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How to start beekeeping? Bee business and its subtleties. How to start a beekeeping business

It should be located in an ecologically clean area, as far as possible from the city. When arranging a place, it is important to provide premises for storing finished products.

Important nuances of apiary placement

the ideal site where bee breeding is planned should be located in a rural area, but at the same time at a sufficient distance from the residential sector (to avoid bees attacking neighbors);
houses should be located at some distance from the ground;
fields with honey plants should be located on the site and next to it;
there should not be water bodies, swamps nearby (humidity negatively affects the health of insects);
it is necessary to divide the apiary into two components: one for the reproduction of bees, the second for the production of products.

Beehives and apiary equipment

bees- demanding insects, so the choice of good housing for them is very important. The quality of the hives directly affects the productivity of the farm. We choose their type based on the breed of the bee and the size of the apiary.

The design of hives is horizontal or vertical. When choosing, it is worth giving preference to models with a small number of tiers.

For beginners it makes sense to give preference to horizontal hives. They are more convenient to maintain, do not require raising the housings, in winter they require minimal insulation, unlike vertical models.

You can make houses yourself. Wood, polystyrene foam, plywood, polycarbonate are suitable as a material. The feeder is made of a special dense mesh. After assembly it is necessary to paint the hive.

Necessary equipment for apiary

coil holder;
booth;
drinkers;
pattern;
thermometer;
storage devices (reservoirs).

All this can be ordered online or bought in a specialized store.

Buying bees

There is such a thing as a bee colony. This is a full-fledged bee family, which includes the queen and other bees (about 50,000). Provided that we open an apiary for 20 houses, it will take about a million bees to fill them completely.

As for the breed: for the middle lane, the Caucasian, Krajinsky and Italian bees are optimal and most productive. They are resistant to diseases, live long, collect pollen well.

Organization of work in the apiary

At the first start, you need to carefully examine the families. If they do not have a uterus, it must be attached. Small or weak colonies should be united with each other, dead bees should be removed.

The first feeding is carried out in early spring and includes the following ingredients: 2 kg of granulated sugar with 2 tbsp. spoons of vinegar. These components are mixed and heated, after cooling they are brought into the houses at night.

You need to constantly be engaged in apiary, once a week monitoring the composition of the family, checking the presence of the uterus, preventing departure. Good theoretical knowledge is needed, which can be gleaned from specialized forums dedicated to beekeeping.

The first selection of honey is carried out in June. To do this, the beekeeper takes out the sealed frames and sends them to the honey extractor.

So that the bees do not get sick, hives must be insulated for winter. Preparations should start at the end of August. You need to insulate the houses from the side and from above. Between the buildings of the houses it is necessary to provide good ventilation.

Initial investment

The idea of opening an apiary is suitable for those who have a minimum starting capital. Approximate investments for and operating expenses for one year will be about $11,500.

This includes preparation of the premises for the cold season, the purchase of bee colonies and equipment, the arrangement of houses, wages to the beekeeper (per person), business registration and taxes.

Product sales

You can sell products both through friends, at honey fairs, and by placing ads in newspapers or the Internet. The specificity of honey is such that it is worth delivering a quality product once, buyers will no longer refuse you and will recommend you to their friends.

Beekeeping products and their prices

honey $9 per kg;
wax $7 per 100 g;
propolis $7 per 100 g;
zabrus $600 for 100 g;
bee venom $10 per 100 g;
perga $30 per 100 g;
royal jelly $14 per 100 g.

If you sell only honey, the net income from the apiary for 20 houses will be $ 6200 per year. When selling other beekeeping products, another 50% can be added to this amount. In this case, the income will be about $9300.

The number of families and, accordingly, hives, can be gradually increased by 10 pieces per year, which will allow more and more over time.

We figured out how to breed bees and get a steady income from the sale of bee products. and allowing for continuous development.

18.12.2016 0

Many beginner beekeepers are wondering: is it profitable to engage in beekeeping? Breeding bees is considered a fairly profitable business. According to the latest data, its profitability reaches 20-25%. But good earnings can only be obtained if there are at least 100 families in the property.

Risks and losses

Breeding bees has several risks, two types can be distinguished:

Human risks:

too hot or cool summers;
hail, heavy rains, winds;
fires, thefts;
natural disasters.

Risks depending on the beekeeper:

neglected state of bees;
loss of the uterus of individuals;
improper examination of families.

How to start a business

The apiary requires financial and physical costs. It is necessary to devote a lot of time to breeding bees, but such an activity can be combined with other activities.

