I can't say enough how much I appreciate these business oriented videos. I may never travel this path myself, but I find them fascinating. I don't think anyone else is tackling this issue to the extent you are. Thanks again Nathan, and God bless.
Thanks Mike! I’m interested in promoting agriculture, trades, and self employment as career options. Too many kids get steered to college and end up with a mountain of debt with no real career plan.
My old man usually criticizes most beekeepers, but with you he said from the start that you'll be a good one. Keeps saying this young man is smart, talks about the right stuff in his videos. I agree... you started smart, and you will keep growing your business in a smart way. I'm just jealous of your location
@@DuckRiverHoney l'm in south Europe, adriatic sea area. Full with nomadic style beekeepers. We wrote a couple of comments before.. After watching your last couple videos with Bob.. The biggest mistake that my country did was when they started subsidizing (not sure if that is the name for it) beekeepers per hive. More hives = more government money. Suddenly everyone doubled or even tripled their hives. We use those trailer boxes with 40-50 hives in a box on wheels. But we already had too many hives. Now, honey production remained the same, there's not a single good place for our trailers.. and a bunch of newbies driving around, spreading diseases... When you compare your conditions with ours.. yeah, I'm jealous of your beautiful woody location
I’ve had another commenter who was on the Dalmatian Islands, must be similar weather to you. Seems to be a lot of beekeeping there. I agree, I’m lucky to not have a ton of commercial beekeepers close, and to be able to be semi isolated.
thanks for the video, I love to hear about your experiences. I'm a beekeeper myself and building a business up here in the Souther Tier of NY. I loved your Interviews with Bob!
Here in Texas, you can usually charge people to let you put your bees on their property for ag valuation. They get the tax break, which is usually pretty substantial and you get a little money for fuel and maintaining the hives, and both parties are happy. I called a lady back tonight that posted that she was looking for bees to be placed on her property. I was all geared up to charge her, but when I spoke with her, she is 72 years old and wanted to have the bees put on for ag valuation so she didn't have to sell her property. Her and her husband bought the property together as their first place and he has passed. So.....now she's going to get Honey for letting me keep bees on her property. =) It is in a convenient location that I can easily stop by on my way home from work, so I think it'll work out for the best for both of us. Loving this series. Keep it up!
Really looking forward to the up coming videos. I'm a 22 year old Agricultural student in the south of Ireland. I currently manage 10 colonies and have started selling Honey in the local shops and direct. This is my fourth season and I'm looking to expand a bit to make this a nice side hustle along side dairy farming. Wish you the best of luck. I really enjoy your straight forward, practical videos especially the breakdown on the investment costs. Best wishes, Ben.
Having a good relationship with the landowners where your yards are located is absolutely critical. I like to meet with them at the property to discuss where the colonies will be located but in reality I'm interviewing them to make sure we will work well together ;) more than once I've decided not to place any colonies based on that interaction.
Little Ole Me mentioned in your video - Love it! Stunned by the number of frames you made up and still more to do!? I recently purchased one of those framing jigs and unassembled frames - part of a winter project to do list. Time for me to get my rear in gear... I wear sloggers! LOL May the Lord shower you with many more blessings in the days, weeks and years to come!
Nancy, doing that many frames in a couple days is a good upper body workout, especially for the hands 😃. I’m actually thinking about making my own frame jig now, I believe I can improve it enough it would be helpful for other people.
My per frame cost last year for Acorn frames, deep with heavy wax and including shipping, was around 2.60 if I recall correctly. The company has changed hands since then and I'm not sure what the current prices are. But you can't beat just dropping them straight in a hive as soon as the UPS driver hands you a box lol. I've used Acorn and Pierco and loved them both, but you definitely want to get the heavy wax option.
I’m excited to watch you’re progress and watch you’re business grow and bees! I wanna see how you do it and I hope you show your progress both mistakes and successes as well so we can see both! Thanks for what you do with the videos!
It is always a crap shoot with the bees it seems. I finally had 1 hive survive over winter last year, between that 1 hive and a swarm, I turned them into 7 hives, and they are all making it so far. Another 4 or 5 weeks and they'll be into better weather. As long as you have a few drawn frames in with your new queen or brood frames, it makes splits very easy. My surviving hive made so many bees, I was able to make 2 hives out of each split, and had to jail the queen for 12 days.. Ended with 100% queen rearing success, even had to make a super for my 5 frame queen bank, to get them through winter. Best of luck for this season's goals.
Nathan, you have presented some great points! One that is paramount is, get to know the landowners around you. Talk with people and often you can be surprised with the results. Thanks for posting, Peace, Brice
Small world! My three feet or three mile yard is on the Levi 15:50 Zook farm down the road. I have been mentoring his son Eli for two years now. I also bought woodenware from their cousin. Northern NY
Boredom is definitely a problem when putting together frames. Music helps me with that … or podcasts. Anything to keep the brain entertained … How do you project how many hives you can have in an apiary x the circumference of land where the bees will find enough pollen / nectar? An add on to what you’ve included in this video. Your advice on how to get from “no” to “yeah” is very useful to us all. I’m also in a hardwood trees, corn, soybeans area in Virginia. I saw some research that showed increase in soy production with honeybees nearby. I’m sure you have, too. I very much appreciate your smarts and your business model development. One of my favorites, by far.
