Beekeeping

   / Beekeeping #221  
:ROFLMAO:
I bet that would have gone over well. "Well folks, we have a short delay on the push back from the gate due to a bee swarm over in Muncie..."

I was out this evening and had the fun of watching a swarm head over me. It was the first time in a few years, and I always find it such an enjoyable experience. I was hoping that they might land in the tree above me, but they kept going to some tall California bay laurels that are a favorite for swarms of bees.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Beekeeping #222  
Well I have three consults this weekend. Two homes, one apartment building. Next week may be a very busy week for bee work. I'll run out of equipment if all three extractions happen. Each one will take a full day typically.
 
   / Beekeeping #223  
CloverKnollFarms said:
Well I have three consults this weekend. Two homes, one apartment building. Next week may be a very busy week for bee work. I'll run out of equipment if all three extractions happen. Each one will take a full day typically.
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Wow. How many hives will this bring you to?

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Beekeeping #224  
I will be at 9. My goal is 20. So next year I need a big year too. I'm selling swarm boxes and some of the hives I build too. Right now the bees turn a good profit without me feeding sugar, and we have been approached to do some beekeeping mentoring for this hive type... It's growing and need to work less to really grow it. That is on the table.
 
   / Beekeeping #228  
Torvy said:
Probably should brew mead.
Click to expand...

The issue I have with mead is it isn't a value added product. The raw material that goes into making mead, is more valuable than the product it produces... Also, I can't sell mead to fund the apiary and it's expansion.

Now, buying 50lb bags of malted barley and making beer, is a value added proposition. Good margins there.

I'll probably make some at some point for family... But I need to be retired before I start any more projects. This year I added produce growing and selling 🙄
 
   / Beekeeping #229  
I made a raspberry melomel (fruit cofermented mead) once and the $/bottle was crazy expensive. The recipe warned not to try it until after at least six months, but I popped a bottle open after about three months, and it tasted like burned vinyl tubing. Horrible.

I was so disappointed that I didn't open bottle for about another year plus, eighteen months or so. Unbelievablely good. Hands down the best drink that I ever bottled. People were asking for more years and years later.

If you can market mead/meolomel at closer to wine pricing, it isn't so bad. It is much more work, so the value add is definitely questionable. There's an old witticism around here;

"What's the difference between a $5 bottle of wine and a $50 bottle of wine?"​
​
​
​
​
​
"Marketing"​

More than a little truth in the joke.

All the best,

Peter
 
   / Beekeeping #230  
ponytug said:
I made a raspberry melomel (fruit cofermented mead) once and the $/bottle was crazy expensive. The recipe warned not to try it until after at least six months, but I popped a bottle open after about three months, and it tasted like burned vinyl tubing. Horrible.

I was so disappointed that I didn't open bottle for about another year plus, eighteen months or so. Unbelievablely good. Hands down the best drink that I ever bottled. People were asking for more years and years later.

If you can market mead/meolomel at closer to wine pricing, it isn't so bad. It is much more work, so the value add is definitely questionable. There's an old witticism around here;

"What's the difference between a $5 bottle of wine and a $50 bottle of wine?"​
​
​
​
​
​
"Marketing"​

More than a little truth in the joke.

All the best,

Peter
Click to expand...
Yes, I’d like to make melomel… and you are correct, it is very costly to make. When a pound of our honey sells for $12… and you need 3+ pounds per gallon of mead, plus yeast, plus fruit for melomel, you are quickly approaching $50 per gallon. When I used to brew beer… we were talking about $15 for 5 gallons of beer. Good beer. Not light beer.

We do market our honey as raw, unfiltered, unheated, from chemical free hives and non sugar fed bees. Bees will store sugar water just like they will store nectar… so there is no way to tell what a customer is receiving when you co-mingle the two in a hive. We have family that feed bees sugar in the traditional way, and their honey is extremely light, flavorless and crystalizes like crazy. Im convinced its 50% Costco refined sugar 😂
 
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