluster frames. Anything flagged gets checked, anything light gets honey frames. 
The next rounds are medication and patties.
As we anticipate the second hatch with the upcoming spring flows, I'll tip the hives and add seconds on 7 frames plus. The larger hives will grow into that second box. 
We will start queen rearing Mid May here, typically during heavy flow. The hives that still sit in singles get worked through frame by frame, taking or adding... queen assessment... replacement as needed.
As our queens rearing operation starts kicking out cells we start into the larger 2 brood box units, frame by frame, taking everything but 4 brood and bees left in a single. Surplus strength is taken to make up nucs with cells.
Everything after the split gets supered,in a few weeks the queen is shaken down and hives supered. 
I don't look down into each hive again until fall. Only flagged hives get spot checked accordingly. Fall basically is a spot check aswell, looked through if needed. 

When working hives look for cues. Most of the time these cues will tell you exactly what's happening. Cues that tell you "alls likely good" or " what the hell?!?"
Check the " what the hells", leave the "alls good". :thumbsup:


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

HERE is a link to a discussion that covers some of our questions. I hope that helps you.


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