I ordered 500 deep boxes from Albert in fall a year ago and got them in January last year. Well I got 430 because he ran out of wood. I hope he was able to get more cypress in since then. I made a jig to clamp the boxes in to assemble them and it can rotate as I staple them together. Made it go fast. I also picked up about 6k assembled and loaded frames from Premier at Hive Life a year ago. That is the way to go for me, I definitely don't have the time to assemble that many. Great videos! Keep them coming. I'm on the same journey you are right now.
"Pick something you love to do everyday, and for some reason it doesn't seem like work." My ol man's advice to me years ago. Best of luck Nathan on this adventure. I believe hard work always pays off some how no matter what. 💯 You got this 👍
Hi Nathan, thanks for the great video. I greatly appreciate your openness with your experience. I’m hoping to grow my number of hives, slowly, over the next couple of years. Due to having a small extractor, I’ve planned to have 4 supers per hive. So far, I’ve managed to keep them in boxes, but had to perform additional extractions. My next purchase is a larger extractor, lol
Great video. Very informative. I just have 4 hives here in West Virginia. I don’t want to go into it as full time business but I just love taking care of my bees.
I found you from Bob Binnie. I'm glad I did, as I am just working on starting my small apiary in hope to keep it growing and getting it into a business. It's nice to see someone starting out. Thanks for sharing your progress!
This will be incredibly useful for me. I currently have 15 hives and reached the limits of my box storage capacity... Looking into getting an enclosed trailer to use as a mini honey house / super storage to be able to expand further. But once I do get facilities, having an example to follow will be gold for me. Thank you :D
@@DuckRiverHoney You're lucky 😁 Unfortunately I live in a small city, in an apartment, and storage is limited to a small shed in the backyard. Hence the need for an enclosed trailer. The goal is to get better facilities as the bees start generating cash flow.
.So I will be getting bigger this year and starting a business as well. I appreciate the process being shared here. Keep it up, praying for your success.
Good luck with all your endeavors and the nectar flow is already starting here in north west alabama fruit trees blooming and different flowers. Going to be a early swarm season for sure. ❤️🐝
With regard to heating the shop, I have a couple of ebay/amazon chinese diesel heaters (8k) that heat my 2 bay shop, a greenhouse and the wife's she-shed. Avoid the all in one units, and go with the component-loose unit. Average 1 to 1.5 liter per hour of heat, and a 5 gallon tank will last about 5-6 days running 24/7. At $160 ish, they are pretty hard to beat. I have also reclaimed some of the waste exhaust heat to humidify the greenhouse, and have experimented with a heater core and small pump to make 180F water.
@@DuckRiverHoney As they are a forced air heater, you may still get some benefit from it. I use an all-in-one unit to heat a pop-up canopy with sidewalls during cold weather events, and it'll make you remove layers pretty quickly in a 10x20 tent. Simply tarping in the sidewalls until you can build may also get you another year or so before a building expense of the magnitude required to close in.
Great video, actually talking to people so they can get to know you is more important than most people understand now days. I really hope you find the connections you need for bee yards. Wish you could find someone to help you though, don't want all the work to hurt your family life, that's important to. Good luck brother, life is a fine balance, and it can be hard to manage. You seem to be smart enough to manage though.
@@DuckRiverHoney Make sure you keep a good balance, our kids are our future. I'm nearly 56 and didn't think I did that good of a job raising my 3 daughters, they've all told me they thought their raising was great and are surprised I feel the way I do. I guess my caring about them carried over and I was too hard on myself but, I wanted nothing but good for them and worked to make that happen.
I think this is the video I was looking for. I to am trying to find other areas/yards to put beehives. I’m fairly new to beekeeping and love it. I hope to continue utilizing your videos to grow quickly, but intelligently. Thank you again for taking the time to help fellow beekeepers. I wish you the very best of luck to your now, full-time endeavor.
@@DuckRiverHoney Nathan, I remember your first year you grew your hives by quite a bit and still had a honey crop. How did you manage to do this? I can only figure out how to do one or the other, but not both.
I’ve been fortunate Billy. And when I started I caught swarms that were “outside bees”. Now that I’ve got some drawn honey supers I’ll plan to harvest excess bees and brood before the honey flow which starts around May 1 here, turn those into splits, and put smaller, less swarmy hives into the flow with drawn comb to fill. Hopefully it all works out and weather is favorable.
I love the new series. I imagine with massive growth you will be using some kind of software program to document the hives. I would be interested in that. I noticed your pup 🐶 is a great help but if you need some help in April to assemble wooden ware let me know. I would be willing to donate a weekend to the cause. You will be successful on this adventure I am sure.
Dave the pup is a huge help! He would stop by every 30 minutes or so and want me to pick him up and love on him, then he’d go out and play with the old dog some more. He finally got tuckered out. I appreciate the offer to help!
Hi, just a tip, wear nitrile gloves, very thin. Two positives, you don’t get sticky hands and the bees can sting through them but I find you get stung less then bare hands.
Great video! Thank you for the information you’re putting out there for us. I starting following you when you were putting out content about hanging swarm traps. The business side of beekeeping is just as interesting as working a colony to me. Keep the videos coming.
Good job on the video man! While it might be hard to see it at times, you’ve walked thru an open door that will lead to a tremendous future. All the best.
Thanks Greg! Thankfully I’ve been through a startup before, so I know what to expect. Pain and starving for cash for the next two years is what I expect. After that it should get a little better. 😂🤣🤣
Really good video, You are providing answers to questions that we all have. Thanks for that. How many hives would you put in a yard for 36 quarts of honey payment?
