More honey than I know what to do with - Page 3

**usfmikeb** · 08-05-2011, 02:44 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c10250

Oh, I'm having no problem getting rid of it at $5. Plenty of you guys seem to think that's a deal, and I would have to agree after coming back from my farmer's market and seeing it go for as much as $10.

I grew up in Chicago, and miss the area badly. However, I guess for the purposes of using honey as an input to beer and mead, I'm much better off being in Virginia where the prices for local honey are reasonable.

brewingmeister · 08-05-2011, 08:45 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c10250

Oh, I'm having no problem getting rid of it at $5. Plenty of you guys seem to think that's a deal, and I would have to agree after coming back from my farmer's market and seeing it go for as much as $10.

You can charge whatever you want. There are people charging more and there are people charging less, just as there are people who will pay more and less for honey. Posting links that talk about 'how much can I get for my honey?' doesn't help your I'm not in it for a profit case though. It's not like you are paying your workers.

IMO your prices sound on par for small retail jars but not for the lbs needed for mead making. Either way I do like to see more options available for goods and it's great to see bee keeping becoming more popular.

-cheers

**Nightbiker** · 08-10-2011, 11:18 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c10250

I guess it's all local. $2 per pound for unprocessed honey! I've never seen that! At the farmer's market I was just at, they were asking $8 per pound. I was at one shop the other day where they were asking $10 per pound.

Anyway, I've never seen fresh, unprocessed honey for under $5 per pound. I do know that Costco has it for about $2 per pound. All you have to do is google chinese honey imports and you will never want to eat that stuff again.

Ken

LOCALLY its $35 for 12lbs of unprocessed (beyond using a strainer to get the chunks of wax out) for Orange Blossom honey and for wildflower honey -comes out to about $2.92 per pound. so I picked up 30 pounds of the stuff.

**Nightbiker** · 08-10-2011, 11:30 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by c10250

I got into bee keeping as a hobby. I'm not trying to make a profit. I feel that $5 per pound is reasonable.

Whether or not you think keeping bees is expensive or not, here are some of my initial costs:

Hive with bees, just back from California almond pollination - $150
Suit, smoker, hive bodies, supers, frames, book, cover, inner cover. . . , etc. $400.

Here's a basic entry-level kit for around $400

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/ProductDetail.asp?idproduct=1636&idCategory=

Bees are not easy to get through the winter. Diseases such as mites, colony collapse disorder, nosema, . . . etc. can really take their toll. In fact, the US average colony loss last winter was around 30%. So you have a 1 in 3 chance of losing your hive over the winter.

I don't know, but I wouldn't consider this a cheap hobby.

No offense intended (far from it) but as hobbies go, THAT isn't very expensive. My all-grain brewery was well over a grand -and I built it myself (though I readily admit that it could have been done for a bit less -your mileage may vary) -NO hobby is truly cheap (unless you like sitting on the porch and whittling with your pocket knife, that would be fairly cheap) but as hobbies go, I find your prices for bee-keeping to be more than reasonable. SCUBA? Good grief, you would just barely get started for your total price unless you rented everything -and that would add up quick. RC Aircraft? Don't get me started. I used to participate in both of those.
I love honey, but not so much the bees. Your honey is yours to price however you want -and nobody should have any complaints about it (they can buy, or not) -and there is certainly nothing wrong with trying to defray your costs somewhat -you take the risks (of personal insult like being stung, of poor harvest due to weather or other conditions -and as you pointed out, the risk of losing the colony altogether) -guys like me just buy the stuff as we need it -and thanks to the many bee keepers, we don't have to stock up on large supplies to use as we need -we can get it most of the time with little effort or pre-planning.
And how could anyone complain about THAT?