First you need to choose the location of the nests. For several hives, a small area will be needed. It is necessary that fields, forests and meadows be located nearby. This is a stationary apiary. When it is not possible to place nests in a similar area, a nomadic apiary is created. In this case, bee families need to be transported to where sunflowers, mustard, buckwheat, linden grow, various herbs bloom.

You may not like beekeeping.
Due to inexperience, you can lose most of the bee colonies.

When breeding bees, you need to live near insects and know their character. In summer, the apiary needs the regular presence of a beekeeper.

The most healing and sought-after varieties of honey are collected from:

buckwheat;
acacias;
mint;
lindens.

Mignon honey, sweet clover, thistle, esparcet and hyssop honey are popular. It is recommended to use a phyto map when choosing a location for the location of the hives. When choosing the location of the apiary, it is necessary to take into account the proximity of water and electricity.

Start-up capital

To start beekeeping, you need a small start-up capital.

The cost of one nest is approximately 3000 rubles. It is more profitable to make them yourself, it will be much cheaper. The cost of one bee colony varies from 5000 rubles. They can be insured. The cost of such a service is about 500 rubles per family.

You will also need inventory:

Face protection net and appropriate suit, cost about 1000 rubles. It is recommended to choose a suit of a light shade, because the bees are aggressive towards black.
Smoker - 300 rubles. Coal burns in it, its smoke calms individuals.
Honey extractor - 10,000 rubles. Cells are immersed in this device. During its unwinding, the bee product is pumped out.

With the right location of the apiary and good care of the workers, you can recoup the costs in one season, as well as make some profit.

Types of bees

The type of honey plants influences the choice of bees. Among Russian beekeepers, the most common are:

gray Caucasian;
Central Russian;
Ukrainian steppe bee.

Gray Caucasian workers perfectly pollinate clover and meadow flowers. They do not let other bees into the nests and do not steal honey themselves. Their negative quality is considered to be low cold resistance. Such individuals are not very aggressive.

Central Russian workers interact well with buckwheat and linden, they are extremely aggressive and prone to swarming.

Ukrainian steppe individuals remarkably pollinate sunflowers, buckwheat, linden and other honey plants. They endure the winter without problems and can overwinter in good outdoor nests. Such bees are not susceptible to European foulbrood and nosematosis.

Product implementation

The most popular way to sell honey is through selling it with the help of relatives and friends. When breeding bees in a village, residents will be aware of this and may become regular customers. This is a profitable way to sell the product, as resellers buy it 50% cheaper.

It is possible to sell the product at the relevant fairs. However, for this you need to be a member of the union of beekeepers. To do this, you need to get a beekeeper's passport and pay 100 thousand rubles.

Permanent cooperation with a retailer of honey will be beneficial. The buyer will be sure that he will receive the amount of product he needs, this greatly reduces his transportation costs and makes it possible to increase the cost of the purchase.

Trying to sell honey in supermarkets in big cities is not a profitable way. The buyer can pay much more for a product that is right in the apiary. In this case, he gains confidence in its quality. If you want to sell the product in tons, you can turn to large bakeries, since they are big consumers of honey.

You can create your own online store to sell honey. Currently, many are unsure of the naturalness of the product from the supermarket and are prone to this particular method of purchase.

The bee product can be stored for a long time, in this regard, it can be sold throughout the year.

The cost of one liter of the product is about five hundred rubles. During the season, you can collect 35 liters of honey from one nest. The profitability of the apiary in this case will be 18,000-20,000 rubles. And if you have 10 hives, you can get more than 150,000 rubles per season.

Video: beekeeping is a great home business option.

To increase your profits, you should consider the following recommendations for business development:

It is recommended to place special nets from debris in the nests. This will make it possible to save the energy of insects on cleaning the houses and direct it to collect pollen.
In damp and cool weather, nests should be insulated, as insects give off a lot of energy to maintain body temperature.
We need to get rid of the larvae of the brood. This will save the strength of the individuals.
Workers should be fed with flower syrup. In this case, you need to choose a syrup of flowers on which the honey plant is carried out. As a result, individuals will not switch to other flowers and will give a quality product.
It is better to choose nests with upper entrances. They require significantly less maintenance.
Frames should be taken the same size. They are considered very important components of any bee house. Such frames can be easily replaced with each other, this is a significant advantage in the presence of a large number of nests.
It is not recommended to pump out honey for the winter. This will increase the viability of individuals. It will also be easier to take care of the bees in winter.

So, is beekeeping profitable? For bee breeding to be successful, it is necessary to love bees and devote yourself completely to this occupation. Beekeeping is a fairly profitable business if you take it seriously. Breeding bees is an extremely painstaking task. A successful beekeeper must be attentive and able-bodied.

