# Adopt a Hive.... just an idea... comments welcomed



## riverrat (Jun 3, 2006)

Sounds like a lot of work


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

A lawsuit with the first die out.

More work than money.

Nice way for a thief to case your area.

Any one want to add to this?


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## Oldbee (Sep 25, 2006)

Do you mean,..'adopt' a hive?

Are you thinking about something like community supported agriculture like this?
http://www.macsac.org/index.html Go to,..'Find a Farm'; it will give an idea about how much it costs. I haven't done this myself and know very little about how it works or how it would work with a bee hive.


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## purvisgs (Apr 5, 2008)

someone on SF craigslist offers this 'service' - for about $500 a year! worth checking out... just maybe there are enough yuppies around to make a business out of it, I don't know...


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## stoweski (Apr 1, 2008)

Sounds like a similar idea that has been discussed in my home. We were thinking it would be nice for those people who would like to go into beekeeping but didn't have the money for hardware. We were thinking of "sponsor a hive" where people would pay the upfront cost for the equipment and bees then the hive would be placed on a new beek's property for them to take care of. For repayment they could receive honey or other products produced from the hive - obviously up to a certain amount each year. 

I know many people say they want to help out the bees (based on all of the hysteria the media reports about CCD, etc). This may be a way they can help but not have to go into beekeeping. 

Another thought may be for them to simply allow beeks to place a hive on their property. They could "rent" the land. Payment again could be in the form of honey or other products.

Keith


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## Ruben (Feb 11, 2006)

I have been considering a simular set up where a person buys all equipment and supplies for one hive and is responsible for all expense and in return I manage the hive for them. When honey harvest comes we split the honey 50/50. If in the event of a colony dying out they get a given amount of time to choose to buy more bees or come get the equipment. All swarms that the hive produce belong to me if caught.


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## clintonbemrose (Oct 23, 2001)

I do rent spaces for other people to keep their hives on my property but the contract says I am not liable for any problems or damage done to the hives by vandals. I currently have 4 people with hives on my property. Yes I do help them!
Clint


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Riv:

Your right. I am still trying to figure that one out. 

Iddee: Valid concerns. If the hive dies out, so be it. All information would be upfront and a contract would be signed. Maybe if the hive dies out, the can pick a new hive. As for work versus money, yes, I can see this. I am still thinking of a price to justify it all. For thieves.. and if you are concered about them stealing hives, I would place the rented hive on another property. 

This is all just a thought.


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## high rate of speed (Jan 4, 2008)

Well chef, it sounds like alot of liabilities,and way to many variables.It would just be impossible to make everyone happy.good luck.:no:


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

>>>>For thieves.. and if you are concered about them stealing hives, I would place the rented hive on another property. <<<<

No, I'm thinking lawn mowers, other equipment, how best to enter the house, normal casing of the premises.


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## standman (Mar 14, 2008)

Thanks for starting this thread. It sounds very similar to a discussion my son and I had the other day. We were building some 5 frame nucs, and started wondering if local gardeners might be interested in renting a nuc (they are so cute!) for their fruit trees and gardens. Anyone doing this?


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## walking bird (Mar 2, 2008)

This was an idea I've explored, with a bit of a twist--- since I live in the hills (lots of ranches) only minutes away from your stereotypical upper middle class suburbs, I was thinking of a backyard beehive program.

Obstacles re the suburbs:

Municipal codes- the cities around here are not bee-friendly
Potential lawsuits (if I placed a hive in a backyard, and the next-door neighbor's kid got stung and just so happened to be allergic...)
Travel time/expense- would have to charge enough to each house to cover regular rounds, which might price me out of the concept.

Obstacles re the ranches:

Horse owners are generally wary of bees. 

All that said, I'm still going to create a program and then lobby the city officials for waivers, assuming I can get comfortable with the liability insurance.

A lot of work, at probably no profit, just to further the effort to repopulate bees into our area.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I do think it can be profitable for the beekeeper, educational and good for the beekeeping community and all possible liabilities can be protected from if done right. Allergies and death for example... in the contact... make sure it pinpoints that the beekeeper is not at fault for this.


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## Bizzybee (Jan 29, 2006)

Sounds a lot like the co-op farming going on around some cities.Where the farm is (not) in the city. They are basically buying their food before it's produced.

If that's not where your idea was sprung from, you should check into it. The model they use could probably be adapted to fit your scenario.


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## riverrat (Jun 3, 2006)

Chef Isaac said:


> For thieves.. and if you are concered about them stealing hives, I would place the rented hive on another property.
> This is all just a thought.


