# shipping container honey room?



## BIGHONEY56 (Sep 1, 2011)

Has anyone ever used one for building there honey room as they grow there buisness then could use it for storage when they get one built? just a thought


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

big metal box+hot sun+wax = bad


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## Scpossum (May 4, 2014)

They can be air conditioned, insulated, etc. There are people who actually live in them.


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## ApricotApiaries (Sep 21, 2014)

I have been thinking along these same lines and would love to see what anyone has come up with. 
The only downside I can think of with a standard container is the floor. The floors are usually plywood over steel trusses. You can drive a forklift in, but it's not the best for washing out with a pressure washer. Lots of spaces for goop to get stuck in.
My mentor grew to about 1500 hives while extracting in an old reefer van. He said it was previously used for slinging meat around. The floor was aluminum and rubbed and easy to wash out. Overhead there were beams for meat hooks that he used for running all the electric, which helped keep the floor clean. Very narrow though.


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## kaizen (Mar 20, 2015)

Scpossum said:


> They can be air conditioned, insulated, etc. There are people who actually live in them.


Yea but a lot of work. More then conventional building. Easier to build a shed.


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

the other alternative is to buy a ref. storage trailer that's no longer road worthy. already insulated and dock height. leave the wheels on and they can,t tax it. we used to use one backed up to our honey house for a hot room.


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## BernhardHeuvel (Mar 13, 2013)

A friend of mine has two containers side by side. Connected. Throwed some wood at it. This is the result. 



















This is his extraction room. If he would grow his beekeeping enterprise, he'd simply add another container on one side. Two extractors are running inside those containers showed in the pictures.


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## hex0rz (Jan 14, 2014)

http://bubbatool.com/product/bubba-...for-storage/?gclid=CMDqzrbW-MoCFZWFaQodtR4FAA

You'd have to get a killer deal on a reefer...


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## McBee7 (Dec 25, 2013)

I think there are lots of possibilities for shipping containers, including --indoor wintering of nuc hives-- I am currently indoor wintering 13 hives in an addition on the back of my garage that is 4 by 14....


This addition cost me $750+ and I think a shipping container would be cheaper per sq. ft. even with mods...


This is what i've been considering ......
http://www.ebay.com/itm/20-Cargo-Co...448728?hash=item33b1b03ad8:g:BhoAAOSwUuFWvLFW

==McBee7==


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

An old U-Haul truck box works really well. It can be framed, wired and insulated rather inexpensively. The walls can be PVC sheeting (like in commercial bathrooms) and the floor is already aluminum for easy clean up. PLUS it already has a built in ramp!


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

BIGHONEY56 said:


> Has anyone ever used one for building there honey room as they grow there buisness then could use it for storage when they get one built? just a thought


Ya it makes for a quick addition


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

BIGHONEY56 said:


> Has anyone ever used one for building their honey room in as they grow their business? Then used it for storage, when they get one built? Just a thought.


There was a guy on the Commercial Beekeepers Facebook Page who had such a thing for sale.

I knew some guys from Guatemala who had their extracting plant in a panel van, like a UPS van. They would drive it to their bee yards and extract honey and return combs to their hives.

I have also seen a set up that an Amish family used right in their apiary. They had a hay wagon which was netted against the bees. They extracted in the yard too.


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## rwurster (Oct 30, 2010)

I was looking into buying a 20' shipping container for an outdoor office and was told if I were to spend any time inside the container it would be well worth my while to strip the inside and pressure wash it to insure any chemical, oil, or pesticide residues would be removed.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

I had a Construction Site Office Trailer that I used for a honey house for a couple years before it burned to the ground. It was 12' wide X 36' long.I had the one end for the Hot Room. I blocked the ducts in the floor so all the heat from the furnace went to one end of the building.

I had two extractors, a cappings tank, three 100 gallon tanks for settling honey before filling barrels, and a wax melter inside the building. I added a 10'X10' building for the sump and pump, so gravity could empty the extractors into the sump and the pump could send warm honey to the tanks. Nylon stockings caught what cappings didn't stay in the sump tank.


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## MTN-Bees (Jan 27, 2014)

I'm working on purchasing 2 for honey super storage. Companies can set them up for just about any use you want including welding 2 units side by side for more open floor space. You can get roll up garage doors, heating, AC, electric, plumbing, and vents. All depends upon how much you want to spend. So I'm pretty certain you could set up one for extracting.


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## Joe Hillmann (Apr 27, 2015)

If you get one do you plan to use it as is or fur it out, insulate and panel the inside. If you plan o using it as is it is a pretty cheap way to go. If you finish the inside it may be more expensive than building something from scratch. 

Although using a shipping container can be helpful because it can be moved. It doesn't require a building permit and isn't taxed as an improvement to the property. But would be taxed as business personal property either way you'll get taxed on it.


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