Aromatic sweet honey is not at all such a simple product as it might seem at first glance. And we are talking here primarily about its production, in which the usual scheme "buy equipment - buy raw materials - make a finished product" does not work.

To make honey, you will have to get out into the fields, closer to flowering plants, and equip an apiary. This task, frankly, is not an easy one, because although the bees work without days off and smoke breaks, they require certain conditions of maintenance and care.

Where to start?

The first thing to remember if you decide to get into beekeeping is the fact that agriculture (and this is the industry you will work in) carries very high risks. This is exactly the area of activity that largely depends not on the efforts of the entrepreneur, but on unpredictable weather conditions. For example, if the spring turned out to be cold, then the bee colony will develop more slowly and may not have time to gain strength for the main honey flow.

As a result, the main bribe may bring less honey than originally planned. In this situation, as you can see, there are a lot of “if”, “may” and “would”, which eloquently hints that it is extremely difficult to predict it.

And yet, to some extent, you can secure your business by properly preparing for the start. First you need to evaluate the food supply, i.e. what honey plants are in the region, how many of them, when they produce nectar. This can be done using special plant flowering calendars. They contain information about when honey plants bloom and how much nectar they produce per 1 hectare of area.

Next, you should get acquainted with local beekeepers and find out from them how much honey they collect on average per season. Moreover, it is better to ask 5-7 people and find out information about more than one year. It is advisable to collect statistics for 10 years in order to again reduce risks. Find out which method of beekeeping your colleagues use - a nomadic apiary or a stationary one.

Think about what breed of bees is best to work with. The ideal option is to choose those bees that are most adapted to local conditions. For example, Central Russian bees tolerate frost well, are resistant to a number of diseases, and are effective in late strong honey flow. They are recommended for the Central, Northwestern, Volga, Ural, Siberian federal districts. But bees of this breed are considered very aggressive, and many beekeepers do not like to work with them.

Another breed of bees - gray mountain Caucasian - is recommended for use in the regions of the North Caucasus, Central, Volga and Southern federal districts. It has a distinctive feature - a long proboscis, thanks to which the bee can collect nectar and pollinate those plants where other breeds of bees cannot reach.

But it’s not enough just to buy bees of a suitable breed, you also need to take care of the commercial component of your business.

There are two ways here: wholesale sales and sales to a retail consumer. The first scenario assumes that you need sufficiently large production volumes, a large number of bees (at least 60 colonies), and therefore significant investments.

For those who have no experience in this area at all, it is better to start small and tune in to work with retail buyers. Do a little marketing research, see where and how other beekeepers sell products: who does it successfully and who does not, and why?

You can also try to take honey from someone and sell it, call potential customers, find out the price, terms of cooperation, and preferably develop your own sales channels. This way is more troublesome, but the margin is much higher than with wholesale sales.

It must be remembered that in addition to honey, the bee colony also provides many other useful products: propolis, wax, bee bread, royal jelly, pollen, etc. Some of these products can be obtained without harm to the main honey collection and, thereby, increase the profitability of the apiary.

Everyone knows that honey can be of various types: flower, buckwheat, chestnut, linden ... Those types, which are the least on the market, usually cost more. Which type of honey beekeeping will produce depends on which honey plants grow in greater numbers in your area. But you can get rarer varieties into your piggy bank by organizing migrations over long distances for the necessary honey plants.

Investment size

The cost of organizing beekeeping can be arbitrarily large. The amount of investment depends mainly on the goals of the beginner beekeeper, therefore

Decide what you want: an industrial professional apiary with 1000 bee colonies or an amateur apiary with 10-15 hives.

The main costs at the start will fall on both the purchase of the bee colonies themselves and the purchase of various equipment and inventory: hives, frames, sushi, foundation, honey extractors, containers for honey, etc.

But the matter will not be limited to a one-time purchase of equipment and bees. The apiary must be periodically replenished with "fresh blood", ordering high-quality queens that will update the apiary, purchase foundation, medicines, and equipment. You can optimize costs by breeding queens on your own, but this is hardly within the power of a novice beekeeper.

When launching an industrial apiary for 60 or more families, the expenses can be quite significant: the cost of one family alone is about 5-8 thousand rubles. Thus, only the purchase of bees (60 families) can take up to half a million rubles, and to this it is worth adding the cost of the hives themselves and inventory.

You can save up for a small apiary on your own by increasing the number of hives and production volumes gradually. If you decide to take on a big business, you can attract individual investors or take out a loan. There are specialized banks that are engaged in lending to projects mainly in agriculture.

Also now there are state programs to support beginner farmers, for example, one of them is called “Starting Farmer”. It can receive up to 1.5 million rubles in subsidies.

