NZBF: Honey prices

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58
47
Te Horo
Experience
Hobbyist
I think all in my first hive cost me around $1000 in my first year. $200ish for the hive, $250 for suit, gloves, smoker etc, $250 for Nuc, $150 for baverol / apivar / apistan anti varroa treatments plus $150 for honey buckets, strainer etc. Plus fees for inspection and registration.

As a hobbyist I calculate hives cost around $100 per layer for a 3 to 4 high full depth hive by the time I've got frames, nuc etc.

I could reduce that I some areas but played with top feeder, hive doctor vs wooden bases, frame feeders, plastic frames etc.

I've got 4 hives and am about $2500 in outlay over 2 years. I now also have a sense of what I do and dont like in gear, am ready to try making my own splits and have spare frames ready for supers etc.

Hope this helps as a rough guide to my experience as a noob.

Honey - i got around 40kg this year of multi floral which returned $20 per kg for sale via a community org as a fund raiser. We have orders for next year lined up. People like raw, local honey. Demand exceeds production. Next year I expect double that in honey as I should have 4 mature and producing hives. This year had 3 startups.

If my wife sees these numbers I'm possibly a dead man - but as I explained, over 2 - 3 years it will pay off as long as I dont count my hours of work (play).

The girls are worth every cent IMHO but i will never be a rich man from bees.
I am in the same boat, she who will never see this post *Whew* is not aware of what I have paid out already. My original post was really to get an idea of potential income to off set expenses, replacements and possible expansion. Of course the most important reason of starting bee keeping is to get my own honey.....nah not even, but I don't look at retiring but just getting a couple of beer tokens once in a while.
 

Alastair

Founder Member
Platinum
8,753
9,966
Auckland
Experience
Semi Commercial
Look at it this way. Most hobbies cost. You take up fishing, it costs. Golf, it costs.

Beekeeping there is an initial cost, then you may or may not get it back, dependent on how far you develop your skills and knowledge.

Eventually, you will see better pollination of any flowering fruit you may have. You will get honey, the food of love. And beeswax to make the purest burning candles that exist, for those intimate evenings when the kids are having a sleepover at their friends.

And back to practical reality, never be too ready to buy the latest thing. Be minimalist. The bee supply shop is full of interesting and useful looking gadgets, that you don't need.
 
25
44
Gizzy
Experience
Commercial
I am in the same boat, she who will never see this post *Whew* is not aware of what I have paid out already. My original post was really to get an idea of potential income to off set expenses, replacements and possible expansion. Of course the most important reason of starting bee keeping is to get my own honey.....nah not even, but I don't look at retiring but just getting a couple of beer tokens once in a while.
The only way you are going to realistically recoup costs is if you can pack your honey to standard to sell it locally, then your looking at around $8 for a 500gm jar.
It can be done on a small scale where you might be able to move a bit and pay for the costs of 1-3 hives, but if you extrapolate that out to 10-30 hives it’s a whole different ball game and your in a race to the bottom with everyone else.
Things are bad out there.

If I was looking for a way to make a quick buck at the moment I would be trying to figure out how to import and tissue culture rare houseplants. The last thing I would be doing would be getting into bees.
If you don’t love it, don’t do it.
 

kaihoka

Gold
328
270
whanganui inlet
Experience
Hobbyist
Well it’s true 🤷‍♀️🤣
Crazy crazy money is being paid for houseplants by millennials near you
It is crazy.
I used to have lots of house plants .
I got sick of looking after them and put them all outside.
They either died or thrived and are on the nz noxious weed list .
I had a large varigated monsteria that I killed .
 
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25
44
Gizzy
Experience
Commercial
It is crazy.
I used to have lots of house plants .
I got sick of looking after them and put them all outside.
They either died or thrived and are on the nz noxious weed list .
I had a large varigated monsteria that I killed .
An albo Monstera cutting is worth about $1000 a node, and that’s being conservative
 
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25
44
Gizzy
Experience
Commercial
do you know what’s causing the craziness .
No, but I have theories.

Plants make people happy.

I think it’s ‘cool’ to have rare plants, the rarer and more expensive the cooler you are.
Used to have to be good looking in your underpants to be ‘cool’, now you just have to have a kickass indoor garden.

I don’t really care about being cool, but I literally live in a shoebox with a postage stamp for a yard, so being trapped in my house over lockdown was particularly confronting, coupled with the fact that house prices have more than doubled where I live so I’m looking at a million dollars for a 4 bedroom house, it makes my house much more palatable for me when I look around and I see beautiful green.
Plus, I’m a stay at home mum so hobbies are limited to things I can do with my kids, indoor plants is pretty much my ideal hobby.
If I wanted to I could make good money selling plants, I occasionally sell at markets but it’s very much a hobby.

Some people treat them as an investment, a risky investment but can be very profitable.
 
245
156
Christchurch
Experience
Beginner
It can be done on a small scale where you might be able to move a bit and pay for the costs of 1-3 hives, but if you extrapolate that out to 10-30 hives it’s a whole different ball game and your in a race to the bottom with everyone else.
This might be the trap that gets people trying commercial bee keeping.
At $8 to $10 per 500g and say 20kg a hive I figure my hive is worth $800 income, not including wax, propolis etc.
Outlay $60 in apivar, sugar etc then it's a good return. So why not have 50 hives and start an income.
But then work hours, truck, travel, marketing, compliance, kick in and instead of bee to jar yourself you onsell to packers etc.
Then $4 per kg and you're stuffed.

At the bee keeping course we were told about 30kg per hive of honey or even 40 - 50kg. $300 for propolis matt. Pollen traps and wax to sell at $20 or more per kg . Turn it to candles and make even more.

I was wondering why everyone isnt doing it.

Now I know. Being here is a good education. Sincerely. My thanks to you all.
 
25
44
Gizzy
Experience
Commercial
The hoya's are the ones that I can't believe the prices of - just need to put a cutting in a glass or jar of water until the roots are big enough.
Yeah I didn’t understand the fuss about Hoyas and now I have 18 different types.
Such a huge range of interesting foliage and flowers and really easy care.
I have a couple of moderately expensive ones that I’ve been given, but I don’t generally buy expensive plants.
 
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3,578
6,706
Hawkes Bay
Experience
Commercial
I had a huge monstera in my glasshouse that grew from someone's unwonted houseplant but I had to cut it out in the end because it was just rampant. I tried unsuccessfully to save some of the plant and I have just bought a new one but it will be kept within bounds.
I don't grow them for the looks, I grow them for their fruit which I find exceptional. I am much more into flowering ornamental plants than foliage ones.
 
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58
47
Te Horo
Experience
Hobbyist
Look at it this way. Most hobbies cost. You take up fishing, it costs. Golf, it costs.

Beekeeping there is an initial cost, then you may or may not get it back, dependent on how far you develop your skills and knowledge.

Eventually, you will see better pollination of any flowering fruit you may have. You will get honey, the food of love. And beeswax to make the purest burning candles that exist, for those intimate evenings when the kids are having a sleepover at their friends.

And back to practical reality, never be too ready to buy the latest thing. Be minimalist. The bee supply shop is full of interesting and useful looking gadgets, that you don't need.
Sound advice, and yes I know what you mean about gadgets.....stayed away from them so far :)
 


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