I see you've used some plastic frames before too. Not sure what you think about them, but I've basically switched to them because you can get them for $2.48-$2.70 if you buy 8-11 boxes (52 per box) from Acorn. They basically give a shipping discount the more you buy and comes out cheaper then Pierco plastic or wooden frames with foundation. A huge time saver and comes out a little cheaper (especially at $2.48 per frame).
I’m trialing some acorn this year. To be honest I really prefer the Mann lake wood frames, but it is SO MUCH less labor to pull frames out of a box and use them!
@DuckRiverHoney I hear ya. All things being equal, I prefer the wooden too with exception of the foundation being more susceptible to warping if I'm not careful to keep it out of the sun. I know, I know....no frames belong in the sun, but it gets hot hot hot this time of year and I do occasionally have some warp if I set them off to the side for too long. But like you said, it sure is nice to open a box and grab several frames ready to go.
I built 10 boxes and a hundred frames…. I don’t know how you can maintain your speed of progress, with the rest of your life. May your strength endure. 😊
I wonder, if you triple your size in one year, do you take a hit on gross honey production in year one if compared to doubling your hive numbers, which might preserve you honey lb per hive? There’s an Economics 101 graph somewhere in this question…..
Eric to be honest I think it has more to do with how many drawn honey supers I have available than it does hive counts. I don’t have enough supers to maximize honey production per colony, so that’s my limiting factor.
Very much looking forward to the discussion of different bees. I'm not as interested n a specific recommendation, as the comparison of various lines and how they stack up on different specific attributes.
What are you using to assemble your frames size of staples are you using glue? Maybe a short video would help. It looks you are using 2 on top bar each side.
Great video and can’t wait to follow along with you as you grow your business. I’m looking to go down this same road in a few years. Starting to do some of leg work and put in some of that sweat equity you talked about. Wish you the best of luck!
Another outstanding video Nathan, looks like you are making good use of your time. I feel like I'm cheating, as you are doing my homework for me on how to grow a bee business! I am curious what your roadmap will be to effectively triple the number of hives you have in a year. Will you rely primarily on splits, or will you increase your focus on catching swarms? We are focusing primarily on splitting hives with the hopes of getting lucky with a couple of swarms this year to double our small operation in 2023. Thanks again, and God Bless.
Splits are much more time efficient. My goal is to have no hives swarm and increase with splits. I won’t have time to run a big trapline, but I’ll set a few out just because it’s fun.
That is a lot of frames! You got thrown in the deep end and it looks like you are ready! I'm excited to see the weekly updates. Have you use Triple 7 Apiaries? You may explore that avenue if you haven't already.
Ian I like to bounce around, but I can grind stuff out when I have to. Just don’t ask me to run a combine night shift…I sleep at night, work in daytime. 🤣
I’ve been watching and enjoy your content. Just curious, have you considered buying used equipment? It really pushed my business years ahead of where id be if I hadn’t purchased used equipment
@@DuckRiverHoney hate to hear that. Especially with you being laid off and trying to build your business. Maybe you could buy it used and start colonies out of Tennessee then bring them home. Just a thought.
Great content. Call Mann Lake and get set up with a sales rep. They will work with you to get really good prices on bulk orders. Something I wish I knew earlier. My rep called me to let me know frames were on sale a month ago. I got 1000 assembled wood frames with foundation for 2.45 ea. And an awesome price on boxes. Saves a lot of time assembling!
Great info Nathan! I am still digesting your videos with Bob. So if you triple this year and get to 120-150, 2024 would land in the 450-500 range. That is a massive and scary step. I have had excellent luck finding extra help pulling supers from virginia beekeepers on Facebook, could help you scale faster and more aggressively without having a paid crew. What are you going to do for comb storage and did Bob share the appropriate size out yard? I would think 4 within a file 5 radius and keep them at 30 colonies each for production purposes? N
I probably won’t immediately scale to 4-500. I think 300-350 is a viable full time business based on what Greg Rogers is doing, so I’ll probably reevaluate after this year and again after next year. Cash flowing expansion and buying critical equipment will be key. I’ve got to get my revenue base built up.
Great information. Thank you. How many colonies are you starting the season with? I was told when getting into beekeeping that the money is in selling bees and not so much the honey sales. I sold nucs last season for the first time and really enjoyed it. 4 frame nucs here in Ontario, Canada sell for $ 220-250 each here.
I’ve got 40 now. I’m selling local honey for $14 per lb here, so there’s probably more money in honey. BUT, nucs are nearly a sure thing if you can buy sugar and mate queens. Honey is never a sure thing.
I’m interested in starting a bee farm (I live in NY) what’s the best course you think I can take to learn the most I can and fast, I’m willing to travel in the us and do some apprenticeship etc
I don't have a good answer for you. I'd talk to your state and try to find some commercial beekeepers locally that you could work for to gain experience.
Man lake has a sale. Sent me a postcard last week. Ends 2/28. Assembled deep frames with foundation for 2.50 each. Must pick up and buy 1,000. Boxes are 10 something and mediums are 9 something
I saw that, but I picked up commercial grade instead of budget. I’ve gotten some good budget grades from them and I’ve gotten some that were pretty bad, so I just spent the extra for more consistency.
@@DuckRiverHoney I'm in Nebraska and was trying to look into grants but to be honest there are so many out there it is daunting to wade thorugh all that. I did recently apply for one through the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant but was denied. Thanks for the reply! One other question I would have was plans, if you have them for your wax dipping tank. I was trying to remember what video you talked about that on.