Step-by-step instruction

So, you have decided on your goals, studied the market, outlined distribution channels for products, and even found funding. It's time to start buying equipment. What exactly to buy again depends on the number of colonies and the method of beekeeping. If you are planning a nomadic apiary, you will additionally need special carts for transporting bees, and if the number of families is large, then loaders, machines and pavilions for transporting bees are also used.

Consider the option of organizing a stationary apiary for one family. Here's what you'll need:

Bee family (1 pc.);
Beehive with a 12-frame cover (1 pc.);
Enclosures on the hive. They are used during the honey collection, so that the bees have a place to carry nectar and process it into honey (1 pc.);
Frames in the hive. For example, let's take the Dadan frame. One hive will need 12 of these frames. Plus, 12 more of the same frames are needed in the case (Total - 24 pcs.);
Dry - dry empty honeycombs. In them, the uterus lays eggs, brood develops, and later the bees put honey in such frames. One hive needs 13 such combs, they are substituted as the family develops;
Voshchina. She is being framed. They substitute when the family begins to develop, the honeycombs are whitewashed. At this time, the bees secrete a lot of wax, so you need to replace the old ones that are discarded with new frames.
Wire. Used for waxing foundation on a frame (1 skein);
Fitting device. A roller that presses the wax to the wire, and a board the size of the wax, so that it is more convenient to wax (1 pc.);
Canvas. Cotton fabric that covers the frames in the hive on top (1 pc.);
Pillow or insulation under the hive cover (1 pc.);
Stands under the hive (2-4 pcs.);
Portable boxes for frames (2 pcs.);
Honey extractor 4-frame manual or automatic (1 pc.);
Knife for opening honeycombs (1 pc.);
Gloves for working with bees (1 pair);
Smoker. A special device for fumigating bees with smoke. Used in beekeeping to pacify bees when examining bee colonies (1 pc.);
Beekeeping suit with a mask (1 pc.);
Sieve for straining honey (1 pc.);
Brush for sweeping bees from frames (1 pc.);
Containers for honey, for example, 23-liter cube containers (2-3 pcs.);

With such volumes, it does not make sense to contact equipment suppliers directly; it is better to contact large specialized stores. When choosing, you can rely on a variety of criteria: price, proximity to your region, availability of goods. But the most important thing is not to damage the equipment during transportation. Some transport companies even make special frames to ensure its safety.

Where to buy bees and how to care for them?

The bees themselves can be bought in specialized bee nurseries, for example, in the Maikop beekeeping stronghold.

In the south of Russia, bees develop earlier and faster, which means that by May they have time to build up strength.

You can also buy bee colonies from individuals who are professionally engaged in breeding bees of a certain breed. Usually they do not sell the hives themselves, but packages with bees. The package is a small wooden box containing several frames (3-4 pieces). Please note that in such a package there must be a brood, a flying bee and a queen. In order for the bees you purchased to be healthy, you need to conduct a visual inspection of them, and also require an apiary passport with notes on the diseases of the families.

But buying bees is half the battle, it is equally important to deliver them to the apiary. There are certain rules for transporting bees: the bag must have holes for ventilation, drinkers with water and a sufficient amount of food. During transportation, the boxes with families are well sealed so that the bees cannot get out.

Bees live collectively, do not require special care, as they are adapted to life in the wild. Nevertheless, it is worth familiarizing yourself with the rules of their content in advance. As a rule, the beekeeper conducts inspections several times a year, not counting the heels, sets up frames for expanding the bee nest in the spring, completes the nest for wintering, makes sure that there is enough food for wintering, warms the hives.

Bees can get sick, nosematosis is most common in them, and varroa mites are also dangerous. In autumn and spring, the beekeeper treats bee colonies with special veterinary preparations or natural substances (garlic, pine needles, etc.).

Collection and sale of honey

Beekeeping does not require a large staff. For example, for an apiary of 50 families, 1 person is enough. For pitching (collecting honey) and transportation of bees, seasonal workers can be involved - 2-3 people. At the same time, special knowledge is not required for such ancillary work.

Honey is harvested when it is ripe. It is important not to miss this moment, since unripe honey can turn sour due to high humidity. “Readiness” of honey is determined by sealed combs. Usually honey can be pumped out several times per season, but if the honey flow is short or weak, then it is pumped only once.

As already mentioned, ready-made honey can be sold both wholesale and retail. In the first case, dealers, honey processing enterprises, and confectionery factories will become your customers. In the second case, you can offer honey to neighbors and acquaintances, take part in fairs or open your own outlet.

