Hotham Family Apiary

Last week I had a short conversation with a fellow beekeeper. We talked about the usual stuff (colony strength, varroa management, honey harvest, etc.), but one point came up that I had not really given much thought to: the business of beekeeping. Up to that point, I had only thought of my apiary as a hobby with the added benefit of monetary gain. So, it of course sparked an interest, and I decided to go about viewing my apiary from a business perspective. When you start collecting up old receipts, and start writing down costs, you rapidly gain an overview at the success or failure of the business. Since starting in the summer of 2015, I have not seen a positive return on my costs, i.e. my honey sales were not covering the losses, not by a long shot. A big fat red bottom line! For me, it is clear why this is the case; beekeeping costs quite a bit of money when you are starting new. If you take into consideration what the costs are of obtaining and keeping a colony for an entire seaso...

Fortunately, things have worked out as I had hoped. I was able to acquire three colonies this week from my mentor. He was clearing out the training stand for renovation, and was happy to have someone to take some colonies of his hands. My timing turned out to be just right, as another beekeeper had been there a few days before and purchased six colonies. I met my mentor late in the evening, after dusk, and packed the hives into my car and drove the bees over to my bee house. After some minor modifications to the bench, the hives were placed inside the house, and the paper towel pieces that were used to stop up the hive openings were removed. Back in the game. The waiting and anticipation of a new season is kind of killing me. One on hand, I just want to see the apiary grow. On the other, I want to be sure not to make the same mistakes as last year. Varroa treatments will need to be done more precisely and scientifically this year; I am not willing to suffer a total loss ag...