I keep hearing about how Amish don't have phones. Then why do I have over 25 phone numbers of Amish families? It all depends on the Amish community. The Canastota NY community allows phones for their "business". There is also 3 beekeepers in my local Amish community. And one is a queen raiser.
Hey Nathan, Looking to expand this year as well from 20 to 40 hives. I am also in Middle Tennessee, Joelton area. Would love to bounce ideas back and forth if you are interested. You are welcome to PM me if you want and best of luck to you this year!
130 frames per hour? You are a machine. I can't remember exactly, but I think I can do about 10 frames in about 25 minutes. Though my brad nailer does misfire and jams frequently.
Hey man depending on where your located I’d be willing to come work and learn I’m 16 and just started bee keeping myself I’ve got 20 strong deeps ready for winter
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I can't say enough how much I appreciate these business oriented videos. I may never travel this path myself, but I find them fascinating. I don't think anyone else is tackling this issue to the extent you are. Thanks again Nathan, and God bless.
Thanks Mike! I’m interested in promoting agriculture, trades, and self employment as career options. Too many kids get steered to college and end up with a mountain of debt with no real career plan.
Hi Chuck, insults are not allowed here. Keep a civil tongue. Final warning.
@@DuckRiverHoney I couldn't agree more.
Thanks!
Thanks Susan!
My old man usually criticizes most beekeepers, but with you he said from the start that you'll be a good one. Keeps saying this young man is smart, talks about the right stuff in his videos. I agree... you started smart, and you will keep growing your business in a smart way.
I'm just jealous of your location
Thanks, where are you located?
@@DuckRiverHoney l'm in south Europe, adriatic sea area. Full with nomadic style beekeepers. We wrote a couple of comments before..
After watching your last couple videos with Bob.. The biggest mistake that my country did was when they started subsidizing (not sure if that is the name for it) beekeepers per hive. More hives = more government money. Suddenly everyone doubled or even tripled their hives. We use those trailer boxes with 40-50 hives in a box on wheels. But we already had too many hives. Now, honey production remained the same, there's not a single good place for our trailers.. and a bunch of newbies driving around, spreading diseases...
When you compare your conditions with ours.. yeah, I'm jealous of your beautiful woody location
I’ve had another commenter who was on the Dalmatian Islands, must be similar weather to you. Seems to be a lot of beekeeping there. I agree, I’m lucky to not have a ton of commercial beekeepers close, and to be able to be semi isolated.
@@DuckRiverHoney TH-cam is late. I just got this comment.. two weeks after...
No worries
thanks for the video, I love to hear about your experiences. I'm a beekeeper myself and building a business up here in the Souther Tier of NY. I loved your Interviews with Bob!
Here in Texas, you can usually charge people to let you put your bees on their property for ag valuation.
They get the tax break, which is usually pretty substantial and you get a little money for fuel and maintaining the hives, and both parties are happy.
I called a lady back tonight that posted that she was looking for bees to be placed on her property.
I was all geared up to charge her, but when I spoke with her, she is 72 years old and wanted to have the bees put on for ag valuation so she didn't have to sell her property. Her and her husband bought the property together as their first place and he has passed.
So.....now she's going to get Honey for letting me keep bees on her property. =)
It is in a convenient location that I can easily stop by on my way home from work, so I think it'll work out for the best for both of us.
Loving this series. Keep it up!
That’s a great story! It’s funny how showing kindness makes you even happier than the person you’re kind to.
Your a busy man , Good Luck . Peter Australia 🇦🇺
Too busy sometimes Peter, especially my mind. Thanks!
Really looking forward to the up coming videos. I'm a 22 year old Agricultural student in the south of Ireland. I currently manage 10 colonies and have started selling Honey in the local shops and direct. This is my fourth season and I'm looking to expand a bit to make this a nice side hustle along side dairy farming. Wish you the best of luck. I really enjoy your straight forward, practical videos especially the breakdown on the investment costs. Best wishes, Ben.
Thanks Ben, good luck!
Having a good relationship with the landowners where your yards are located is absolutely critical. I like to meet with them at the property to discuss where the colonies will be located but in reality I'm interviewing them to make sure we will work well together ;) more than once I've decided not to place any colonies based on that interaction.
Important stuff.
Little Ole Me mentioned in your video - Love it! Stunned by the number of frames you made up and still more to do!? I recently purchased one of those framing jigs and unassembled frames - part of a winter project to do list. Time for me to get my rear in gear... I wear sloggers! LOL May the Lord shower you with many more blessings in the days, weeks and years to come!
Nancy, doing that many frames in a couple days is a good upper body workout, especially for the hands 😃. I’m actually thinking about making my own frame jig now, I believe I can improve it enough it would be helpful for other people.
My per frame cost last year for Acorn frames, deep with heavy wax and including shipping, was around 2.60 if I recall correctly. The company has changed hands since then and I'm not sure what the current prices are. But you can't beat just dropping them straight in a hive as soon as the UPS driver hands you a box lol. I've used Acorn and Pierco and loved them both, but you definitely want to get the heavy wax option.
After thinking about it that price seemed wrong so I just checked my records, actual shipped cost was $2.32 per frame.
That’s pretty attractive. I need to trial some to see if they work for me.
I have been enjoying the Pierco and Acorn as well. I could not find a way to beat the price with wood.
Good luck with our growing 🐝 business 🇬🇧👍
Thanks!
And off we go!! Lots to do and a great adventure ahead.
Thanks Mike!
I’m excited to watch you’re progress and watch you’re business grow and bees! I wanna see how you do it and I hope you show your progress both mistakes and successes as well so we can see both! Thanks for what you do with the videos!
