# New to the beebiz



## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

This is my first post of many I hope. My husband has been driving truck for a few years now and we would like to start a business. He's looking to buying his own truck and I'll keep track of the financial aspect. Is there some advice and words of wisdom you could give us? We have two boys under 5 and this is a 5-10 year plan that we are greatly looking forward to bettering our family.


I've looked all over for ideas of what to think about when starting your own trucking business, but no info is as useful as real life experiences. He has a company to work for he will be an owner operator but wants as much verbal knowledge and info before you heads out to get the hands on experience.

Thank you so much for reading and any constructive advice will be greatly appreciated.

Gina


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## reidflys (Jan 14, 2011)

Crow Wing is a beautiful place, I went to the state park there and thought It would be a great place to have some hives.
welcome to beesource.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

I also enjoyed Crow Wing, and the LARGE beaver knawed down stump.

Gives us more clues as to what help you want.

Crazy Roland


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

I'm just looking for tools or any advice that has helped in being successful in the bee business. Programs for keeping financing organized, how to haul the bees (when to leave, how to keep them safe and make your time on the road count.) And then how to transition to having hives and making a life out of bee keeping and hauling.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Wow!!!! What is your experience in bees? Number of hives for how long?

Crazy Roland 
5th gen beekeeper
Linden Apiary, est. 1852


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## Honey-4-All (Dec 19, 2008)

Roland said:


> Wow!!!! ?


Couple of things you will need to brush up on or acquire in short order. 


Commercial guys now days need to be somewhat adept at the each of the following:

1. Biology
2. Chemistry
3. Public relations.
4. Accounting
5. Mechanics
6. Government relations
7. Human resources
8. Woodworking
9. Painting
10. Metallurgy
11. Marketing
12. Salesmanship
13. Industrial espionage
14. Trucking
15. Forklift operator
16. Investigator
17. ?????
18. xxxxx
19. xxxxx
20. xxxxx


Once you have all those things down you might start to theoretical imagine the possibilities of a day where you can crack a open a hive while holding yourself under the pretenses that eventual you will squeeze a dollar or two out of a few tiny black and yellow bugs just so you can continue to have the pleasure of being a semi-expert at all of the items listed above for a short while longer until some new issue plagues the beekeeping scene. All this while hopefully working in the most beautiful surroundings in God's green earth. :scratch: :applause:


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

Hm, well I understand it's not easy and it's quite complicated that's why I've come to beesource to squeeze an ounce of helpful information out of someone who may have a clue of this subject. Yet going through the forums I've seen more and more negativity surrounding the whole idea of bee hauling or keeping. So most likely I will do what happens often in life and figure it out myself by failing first and learning the ropes along the way. I still think that there may still be someone on here who is loud and proud about a very necessary business and the operation of. 

-Hopelessly Optimistic


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## Trevor Mansell (Jan 16, 2005)

Are you looking to haul bees or keep bees?


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## Keith Jarrett (Dec 10, 2006)

Phil, did you have to put #3 in their?


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## Bee Geek (May 4, 2013)

You have to realize these are the guys who have made it BIG and have had to work through the aches and pains of growing a business. Any business is a challenge to start up, but especially farming, and Keeping Bees is farming... 

On the brighter side of the Bee Planet, there are so may aspects you can focus on. One advantage you will have is your Trucking Co. Become a passionate Bee Keeper and learn to really care about the Bees health during transportation, sell that to your customers and you will be the Bee driver! But here is a list of opportunities you can focus on, pick one or pick a few:

Producing and selling Honey
Pollination Services
Raising and selling Bees (Nucs, Hives, or Packages)
Raising and selling Queens
Retail Bee Equipment Sales
Specialized Bee Transportation Business
Education, offer classes to the public

This is just what is on the surface, there are specialties you can start, such as manufacturing wooden ware, or bee supplements, get creative. The sky is the limit. Look at Keith Jarrett going from three to two thousand hives plus sells Nutra-Bee! 

Just Do It! 
best of luck in your endeavor! And welcome to BeeSource...


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## The Honey Householder (Nov 14, 2008)

I would say most bee hauler, have trucked there own hives before they take on the job of trying to truck someone else's bees. 
Please don't get me wrong, there's some good money to be made in bees. 
It's only taken me 25 years to pay off my operation. 
Well done eating dinner. Back to work.


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

There is good money to be made hauling bees and also in raising bees but I honestly believe professional trucking and beekeeping operations are mutually exclusive. A number of beekeepers used to own big rigs but it seems like with higher fuel prices its getting to be the exception. Beekeepers simply must be available to tend their bees most of the year and cant leave such an expensive investment sitting parked. Then when they are hauling bees one way they need back hauls to make it pencil out. I would guess that even the busiest professional bee haulers are probably logging more miles per year hauling something else besides bees. I thought hard about buying a truck a number of years ago but decided it just didnt make sense for me. My conclusion: Truckers need to truck, beekeepers need to "beekeep".