The location of the apiary plays a particularly important role. For those who intend to start beekeeping in their own apartment, it is better to abandon this idea. Bees need a permanent honey base, which, as a rule, is not available in the city. In addition, there is a high probability of stinging people who are allergic to bee venom.

Therefore, it is still better to take the apiary outside the city. In this case, the first site that comes across will not work. There are sanitary standards for keeping bees, which you need to rely on when choosing a place for hives.

If we are talking about a stationary apiary, it should be located at a distance of 500 meters or more from roads and railways, as well as power lines and sawmills. It is also necessary to take into account the remoteness from chemical and confectionery factories, television and radio broadcasting stations and airfields. It must be at least 5 kilometers.

There are also certain rules for nomadic apiaries. First of all, they should be located close to the sources of honey collection and "close" to each other - at least 1.5 kilometers from one apiary to another. It is impossible to move more than 3 kilometers from stationary apiaries.

How to place the hives inside the apiary itself is also regulated by sanitary standards. In particular, they must be removed 10 meters from the border of the land. Otherwise, between the hives and the neighboring area there must be a fence, building or shrub of two meters in height.

In the hives themselvesconditionsshould be close to the wild. Therefore, wooden beehives used to be very popular, but now more and more people, because of the convenience, choosepolyurethane foam (PPU) beehives .

It is important that the hive has good ventilation, insulation and several entrances in the right places. And of course, the hive should not be crowded, remember that it is designed for only one bee family.

Do not forget also about the utility rooms for storing equipment, frames, cases and honey. In addition, you will need a special winter hut for bees. All rooms must be dry and rodent-free.

Documentation

The apiary requires a large enough amount of documentation to operate in accordance with the law. First of all, you need to coordinate the location of the apiary with the veterinary service, get a special conclusion from her - the passport of the apiary. A wind worker is assigned to the apiary, who must monitor the health of the bees, their processing, and inspect the apiary.

In addition, registration with the administration of the rural settlement to which your site belongs is required. The administration writes out a certificate that you have bees, and enters information about them in your household book.

If the option of a nomadic apiary is being considered, you must also coordinate its location with the farmers whose territory you are entering.

In addition, an apiary is a business, which means it must be registered accordingly. In my opinion, it is better to arrange an apiary as a peasant farm (KFH). In this case, you can get preferential terms from the tax authorities.

Personal experience

Do not know what business to open in the village? Have a large vacant lot? In any place where you can buy or rent a lot of cheap land, industrious people earn money from agriculture and animal husbandry. Today to readers IQ Review a successful beekeeper who created a business selling honey and bee by-products from scratch will tell his story.

My name is Stanislav, I am 48 years old, I live in Ukraine, in the south of the Kherson region. I am a self-taught beekeeper with a little over ten years of experience. At the moment I have one hundred and fifty hives in stock. I have a lot of experience and, most importantly, love for these wonderful hard workers - bees.

honey bee

How I got into this business - why bees

Fifteen years ago I started looking for my place in business. I did not aim at something grandiose, as I was limited in funds. He was also engaged in growing cucumbers in a greenhouse, but somehow everything did not go well. There was profit, but there were also enough problems.
Once I went for seeds to a neighboring town. Along the way, I took a passenger - an elderly man, but so cheerful and talkative that in the thirty minutes of the trip he told me his whole life.

Grandfather was engaged in bees, and it was clear that this occupation gave him pleasure. But not only - honey costs decent money. The apiary was quite small, but it was enough for him. In the end, I hardly listened to him, I was only surprised that this idea had not occurred to me earlier.

I never bought the seeds, but I stopped by the local beekeeping shop and found out who had an apiary. On the same evening, he was bringing home a hive with precious contents - bees. They can be transported only at night, when the family gathers together. During the day, all worker bees are looking for a bribe (the so-called pollen and nectar). I spent the whole day in a huge apiary, its owner showed and told me everything. He was stung a couple of times, but he was in such an agitated state that he did not even notice.

First honey harvest

Further, the question arose before me - if you are engaged in beekeeping as a business, then one hive is not enough. If you immediately purchase a large apiary, then I will not be able to cope, given my zero experience. I settled on the fact that I will study for the first season, but this bee colony will be a testing ground for the future business.

In July, I already pumped the first honey - a mix of May honey with herbs. It turned out not much, only five liters. But I have never experienced so much joy from any previously concluded deal. Of course, there was nothing to sell, so he kept the jar for himself, and distributed the rest to his neighbors. That summer, the bee colony produced another medium swarm. And I reminded myself of the cat Matroskin from the cartoon. I transplanted the swarm into a separate hive, new and equipped personally - I did not waste time in vain and managed to learn a lot.