Thanks!
Loved the dog’s wink during the intro.
👍
It is always a crap shoot with the bees it seems. I finally had 1 hive survive over winter last year, between that 1 hive and a swarm, I turned them into 7 hives, and they are all making it so far. Another 4 or 5 weeks and they'll be into better weather. As long as you have a few drawn frames in with your new queen or brood frames, it makes splits very easy. My surviving hive made so many bees, I was able to make 2 hives out of each split, and had to jail the queen for 12 days.. Ended with 100% queen rearing success, even had to make a super for my 5 frame queen bank, to get them through winter. Best of luck for this season's goals.
Awesome, good luck this year
Nathan, you have presented some great points! One that is paramount is, get to know the landowners around you. Talk with people and often you can be surprised with the results. Thanks for posting, Peace, Brice
Thanks Brice!
Small world! My three feet or three mile yard is on the Levi 15:50 Zook farm down the road. I have been mentoring his son Eli for two years now. I also bought woodenware from their cousin. Northern NY
Awesome!
Wish you the Best!
Thanks Tim!
Boredom is definitely a problem when putting together frames. Music helps me with that … or podcasts. Anything to keep the brain entertained … How do you project how many hives you can have in an apiary x the circumference of land where the bees will find enough pollen / nectar? An add on to what you’ve included in this video. Your advice on how to get from “no” to “yeah” is very useful to us all. I’m also in a hardwood trees, corn, soybeans area in Virginia. I saw some research that showed increase in soy production with honeybees nearby. I’m sure you have, too. I very much appreciate your smarts and your business model development. One of my favorites, by far.
I ordered 500 deep boxes from Albert in fall a year ago and got them in January last year. Well I got 430 because he ran out of wood. I hope he was able to get more cypress in since then. I made a jig to clamp the boxes in to assemble them and it can rotate as I staple them together. Made it go fast. I also picked up about 6k assembled and loaded frames from Premier at Hive Life a year ago. That is the way to go for me, I definitely don't have the time to assemble that many. Great videos! Keep them coming. I'm on the same journey you are right now.
Thanks Sterling!
"Pick something you love to do everyday, and for some reason it doesn't seem like work." My ol man's advice to me years ago. Best of luck Nathan on this adventure. I believe hard work always pays off some how no matter what. 💯 You got this 👍
Thanks Brian!
Hi Nathan, thanks for the great video. I greatly appreciate your openness with your experience. I’m hoping to grow my number of hives, slowly, over the next couple of years. Due to having a small extractor, I’ve planned to have 4 supers per hive. So far, I’ve managed to keep them in boxes, but had to perform additional extractions. My next purchase is a larger extractor, lol
Good extraction and then a bottling tank should be early purchases.
Great video. Very informative. I just have 4 hives here in West Virginia. I don’t want to go into it as full time business but I just love taking care of my bees.
Thanks Mark!
I found you from Bob Binnie. I'm glad I did, as I am just working on starting my small apiary in hope to keep it growing and getting it into a business. It's nice to see someone starting out. Thanks for sharing your progress!
Thanks. I’ve been starting out for 4 years, but it’s serious now!
Great video! Looking forward to the weekly updates.
Thanks!
Outstanding Nathan. Glad to see you taking the leap.
I'm working on my next move also.
Thanks Rod, good luck.
Loved the interview with Bob. Lots to think about going into my 3rd year with bees. Layoffs suck, my sympathies.
Thanks Scott!
That’s a lot of frames to build at once. Sometimes good therapy. Thanks for the information. Take care.
Thanks!
This will be incredibly useful for me. I currently have 15 hives and reached the limits of my box storage capacity... Looking into getting an enclosed trailer to use as a mini honey house / super storage to be able to expand further. But once I do get facilities, having an example to follow will be gold for me.
Thank you :D
I’ve got some old pole barns I can store equipment in, to get them under roof.
@@DuckRiverHoney You're lucky 😁 Unfortunately I live in a small city, in an apartment, and storage is limited to a small shed in the backyard. Hence the need for an enclosed trailer. The goal is to get better facilities as the bees start generating cash flow.
Good luck! I’m lucky to live out in the country.
I just got some supplies with Mr. Zook. Very good prices and that cypress should last a long time.
It’s pretty good stuff, I’ve been happy with it.
Looking forward to your growth. And your success. I will enjoy your weekly vids. Keep up the going on.
I appreciate it!
Great Video! I'm on the same path as you. Scaling up while preparing to retire from the fire service.
That’s a good plan. Semi retirement, little money coming in, something to keep you busy.
Your videos are so interesting. This kind of content is needed for help on the business side of things. So thank you.
Thanks Joe!
Great info. Keep the videos coming!
Thanks Greg!
.So I will be getting bigger this year and starting a business as well. I appreciate the process being shared here. Keep it up, praying for your success.
Thanks!
Good luck with all your endeavors and the nectar flow is already starting here in north west alabama fruit trees blooming and different flowers. Going to be a early swarm season for sure. ❤️🐝
Wow, that’s early for fruit trees. Red maple just started here.
With regard to heating the shop, I have a couple of ebay/amazon chinese diesel heaters (8k) that heat my 2 bay shop, a greenhouse and the wife's she-shed. Avoid the all in one units, and go with the component-loose unit. Average 1 to 1.5 liter per hour of heat, and a 5 gallon tank will last about 5-6 days running 24/7. At $160 ish, they are pretty hard to beat. I have also reclaimed some of the waste exhaust heat to humidify the greenhouse, and have experimented with a heater core and small pump to make 180F water.