 
Make note to self: Do not let Chef put rented hives on my property. Dont want my mower stolen


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

I have had a few "bee havers" to ask me to check and work their hives on a regular basis as needed, for a set monthly, year round fee, or a per trip charge. You may think about that. Just do the beekeeping, but they own the hives on their land.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

iddee: Thats an idea too. However, seems like in your area, you can charge for services that I have problems with getting money for like trap outs. That is a great idea though!

The idea came from an artical I read in Bee Culture. 

I do think the idea would work. It would work better if there were more people in the operation like the spouse or kids. But I will think it through and figure something out. 

The point is to try new things to bring in some money. Right now, honey sales are slow here. 

Some ideas I thought about are:

Adapt a hive
renting out nucs for backyard pollination


We will see. Things to try!


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## iddee (Jun 21, 2005)

Don't want to be the spelling police, but please, use adopt. Adapt is a word, and doesn't fit. 

To involve the family, look at soap making and candle making to go along with the honey sales. They can make it at home and you sell it alongside the honey.


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## winevines (Apr 7, 2007)

Someone in MD does that 
See here

http://www.nakedbee.com/store/WsDefault.asp?Cat=Adopt-A-Hive

Adopt-a-Hive 


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Foster Your Own Honey Bee Hive for the 2009 season! Makes a unique gift for that special someone who longs to connect with nature but, doesn't have the time. Makes a great classroom or Scout troop 'project'! What a great way to support US agriculture & reap the rewards at the same time!

Here's how it works:

1. Place your order below. 
2. Name 'your' beehive (indicate name in the box below)
3. Receive a personalized 'Adoption' Certificate with a photograph of 'your' hive with in one week!
4. Receive 3 additional photographs of 'your' hive and updates on it's production via email during the 2009 season!
5. AND, best of all...Receive a total of 3 pounds of raw honey PLUS a set of 6" dipped taper beeswax candles from 'your' hive during the 2009 season!

Notes: 
1. Please be advised that you are not actually purchasing a beehive.

2. We apologize but, this item is not available for shipment outside the Continental US.

SUPPORT AMERICAN BEEKEEPERS! YOUR FOOD SUPPLY DEPENDS ON IT!


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## jellybeen (Oct 20, 2007)

*Another Angle*

http://www.getbees.net/
I ran across this guy today.


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

There's also an article in a resent bee magazine, the family does exactly that. They also sell meat. 

I think it was in the last month or 2's magazine.


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## Beethinking (Jun 2, 2008)

Similar business model: http://www.goldstarhoneybees.com/service.htm


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## dhood (May 26, 2008)

I think that for anyone to be interested that you would have to make your prices competitive with local honey at bulk price. Then it may become unprofitable to you. A few may try it for a season, but it will not last. As the "this honey is from my adopted hive" will lose its new fast. If they really want the honey, and want to support local beekeepers they will soon learn they can just buy it at the local farmers market and acomplish the the same thing.

It may be fun while it last, but I wouldn't put any money into it expecting a big return.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

dhood:
No offences but that was a real blanketed statement you made. It all depends on where you live and what type of peole live there. For exmaple, in Seattle, people want honey... as close to their backyard as possible. They always ask me... where do you keep your hives? How many miles from this point to there your hives are? 

Will it work, yes it will. ALL DEPENDS ON HOW IT IS MARKETED!!!!


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## dhood (May 26, 2008)

Chef Isaac:
No offence taken, I wish you the best of luck. Just giving my perspective, having lived here in the Carolinas. Things may be different in Seattle, but here in SC, I couldn't begin to imagine people adopting hives for honey. Other than maybe someone that didn't want bees but wanted to take credit for the honey. And like I said before, although I may be wrong, I don't think that will last long. Everyone around here likes local honey, but not many people want more than a jar or two unless they are trying to resale for a profit.

But if your going to go ahead with this I think your right about marketing to local buyers. The first time I saw something like this on the internet, I thought for sure that this was a scam. I told my wife, I wonder if they even keep bees, or if they are buying in bulk and making a profit.

Hope all goes well, Daniel


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

We are currently doing 4 different things a long the line. The first is an Adopt a Hive.... you see the hive grow, get updates throughout the year, ect. 

We also do Backyard pollination.... we put a hive on your property, you get pollination. Simple. 

Want bees? We sell them a hive, woodenware, 5 site visits and teachings.