Beekeeping as a business - reaching a commercial scale

My carpentry skills helped a lot. This made it possible to save a lot - ready-made frames for honeycombs are expensive, and I made them myself. Crafted all winter. A honey extractor - a unit for separating honey from honeycombs - had to be bought.

Since March of the following year, he began to look for a good apiary in order to buy replenishment for his family. I considered myself almost an expert - I shoveled so much literature on beekeeping, received so much advice from experienced beekeepers. But most importantly, I managed to save my bees, get honey from them and even increase their numbers.

Frame for collecting honey

How much honey and money does a small apiary bring

Soon there were fifteen three-hull beehives in my farmstead. The air warmed up and the bees made their first flight. There is still no work for them at this time, but this is not why smart insects leave their house. The fact is that they do not go to the toilet throughout the winter (sorry for the juicy detail). With the first warmth, they fly out, defecate and return to the warm hive. If they are not given this opportunity or the cold is too long, then the bees may die.

This season, I decided to keep an apiary in the yard, it was not so big that it was taken out into the field. A bribe is still enough for them, the village is quite large, and there is a garden in every yard. Everything worked out for me - to catch a swarm on my own, to sort out the frames. He even learned to visually determine the age of the larvae.

Let's calculate whether it is profitable to breed bees? During the summer I received almost two hundred and fifty kilograms of honey. I sold almost everything - the net profit turned out to be ten thousand - I rented forty hryvnias to wholesalers. Not a Klondike, but the beginning is encouraging, and I was not going to stop.

Expansion of the beekeeping business

To provide themselves with transport for the export of the apiary to the steppe, I had to find a partner. At the beginning of May of the next season, all my hives (and there were already twenty-five of them) were near the rapeseed field. This plant is a good honey plant. We had a preliminary agreement with the farmer, the benefits are mutual, so he paid me about ten thousand hryvnias for the pollination of plants. To think, for being near the field, I received last year's profit. Together with the sale of honey, the seasonal income turned out to be about forty-five thousand hryvnias.

I managed to buy a used but in good condition Gazelle with a trailer. The hives fit, but their density was not very convenient for the bees - there was too little space between the houses. All my income last season was spent on the purchase of transport. I had to take out a loan for another trailer.

What are the problems faced by a beginner beekeeper?

It was quite hard, because I need to support my family. In addition to the apiary, he worked part-time wherever they paid. I am grateful to my wife for understanding and help in those years, she believed in me, and I simply had no right to be a loser.

bees on honeycombs

The intrigues of competitors

The following summer, grief happened - competitors set fire to several beehives. It's good that I have a light sleep, and I smelled smoke. I extinguished the fire, of course. Bees died in several hives. The fact is that wholesalers are happy to buy honey from me for the reason that I never feed bees other than what they stock up for themselves.

Not entirely honest beekeepers take all the honey to the last drop, and then feed the poor insects with sugar syrup. Have you ever wondered why one honey is candied and the other is not? A veterinary analysis of such fraud clearly shows that the quality of such honey is low, sugaring occurs a month after pumping.

So they took revenge on me for wanting to be honest. People trusted me, honey was in demand among buyers. Even if I made less profit than I could, but there was never such a situation that there was a delay in sales. Sometimes wholesalers were present at the pumping out of honey and immediately took it away, as they say, directly from the conveyor. It was convenient, since they used their own containers, and I didn’t have to take and pick up again.

He did not write a statement to the police, he did not see any faces, although he probably knew the arsonists. I dealt with them myself, since I'm not a frail man, I had to use force.

What else do you need to protect beehives from?

This was not the last trouble. When my apiary was more than fifty hives, at the end of winter, some families suffered from mice. In my practice, this did not happen before, although experienced beekeepers talked about it. Didn't care, that's what got hurt. When I went through the frames in the spring, I was horrified - huge holes, eaten honey and dead bees. It was a pity, but the loss was not critical, during the summer the number was restored.

Scaling the honey business

It became more and more difficult to deal with such a huge apiary on its own. When it was necessary to make an audit or pump out honey, I hired people. They were local beekeepers with few hives, but experienced and reliable. They helped me, I honestly paid. Over the years, we formed an artel. This facilitated both transportation and the protection of the apiary. I even allowed myself a summer vacation with my family, which I had never thought of before.

Bees provide more than just honey. What else can be sold from the apiary

There is one technological process when in June it is necessary to remove excess queen cells from the hives. These are the larvae from which the uterus will subsequently be born - the queen of the bee family. But the catch is that she has to be the only one, and the appearance of others causes swarming. She remains alone in the hive, and the young takes part of the family with her and flies away to look for another place to live. In order for this to happen according to my plan, I have to regulate the number of queen cells.