Interesting stuff, thanks. My workbench currently is an open sided shed so it’s weather dependent.
@@DuckRiverHoney As they are a forced air heater, you may still get some benefit from it. I use an all-in-one unit to heat a pop-up canopy with sidewalls during cold weather events, and it'll make you remove layers pretty quickly in a 10x20 tent. Simply tarping in the sidewalls until you can build may also get you another year or so before a building expense of the magnitude required to close in.
I believe you may want to switch to tight bond 2 as its the one accepted for indirect food contact.
Hope all is well.
Great video, actually talking to people so they can get to know you is more important than most people understand now days. I really hope you find the connections you need for bee yards. Wish you could find someone to help you though, don't want all the work to hurt your family life, that's important to. Good luck brother, life is a fine balance, and it can be hard to manage. You seem to be smart enough to manage though.
Tommy, I appreciate it. I tend to the overwork side of things. I like to stay busy, sometimes too much so.
@@DuckRiverHoney Make sure you keep a good balance, our kids are our future. I'm nearly 56 and didn't think I did that good of a job raising my 3 daughters, they've all told me they thought their raising was great and are surprised I feel the way I do. I guess my caring about them carried over and I was too hard on myself but, I wanted nothing but good for them and worked to make that happen.
I think kids are easier on us than we are on ourselves.
@@DuckRiverHoney Very true in my experience.
I think this is the video I was looking for. I to am trying to find other areas/yards to put beehives. I’m fairly new to beekeeping and love it. I hope to continue utilizing your videos to grow quickly, but intelligently. Thank you again for taking the time to help fellow beekeepers. I wish you the very best of luck to your now, full-time endeavor.
Thanks Billy!
@@DuckRiverHoney Nathan, I remember your first year you grew your hives by quite a bit and still had a honey crop. How did you manage to do this? I can only figure out how to do one or the other, but not both.
I’ve been fortunate Billy. And when I started I caught swarms that were “outside bees”. Now that I’ve got some drawn honey supers I’ll plan to harvest excess bees and brood before the honey flow which starts around May 1 here, turn those into splits, and put smaller, less swarmy hives into the flow with drawn comb to fill. Hopefully it all works out and weather is favorable.
I love the new series. I imagine with massive growth you will be using some kind of software program to document the hives. I would be interested in that. I noticed your pup 🐶 is a great help but if you need some help in April to assemble wooden ware let me know. I would be willing to donate a weekend to the cause. You will be successful on this adventure I am sure.
Dave the pup is a huge help! He would stop by every 30 minutes or so and want me to pick him up and love on him, then he’d go out and play with the old dog some more. He finally got tuckered out. I appreciate the offer to help!
Hi, just a tip, wear nitrile gloves, very thin. Two positives, you don’t get sticky hands and the bees can sting through them but I find you get stung less then bare hands.
Thanks Sean, I’ve tried nitrile and I sweat terribly in them. It’s hot down here in summer.
Soybean is your best crop to pollinate ! Awesome honey !!
Some cultivars produce nectar, some don’t. 100 acres of beans is next to my home yard and they never make anything off it.
Loads of soybeans here in Ontario, Canada. Bees don't touch it.
@@DuckRiverHoney Bet they are using Hybrids.
A JS or NC breed
Great video! Thank you for the information you’re putting out there for us. I starting following you when you were putting out content about hanging swarm traps. The business side of beekeeping is just as interesting as working a colony to me. Keep the videos coming.
Thanks Mark!
Good job on the video man! While it might be hard to see it at times, you’ve walked thru an open door that will lead to a tremendous future. All the best.
Thanks Greg! Thankfully I’ve been through a startup before, so I know what to expect. Pain and starving for cash for the next two years is what I expect. After that it should get a little better. 😂🤣🤣
@@DuckRiverHoney Sounds like you have some experience to lean on! If was easy, everyone would be doing it. You got this!
I really enjoy and appreciate watching both of your channels. It's enjoyable to watch other brothers in Christ working bees and building a business.
Thanks Matthew!
Really good video, You are providing answers to questions that we all have. Thanks for that. How many hives would you put in a yard for 36 quarts of honey payment?
Tom I’ll end up with 20 to 30 per yard, but growing as much as I am I may start with only 5 just to establish presence.
Nathan, thank you for the information. In your letter to landowners, do you tell them how many hives you will be placing?
Yeah I do, I want to be very clear on expectations so they aren’t unpleasantly surprised later.
Great video thank you for sharing
Thanks!
I see you've used some plastic frames before too. Not sure what you think about them, but I've basically switched to them because you can get them for $2.48-$2.70 if you buy 8-11 boxes (52 per box) from Acorn. They basically give a shipping discount the more you buy and comes out cheaper then Pierco plastic or wooden frames with foundation.
A huge time saver and comes out a little cheaper (especially at $2.48 per frame).
I’m trialing some acorn this year. To be honest I really prefer the Mann lake wood frames, but it is SO MUCH less labor to pull frames out of a box and use them!
@DuckRiverHoney I hear ya.
All things being equal, I prefer the wooden too with exception of the foundation being more susceptible to warping if I'm not careful to keep it out of the sun. I know, I know....no frames belong in the sun, but it gets hot hot hot this time of year and I do occasionally have some warp if I set them off to the side for too long.
But like you said, it sure is nice to open a box and grab several frames ready to go.
I built 10 boxes and a hundred frames…. I don’t know how you can maintain your speed of progress, with the rest of your life. May your strength endure. 😊
Tools and proper jigs make a huge difference.