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

guess it depends on how much the beekeeper would use the truck, if it makes sense on paper then all a guy has to do is want to do it and time to do it. Our farms has three semi trucks, to haul all our grain, cropping fertilizer and cattle. We use to contract all this out. The savings of doing our own hauling is significant.


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

Thank you all for your input I really appreciate it. At this point we are starting with hauling bees because we have a company that has asked my husband to haul for them. I'm going to be keeping books for that part of the business for now, yet the plan is to start small and get a few hives to make make honey and kind of learn as we go with just a few hives and utilize it as a hobby. Then, in the future obtain many hives to be used for pollination and a larger honey operation. Along the way I hope to gain knowledge of all the uses of bees and passionately keep them for all their wonderful uses.


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

Thanks Bee Geek!

"Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss you will land among the stars!" Les Brown


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

Both- starting by hauling then keeping in the future.


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

I agree it doesn't work out on paper if all you haul is bees because it is exclusive. Our business plan is to truck everything but when the bees need to move that will be the priority and then in the down time haul anything else. My husband will be the trucker and when the time comes and we get some hives I will be the main beekeeper. And I give you all the utmost respect for the time and money that you've all invested throughout the year to make this a part of your life and I use that for inspiration to begin this new chapter of our lives. We're not concerned with making a million because money means very little to me, but I want to begin using our energy on something we are passionate about and make a life for our family.


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## gjodle (Aug 11, 2013)

Keith congratulations on your success; I'm sure it came from a lot of hard work, knowledge, and perseverance.


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

gjodle, start with 4 hives


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## jim lyon (Feb 19, 2006)

Ian said:


> guess it depends on how much the beekeeper would use the truck, if it makes sense on paper then all a guy has to do is want to do it and time to do it. Our farms has three semi trucks, to haul all our grain, cropping fertilizer and cattle. We use to contract all this out. The savings of doing our own hauling is significant.


I dont doubt that grain hauling with semi trucks works quite well, most large farmers down here are doing that as well. Lots of tonage and (I am guessing) mostly short hauls to relatively close grain terminals. Bee hauls, though, for us are 1,000 to 1,700 mile one way hauls which may take most of a week for a turnaround depending on whether you get stranded waiting for a backhaul over the weekend. When fuel was under a dollar a gallon beekeepers with big rigs would often just hustle back empty to haul another load. Now with $4.00 fuel and more restrictive enforcement of trucking laws this has become a thing of the past.


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## Roland (Dec 14, 2008)

Be also aware that you MUSt have dependable equipment. What happens when you breakdown and the bees start to overheat? Will you replace them? I spoke with a gentleman that had another way to skin the cat. He rented a tractor from a large rental agency, and when there was trouble INSISTED that they bring a replacement tractor immediately. 

Ian - I bet you know how to work on your trucks yourself. Otherwise it can be expensive. pulled two broken axles(the part with the bolt circle you see where a "hub cap" would go on a cop car) out of a Mack today. It took about 1- 1/2 hours to diagnose, remove, and prep for new parts. Having trucks towed to the dealer can get expensive.

Crazy greasy Roland


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

jim lyon said:


> Bee hauls, though, for us are 1,000 to 1,700 mile one way hauls which may take most of a week for a turnaround depending on whether you get stranded waiting for a backhaul over the weekend. When fuel was under a dollar a gallon beekeepers with big rigs would often just hustle back empty to haul another load. Now with $4.00 fuel and more restrictive enforcement of trucking laws this has become a thing of the past.


good point Jim


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## Ian (Jan 16, 2003)

Roland said:


> Ian - I bet you know how to work on your trucks yourself. Otherwise it can be expensive. pulled two broken axles(the part with the bolt circle you see where a "hub cap" would go on a cop car) out of a Mack today. It took about 1- 1/2 hours to diagnose, remove, and prep for new parts. Having trucks towed to the dealer can get expensive.Crazy greasy Roland


yup, I know all about that kind of stuff. It is basically what makes us farmers. When we are making money, we get others to do our work, when we are not making money, we do the work ourselves. 
our CAT 939 crawler tore apart its rear dif this winter. We pulled the machine apart, had the diff rebuilt and we put it back together. The work would of been $25000 done in a shop, we did it for the cost of parts, $7000. To get someone else in to do the work our crawler does every year would be in the hundreds of thousands of dollars, 
Like I say, its got to pencil out, and then you need someone on the machine to run it

I wouldnt haul my own bees 1700 miles away either, but having someone else run my hives down the road would make me nervous


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## Sipa (Jan 1, 2013)

If you really want to Haul Bees, take a look at this shindig organised by Bee Culture on October 5th

http://blog.beeculture.com/index.php/miles-to-go-program/

MILES TO GO – PROGRAM
Keeping Them Alive, Getting Them There and Back

A two day conference on every aspect of Migratory Beekeeping
If you move bees for a living, are going to or are thinking about it, you will not find the information, demonstrations and discussions offered at this gathering at any meeting, anywhere, ever.

I'm in the UK, but a good friend of mine is one of the speakers, it will be worth your while to go along.

Regards


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