Queen surrounded by worker bees

Royal jelly has been used in pharmaceuticals for a very long time, and I decided to find a market for this substance as well. Each time I threw it away with pity and thought that such a valuable product wasted in vain. My wholesalers helped, brought me to the right people. It turned out that they do not mind buying more bee bread and propolis. They were interested in all bee products from my apiary. A good reason was the results of the samples that were taken for each component. I have never used antibiotics to treat hives, I have not used any chemicals, and this is now a huge rarity.

How much can you earn if you have a large apiary

I remember the first years of my honey activity, how I plowed then. And this despite the fact that the profit was minimal. Now I have one hundred and fifty hives, a team is working, I also do not mess around, but basically I just supervise. I am proud of myself, because the business started from zero. Seasonal profit (salary to the team and expenses for consumables are taken into account) is about two hundred thousand hryvnias (almost 600 thousand rubles - ed.). It’s enough for me and my family, I’m not going to expand the business anymore. But the influx of funds allows me to modernize the production of honey and make my work more comfortable.

When I started, I didn't even have a business plan. Do you think beekeeping needs a business plan? No - you need to work hard and learn a lot to care for the bees. Now I have a new tractor, six huge platforms for transportation, a mobile home for four people to live at the same time. Established and trusting relationships with wholesalers - with people who have been working with me for more than one year.

If it seemed to someone that beekeeping is a sweet candy, then he is mistaken. This is labor, labor and labor, investment of money and again labor, failures, conflicts, profits - all mixed up. The most difficult stage is until the moment when you no longer owe anyone, the business brings regular income, and you have time to take a breath. If you are ready for this, do not hesitate, feel free to start bees. I think that it was these smart insects that became an example for me. How many times have you seen how they carry honey to their homes, do not pay attention to the headwind, birds of prey. So stubbornly a person must go towards his goal, then everything will work out.

Basics of beekeeping (video)

Beekeeping as a business is a great idea for new entrepreneurs who are eager to try starting their own business. In the field of agriculture, this is one of the most attractive and interesting formats. But it is better to work with bees for those who gravitate towards this occupation by the soul, and not just want to make a profit. Such a business and its results can improve not only the financial situation, but also mood and well-being.

Beekeeping at home can become not only a pleasant hobby, but also a business that brings a good income. And if money appears together with pleasure, then this is doubly pleasant.

Of course, starting a business will require some investment. But in beekeeping, an important component of success will be the knowledge of the entrepreneur regarding bees. If a businessman does not know where to start and how to succeed in this business, then at the start he will have to learn a lot of information about the insects that he is going to breed. Without this, many problems can arise.

When deciding whether or not the case under consideration is profitable, it is necessary to take into account the many advantages of this business. The undoubted advantages include:

Relatively small initial investment. At the first stage, you can get by with a couple of used hives and families of bees. As a breeding site, you can use your own summer cottage or rent it from other farmers.
Availability. There are no obstacles in breeding bees. It is quite easy to buy the necessary equipment and the bees themselves.
"Soul" work. With even a small interest, an entrepreneur will be able to run his own business with pleasure.
Clarity. There is a sufficient amount of literature on the cultivation of bees. It is in the public domain. You can get acquainted with all the subtleties in the library or on the Internet.

Of course, any business involves the presence of difficulties that the entrepreneur will have to face. If we are talking about beekeeping, then the disadvantages will be as follows:

Specificity. Working with bees, the entrepreneur will have to face their aggressiveness. The bites of these insects are very painful. But over time, the beekeeper will be able to understand all the features of communication with bees.
Serious physical and moral costs. Bees need constant care and supervision. Even you need to pump out honey at a strictly defined time. You will have to spend time on finding customers, selling products. Only in this way can one expect to receive profit from entrepreneurship.

If an entrepreneur is serious about breeding bees, then he must draw up a clear action plan, in accordance with which he will work in the future. The following steps must be taken:

Selection of a place for breeding bees. Near the site there should be no roads and industrial plants that pollute the atmosphere. But the presence of gardens, forests and meadows nearby, on the contrary, will be a positive factor. If you plan to open a small business, then you can place the hives in your own summer cottage.
Buying inventory. To work, an entrepreneur immediately needs to buy a protective suit, a mask and rubber gloves. You need to collect honey with the help of smokers, a honey extractor and a scraper. And the subsequent processing of the product will require you to buy a sieve and foundation.
fence construction. This will ensure the safety of others and the bees themselves.
Purchase of bees. It is better to buy whole families. The most preferred option is to buy local bees. Then the individuals do not have to adapt to new weather conditions and terrain.
Construction of ancillary facilities. Their size and quantity will depend on the volume of production.