Then we rent them a hive. both beekeeper and property owner inspect a hive. They do not own the hive but they will get the honey. If they do not want to do beekeeping anymore, they are not into it too much financial wise. If they want the hive, we sell it to them.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

"They do not own the hive but they will get the honey" Chef, break that down for me, I am trying to understand how you come out ahead on this. I get that you rent the hive, it would have to be for more then the honey you would extract from the hive plus your time for visits to maintain the hive plus who extracts and if it is you is that extra? Just seems like time and costs would be close but maybe I am wrong. As you said before its how you market it and how much the market is willing to bare.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

if you would like to shoot me an email at [email protected] , I will send you all the information I have on all 4 program. If course there are underlying advantages for the beekeepers for sure. I am not dumb when I think of these ideas. I charge the price I need, plus gas and have underlining advantages of everything.


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## alpha6 (May 12, 2008)

Well heck Chef...I assumed you made money from it. I was just trying to figure out how it worked. Being one to learn from others mistakes I was going to pick your brain on it so that I didn't at the end of the season say..."****...that sucked and I don't even get to sell the honey."

Look for the email.


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## odfrank (May 13, 2002)

One inconvenience of keeping a small amount of hives for numerous people is the extracting. Small batch separations and filtering are very time consuming. My filtering equipment requires several hundred pounds to make a batch feasible. A lot of honey and time is wasted cleaning the equipment to separate batches. 

One of these guys is advertising offering services hundreds of miles away, selling a hive and supplying a few quarts of honey a year for $620. a year. He will refund the $ if the bees die out. In this era of high fuel costs, bees dieing like flies, how many years will he want to drive this route and how many people will be willing to pay this price? 

I did it for three close by billionaires (Not too many of those around) this year, have made it pay by charging top dollar. I was surprised that I could make it pay. The above guy's pricing is about right, but I did not sell a hive. One I charged a pollination fee and sold him the honey for top retail prices. The other two I charged by the hour, charged a hive rental fee, a container fee but did not charge for the honey. All three supply labor to help pull, extract and bottle the honey. The honey costs them about double of normal retail or more. Unless you have these kinds of clients, keep your day job.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

odfrank:

That is why one needs to do the pricing based on all scenerios. Ok, say you want to rent a hive from me and you live 100 miles a way. I would be dumb if I just charged you a flat fee. I knew that when I wrote the program. So, I charge a fee plus charge for gas PLUS CHARGE FOR EXTRA VISITS. Has it been a hit? Lets just say everyday I have to respond to peoples emails and hook them in. 

As for extracting, it is not a problem for me. I have a small extractor. 

Everything will work.... but you need to do your research. Who is your target market? Who is the audiance that you will be trying to sell to? How much? What variables? What problems coudl occure? 

Answer all those questions and then you have a working model...

just kinda like a recipe... write the recipe.... make it a few times... jot notes down, revise and go on from there. 

Marketing 101.


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## Barry Digman (May 21, 2003)

I think yer on the right path Chef. I get calls regularly from people wanting to buy nucs and hives and such. I don't sell anything, and when I tell them that they're really disappointed. I have traded bees for skilled trade work. I think that renting hives may just work if it's done right. You can spend a chunk of money getting into beekeeping and then find out it's not something you really want to do. 

Add to this the increased interest in bees due to the public awareness of CCD and locally produced foods and I think there's a market there. Will it pay? I'm of the opinion that ANYTHING done well will pay. (And you're in an area that created $5/cup coffee!)


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## KQ6AR (May 13, 2008)

*Nov. Bee Culture*

Hi,
The article of someone adopting out hives, is in the Nov Bee Culture.
Page 43, Turtlebee Farm, agrotourism that works

If I had more land I would consider doing it. It could be very rewarding, in ways other than monetarily.


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## albee (Nov 16, 2006)

Chef the only thing that I can add to this is use the least defensive bees you can find. Cordovan Italians are a good choice. There a blond bee. If they swarm or supersede you will notice darker workers. They are very gentle and raise gobs of bees. You will have nice big beards on your hives. They put more energy into raising bees and they don't produce as much honey. Customers renting bees like to see big beards.
Good Luck.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I think that might not be the best approach. I mean... honeybees are wild...if I tell them these bees are nice and not aggresive and then they sting, that is bad for me. I am not going to give them bad bad tempered bees but one thing we all know is that, as beekeepers, we are going to have temepered bees from one time or another. I think they need to know that.


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## albee (Nov 16, 2006)

I'm sorry I wasn't clear. I'm not into marketing or how to sell the service your looking to provide and wasn't trying to tell you how to sell to your customers. I have seen field workers sitting on hives eating lunch. People sometimes don't think. An once of prevention is all I'm trying to say. 
Good luck


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

I do agree with this. I would think I might cover this in a class or in the contract or something like that.