I wonder, if you triple your size in one year, do you take a hit on gross honey production in year one if compared to doubling your hive numbers, which might preserve you honey lb per hive? There’s an Economics 101 graph somewhere in this question…..
Eric to be honest I think it has more to do with how many drawn honey supers I have available than it does hive counts. I don’t have enough supers to maximize honey production per colony, so that’s my limiting factor.
Very much looking forward to the discussion of different bees. I'm not as interested n a specific recommendation, as the comparison of various lines and how they stack up on different specific attributes.
It’s an interesting discussion.
What are you using to assemble your frames size of staples are you using glue? Maybe a short video would help. It looks you are using 2 on top bar each side.
Simple Beehive Frame Assembly Jig th-cam.com/video/JoHo1GsA6ww/w-d-xo.html
Great video and can’t wait to follow along with you as you grow your business. I’m looking to go down this same road in a few years. Starting to do some of leg work and put in some of that sweat equity you talked about. Wish you the best of luck!
Thanks!
Hey Nathan,
Giver !!! Best wishes for success..?.
Thanks 👍
Another outstanding video Nathan, looks like you are making good use of your time. I feel like I'm cheating, as you are doing my homework for me on how to grow a bee business! I am curious what your roadmap will be to effectively triple the number of hives you have in a year. Will you rely primarily on splits, or will you increase your focus on catching swarms? We are focusing primarily on splitting hives with the hopes of getting lucky with a couple of swarms this year to double our small operation in 2023. Thanks again, and God Bless.
Splits are much more time efficient. My goal is to have no hives swarm and increase with splits. I won’t have time to run a big trapline, but I’ll set a few out just because it’s fun.
That is a lot of frames! You got thrown in the deep end and it looks like you are ready! I'm excited to see the weekly updates. Have you use Triple 7 Apiaries? You may explore that avenue if you haven't already.
I know of Skipper but I’ve never bought from him.
Sweat equity, love it
73 comments with 650 views. You have an engaged audience
You work like a honey bee! Here there and everywhere
Ian I like to bounce around, but I can grind stuff out when I have to. Just don’t ask me to run a combine night shift…I sleep at night, work in daytime. 🤣
Lol! I think you’d love the combine shift
I have to go to sleep around 10. It can be for 3 hours and I can make it, but I AM going to sleep 😴
@@DuckRiverHoney Lol, when we end a harvest day at 10:00 , things are going well
Ian I believe the last time I stayed up all night was when the second child was born.
I’ve been watching and enjoy your content. Just curious, have you considered buying used equipment? It really pushed my business years ahead of where id be if I hadn’t purchased used equipment
I can’t legally buy used equipment in TN unless it has live bees in it. It’s a precaution against AFB.
@@DuckRiverHoney hate to hear that. Especially with you being laid off and trying to build your business. Maybe you could buy it used and start colonies out of Tennessee then bring them home. Just a thought.
Wow! I hadn't grasped the sheer number of frames required to run a hundred hives.
I’ll need a lot more than this. I’ll be expanding woodenware for 2-3 years at least.
Great content. Call Mann Lake and get set up with a sales rep. They will work with you to get really good prices on bulk orders. Something I wish I knew earlier. My rep called me to let me know frames were on sale a month ago. I got 1000 assembled wood frames with foundation for 2.45 ea. And an awesome price on boxes. Saves a lot of time assembling!
Thanks Danny! I’ve been working with Becky.
Great info Nathan! I am still digesting your videos with Bob. So if you triple this year and get to 120-150, 2024 would land in the 450-500 range. That is a massive and scary step. I have had excellent luck finding extra help pulling supers from virginia beekeepers on Facebook, could help you scale faster and more aggressively without having a paid crew.
What are you going to do for comb storage and did Bob share the appropriate size out yard? I would think 4 within a file 5 radius and keep them at 30 colonies each for production purposes? N
I probably won’t immediately scale to 4-500. I think 300-350 is a viable full time business based on what Greg Rogers is doing, so I’ll probably reevaluate after this year and again after next year. Cash flowing expansion and buying critical equipment will be key. I’ve got to get my revenue base built up.
@@DuckRiverHoney have you heard anyone preferring carniolans vs Italians to cut down on all the swarm prep fin favor of a slower spring build up?
I don’t know about that, in the video that will post tomorrow with Bob he indicates that Carnis have a stronger swarm urge in spring than Italians.
Good stuff
I appreciate it.
Great information. Thank you.
How many colonies are you starting the season with?
I was told when getting into beekeeping that the money is in selling bees and not so much the honey sales.
I sold nucs last season for the first time and really enjoyed it. 4 frame nucs here in Ontario, Canada sell for $ 220-250 each here.
I’ve got 40 now. I’m selling local honey for $14 per lb here, so there’s probably more money in honey. BUT, nucs are nearly a sure thing if you can buy sugar and mate queens. Honey is never a sure thing.
@Duck River Honey your honey market is better for sure. Average here for local honey is $10 for .5kg/1.1lb and $16 for 1kg/2.2lbs.
I’d be selling lots of smaller bottles.
Raising all those hives what is going to be your source of feed sugar?
Sugar is 16 bucks for 25 lb. Bag at walmart now.
I’ve been paying $12 or $13 at Walmart. I also have a lead on pallet quantities but it may fall through.
You mentioned an app that will tell you the surrounding forage. I can not find it.
It’s on Apples store, may not be available for android.