Place for apiary: what to look for?

It is very important to responsibly approach the search for a suitable place for an apiary, because in the end, the amount of honey produced will depend on this, and hence the profitability of the entire production, the level of profit.

An effective business will only be if you place an apiary next to honey plants - willows, maples, hazels, alders, dandelions, fruit trees. Ideally, if honey plants bloom at different times of the year, then it will be possible to extract honey from bees for a longer time. The site itself must meet the following parameters:

located on a hill;
dry;
warmed by the rays of the sun most of the day;
the presence of a fence and a thick strip of plants from the north - will protect the hive from the wind.

One of the main components of success will be the purchase of suitable hives. It is in them that bees live and lay honey. When choosing a hive, you need to ensure that several conditions are met:

protective function (the sides and top of the hive must be insulated so that the bees are not exposed to precipitation and temperature changes);
excellent ventilation (the beekeeper must regulate heat transfer with tap holes);
enough space (this will ensure the rapid reproduction of insects and the active production of honey);
mobility (so that, if necessary, the beekeeper can easily move the hive);
versatility of parts (so that they can be replaced if necessary).

At the initial stage, you need to carefully select the hive frames. They must have a strictly defined size.

Bee colonies usually purchase from other breeders. Of course, you can try to catch the bees yourself, but this will require not only traps, but also special skills.

Before buying, you need to assess the condition of the bees, their activity. You can look at all the individuals living in the seller's apiary. This will make sure that the insects are sufficiently active and prolific.

The beekeeper must master the basics of caring for bees. In order for the collection of honey to be constant and large, it is necessary that the bee colonies be strong and prolific. Such a swarm has a lot of advantages over other relatives:

able to tolerate frost;
use food sparingly
breed well;
quickly build honeycombs.

The strength of the family is quite simple to determine. It is necessary to understand which streets in the cells are occupied by family members, and then evaluate the density and density of their filling.

A beekeeper can improve the resistance of his bees himself, but this is not an easy job. Insects need to be prepared for the winter in a timely manner, store food for them, maintain a certain level of temperature and humidity. This is a rather large set of measures, without which the bees can seriously weaken and even die.

Possible difficulties

It is impossible to attribute beekeeping to a simple variety of business. There are many features that must be observed for further successful development. Here are the most common difficulties that can bring a lot of problems to the beekeeper:

seasonality. This concerns the issue of obtaining honey. Otherwise, there will be plenty of work for the rest of the time. We are talking about the development of bee colonies, the manufacture of inventory and the necessary equipment, and repairs.
Incidence. The most susceptible to diseases are bees that are not properly cared for, do not observe the temperature regime, and provide poor food. The following diseases are most common in these insects - foulbrood, poisoning, varroatosis, ascospherosis. And if livestock farms are nearby, then bees can easily become infected with paratyphoid.

Precautionary measures

Bees are extremely useful insects for the whole planet. They benefit all its inhabitants. Therefore, a true beekeeper must sincerely love these insects and take care of them with special trepidation. At the very beginning, individuals may seem aggressive and unfriendly to the beekeeper. But after studying the characteristics of bees, the entrepreneur will understand that you just need to handle them correctly. Here are some tips to avoid insect aggression:

hives do not need to be inspected during a change in weather or before rain;
it is necessary to exclude the introduction of pungent odors into the habitat of bees (we are talking not only about onions, garlic, but even about perfumes and alcoholic beverages);
the installation of new hives must be done at a time when the weather has settled;
it is better to wear light-colored clothes, avoid black;
actions should be calm and smooth.

At the initial stage, it is not so easy for a beekeeper to find clients, but in the future they will order from him in advance. The main thing is that the honey is of really high quality.

You can sell not only honey, but also other components that are distinguished by useful and healing properties. These are the following products:

pollen;
mother's milk;
beeswax;
propolis;
bee venom;
bee mixtures.

With a large scale of production, you can engage not only in retail, but also in wholesale.

Financial results

Any entrepreneur, when opening a business, wants to know how much income he can bring to him, what amount of investment will be required initially. At the first stage, you can limit yourself to 10 hives. Then the initial investment will be as follows:

beehive - 5,000 rubles;
bees - 50,000 rubles;
inventory - 25,000 rubles;
medicines - 10,000 rubles.

This means that in total it will take about 90,000 rubles to open a beekeeping farm.

About 500 kilograms of honey can be collected from 10 hives per year. Each of them can be sold for 300 rubles. It turns out that in the first year the income will be equal to 150,000 rubles. On the sale of other components, you can earn about 30,000 rubles more. It turns out that the payback is 1 year.