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## walking bird (Mar 2, 2008)

Another one doing this: www.backyardbeehive.com. Only found 'em because they had a domain name I wanted.


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## walking bird (Mar 2, 2008)

And by the way, Chef, you keep mentioning that you'll protect yourself from liability with a contract. No offense, but I'm afraid that's a bit naive. I had a quick chat with my daughter, a lawyer who deals with worker's comp and personal injury claims every day.

Here's a hypothetical scenario:

Dave rents a hive from you, and you place it in his yard. Dave's next-door-neighbor, who is allergic to bees, gets stung, and makes a run to the emergency room. 

The neighbor's health insurance (assuming she's got some) pays the bill. Then, that insurance co goes looking for Dave's homeowner's insurance to cover their cost. Dave's HO insurance probably won't cover it, since Dave probably didn't tell them he was keeping bees (and especially if the muni code in the area forbids it).

So now the medical insurance co goes after Dave personally, and then your business liability insurance, since you're the owner of the hive. You show a contract, which says Dave agreed to assume all liability. This means Dave's on the hook personally, and he doesn't want that. So he sues your business, claiming you didn't provide enough safeguards, or properly explain the potential problems, or live up to your end of the contract, or whatever.

Or... Dave's HO insurance covers the neighbor's medical, and then goes after your liability insurance.

Point is, even if you're able to defend yourself, you'll be paying a lawyer plenty to defend you. And, the incident may incite a raise in your liability insurance.

This is all hypothetical, of course, and maybe a worst-case scenario, but totally plausible. Just something to be aware of.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

Walking Bird:

Your assumung that my contract is very broad, which non of mine that I have used in the past are. I have learned, through business school and contact class at Culinary school, that being more specific is the best. I would have Dave sign a contract, for sure... but I am not just going to put "dave assumes all liability". That would be silly. I am not the only one that looks at the contract myself and call it good. I have at least three other people look at it.


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## Barry (Dec 28, 1999)

Chef Isaac said:


> I am not just going to put "dave assumes all liability".


So what are you going to put?


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

dave assumes all liability! P he he he


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## walking bird (Mar 2, 2008)

I would advise that at least one of those three friends is an attorney. 

I'm going to be facing a similar issue, if I move forward with my plan to install hives in suburban areas. But first, I'll have to convince each municipality to issue a waiver, which is gonna be no picnic. I presume I'll have to get them comfortable with the liability issue at that point, since they'll want to be sure they're held harmless from any suits that may be brought as a result of the waiver.

In the end, it may not be worth all the hassle. I've certainly had trouble penciling it out. And as a marketer and advertiser with 25 years of experience, I can tell you the challenges go well beyond "Marketing 101." 

But I wish you luck, and if you come up with some ironclad legal language for that contract, I'd love to "borrow" some from you


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## jannaMI (May 16, 2010)

Hey ChefIsaac - wondering if I can get an update on how this is working for you? Just read through the whole thread, and think it's a great idea, and obviously you've put it into practice - I checked out your adoptahive site a little. Are you making the profit you'd hoped, and getting enough people interested to make it worthwhile? Would love to hear how it's going, and if you've run into any challenges. Thanks!


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

Hey Chef. How about "Beehaven Cemetery."

Headstone is bee hive. Family gets the honey. No complaints from the dead.


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## Bee Bliss (Jun 9, 2010)

What's the reason for keeping the adopted hive's information private? It would be nice to read about the different hives and read what the owners have to say about their hive experience. Makes a good selling point. You could still keep the identity of the owners private if they wish. Maybe the general public would be more interested if they could read about all of the adopted hives. You might also consider selling advertising space on the bee reports for each hive........or putting little blurps of "Did you know this about bees/honey/beeswax candles/etc". Anyway, just my 2 cents.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

All adoptions and adoption information is kept confidential unless the adopters and the adoptees agree to disclosure. So far we haven't been able to get a discernable answer on this from the adoptee. Tee hee. 

Is "Adopt a Hive" Trademarked or Copyrighted? I used to see advertisments in Yankee Magazine for "Adopt a Lobster Pot", "Adopt a Maple Tree", "Adopt a Beehive". The deal was that you would "adopt" one or more of these and get a percentage of the crop that was produced that year. So many lobsters, so much maple syrup, or so much honey.

Ya might want to check into that Chef.

When are you going to open "Chef Issac's Bee and Bee"? (no charge) A beekeeping themed Bed and Breakfast.


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## NasalSponge (Jul 22, 2008)

Talk about your thread resurrection....yikes


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