Excuse my ignorance but what is the difference between a back yard beekeeper and hobby beekeeper?
My imprecise word choices???
My imprecise word choices???
I’m interested in starting a bee farm (I live in NY) what’s the best course you think I can take to learn the most I can and fast, I’m willing to travel in the us and do some apprenticeship etc
I don't have a good answer for you. I'd talk to your state and try to find some commercial beekeepers locally that you could work for to gain experience.
When you do your honey house can you go over your state’s regulations? I think it would benefit those living in your state
Yeah, I'll try to do that.
Did you build your frame jig?
Yes I did, pretty simple.
Professional - look at that stack of frames . I don’t need more space I need more skill!
Cheers
Thanks
Do you do your on wax dipping or do you have someone that does it?
I’ll be doing my own. I have all the parts, just have to get it all set up and tested.
Will you dip and paint the boxes or just dip them?
Planning to just dip and see how that goes. I’d prefer todo less if it lasts acceptably.
@@DuckRiverHoney Thanks. I will dip boxes next weekend for the first time. I don’t really want to spend the time dipping and then still paint.
Man lake has a sale. Sent me a postcard last week. Ends 2/28. Assembled deep frames with foundation for 2.50 each. Must pick up and buy 1,000. Boxes are 10 something and mediums are 9 something
I saw that, but I picked up commercial grade instead of budget. I’ve gotten some good budget grades from them and I’ve gotten some that were pretty bad, so I just spent the extra for more consistency.
@@DuckRiverHoney the last commercial grade I got from them has horrible. I did not buy from them. I bought elsewhere as well.
I think they’ve addressed some of those issues.
can you share the beneficial information you received on grants and programs?
Not until I learn more.
Nathan. Is there a way you could post the price list of the Amish gentleman
Send me an email and I can forward it to you. nathan@duckriverhoney.com
@@DuckRiverHoney email sent
Where can I find that app? I tried searching bee plus and couldn't find it
It’s on Apples App Store. Don’t know about android.
@@DuckRiverHoney ok gotcha. That seems like such a great way to find landowners to work with
I’m using the app to find spots, but our property tax assessors website to find landowner records.
Are the grants region specific?
Some are. I’ve got to dig into it more.
@@DuckRiverHoney I'm in Nebraska and was trying to look into grants but to be honest there are so many out there it is daunting to wade thorugh all that. I did recently apply for one through the USDA Specialty Crop Block Grant but was denied. Thanks for the reply! One other question I would have was plans, if you have them for your wax dipping tank. I was trying to remember what video you talked about that on.
Do you sell unassembled hive boxes
No I don’t manufacture equipment.
Tell me more about that Bee Plus app you mentioned.
It’s a hive tracker, you can use it for record keeping. I mostly use the mapping feature and keep notes on top lids.
I can't seam to find the app on Google app store. iv been looking for a tool like this.
There are others as well. I know it’s on apple App Store.
What's the name of the app? I couldn't find it
BeePlus
@@DuckRiverHoney I've tried finding the app. I'm unable to. I've tried bee plus and beeplus.
Any help?
Thanks
Nevermind I just saw that it's only on apple products. I have android
I keep hearing about how Amish don't have phones. Then why do I have over 25 phone numbers of Amish families? It all depends on the Amish community. The Canastota NY community allows phones for their "business". There is also 3 beekeepers in my local Amish community. And one is a queen raiser.
I believe the elders of the community set the rules. I knew a group around Crab Orchard, KY that would have phones outside the home, but not in it.
@@DuckRiverHoney did I mention that one of those 3 Amish Beekeepers advertises in Bee Culture magazine?
you wearing Vivo boots?
I’m shocked that you caught that! Yes, I am. I like them, but the edges of the soles are starting to separate a bit. I may try some Xeros soon.
@@DuckRiverHoney love my Muck boots
@@DuckRiverHoney I would stick with vivo! I wear the ones with the sewn on solo
I have had no problems. Tracker forest esc.
Jesse at blue ridge wears em too!
I’ve got Mucks too. Good for some things.
Hey Nathan,
Looking to expand this year as well from 20 to 40 hives. I am also in Middle Tennessee, Joelton area. Would love to bounce ideas back and forth if you are interested. You are welcome to PM me if you want and best of luck to you this year!
Thanks Brady!
i could help you with your bees, equipment and everything else, all I need is a visa to come there:)
😂
@@DuckRiverHoney bro dont make fun of it hahah :(
Good content, think the music is too loud tho !
Thanks! Music starts at -25 db and rises to about -6. Comfortable levels are -3 or so
130 frames per hour? You are a machine. I can't remember exactly, but I think I can do about 10 frames in about 25 minutes. Though my brad nailer does misfire and jams frequently.
Thanks. I can hold that pace pretty well.
Okay - I have some frames you can help with now..
😀
I’m expensive to hire… but I work cheap for myself! 🤣
@@DuckRiverHoney i mean it only took a couple minutes...
😅
Be careful with your workload. Burnout is a real thing with business owners. Schedule time to rest and to things that are not "productive".
I struggle a bit with planning downtime. I’ll just tell my wife that I need to fish more!
@@DuckRiverHoney or take me out to dinner 😉😅
Hey man depending on where your located I’d be willing to come work and learn I’m 16 and just started bee keeping myself I’ve got 20 strong deeps ready for winter
Thanks!
Thanks Rob!
@@DuckRiverHoney keep up the good work. My wife and I really enjoy your down to earth demeanor, and the honest content you provide.
I really appreciate that, thanks!