FYI and something I'm considering. Because of the debacle in the trucking industry, you can now buy a used 53 foot refrigerated trailer for only a few thousand dollars. These trailers have diesel powered reefer units on them. One of these vans can easily freeze honey and kill small hive beetle eggs as well as wax moth eggs. I've found that so many times i end up with partially drawn frames with honey and pollen in them and nowhere to go with it. Also, i can't pull honey faster than i can extract it without beetle damage. And finally, I'm always challenged to store comb without wax moth damage. If i was just able to overcome these three issues with more confidence and ease it would greatly increase my efficiency with a place to land with these three challenges. A refrigerated trailer would be able to flash freeze combs and provide a temperature-controlled environment during the super-hot times of the year not to mention all that storage space. check them out on Ritchie Brothers the equipment auction website.
I love your videos, Nathan. More than that, I really enjoy watching your dedication, focus, and business sense. I'm a hobbyist (fewer than 10 hives) who loves beekeeping but the main thing I have learned is that I cannot imagine the amount of work necessary to make a living at it. It has to be one of the most labor-intensive forms of agriculture and I can appreciate the challenges you have maintaining a healthy work - life balance. My hat's off to you, brother and hope you are incredibly successful.
My advice being a small business owner is to focus on what you can to be able to support a second full time employee. People give you a multiple of what you can accomplish. Adding more “squirrels” like queen rearing may or may not be the best idea when you are already spread thin. It’s a tough balancing act. Selling nucs to me is easier if you want more income. And building up your hive count in the short term. Thanks for sharing I’m just a hobbyist going maybe sideliner so it’s very interesting to me watching how you are doing it
This was my make or break year. Ive dumped so much money into this over last 5 years. They say buy once cry once ..... well im sobbing in the corner. I should finally be in the green next year though! Thansk for the video as always sir!
I believe you make money when you stop trying to expand your equipment. I keep dumping money into box's, frames, extractor ect. Gearing for income in the future.
I got time back by training a small sweat shop force of middle school students to complete basic tasks. I have 3 who know how to bottle, label and pack honey. I have two who can use the stapler to assemble frames, lids and bottom boards. I pre-cut the pieces for the lids and bottom boards. They also push in the foundation and roll on the hot wax. $10/hr. Some honey customers pay in cash, of course, and this is the money that I used to pay them. You will feel like a freed man if you can get away from the honey bottling. We run 300 doubles in Kansas and I work a full-time job so youth labor is a necessity. Thank you for the videos. I enjoy your content.
Always fun seeing how you are navigating the growing of your business. You are smart to know when enough is enough based on work load and facilities instead of an arbitrary number. I’m sure you will find a way to grow and continue to optimize as you take the time to reflect on what works for you. I always seem to get discouraged this time of the year due to the heat and get renewed vigor through the off season. You got this! You are doing great! Thanks for sharing!
I enjoy your thought process on eliminating the bottle necks in growing your biz. We are always pushing forward to make it more efficient. Thanks for your guidance.
Being from the Pacific Northwest I have no experience with Cypress. I've been told that it is supposed to be rot resistant. I equated it in my mind with Cedar. Apparently that is not the case.
Wow Nathan, Dennis and I are so proud of how far you you have come in such a short time! It’s been so much fun watching you ( we feel like we’re cheering on our own child🤦♀️😄) You’ve so many wonderful opportunities like spending time with Bob and others that is a world of information but it’s also easy to tell you’re figuring out a lot of this on your own along that way! It’s really good that you have such a supportive family also!! Won’t be long and you’ll have some “child” labor to use😂and Parker was such a great help this year also! Just keep plugging along and remember to keep God first and all the other stuff will fall into place!! Sometimes it’ll fall harder than you’d like but it’ll fall😂 God Bless as always!! 💕💞
Starting a business is hard but you are on the right track. Growing into your business plan is painful some days I'm sure but learning to manage as you grow is important as King Bob always says. Don't forget to count your blessing and keep stepping one step at a time.
I recently discovered stacking supers on escape boards has great results when you have a slatted deck trailer or bed. once bees get their tummy full, that do want to leave, the escape board seems to help clear supers even more between the hive and the house.
Nathen, their is two different species of the cypress tree. their is the land base tree and the good stuff is the swamp base which will last. your bottom board is probably the land base tree the lumber will last about five years exposed to the weather. found that out the hard way with a porch floor.
I agree with your strategy. next year instead of focusing on hive count increases, divert those splits into selling nucs which will bring in cash. Maintain your hive count to fill the boxes you already have and solve all the problems managing that number. Then if that works after next season increase again if you are selling everything and demand is still present.
Nuc sales get a deposit and then coordinate pickups on one day. Deposits will assure folks don't back out, coordinated pickup day(s) allow for you to schedule the pulls.
In the interest of adding value without adding more extraction time, what about Ross rounds? It would be an easy add on to the top of a fast growing nuc battery.
I love watching your journey, you've got a lot of drive! I hope this channel can grow to support your business more substantially in the future. Just curious, how much has your channel conrtibuted to your business revenue? Keep up the great work
Curious on your input. I moved a 5 frame nuc to a 10 frame deep. A few days later i noticed bees robbing it. So i closed the front off and looked in it and couldn't find the queen but noticed what i think is emergency queen cells that are capped off. Not sure if robbing bees killed the queen or if i accidentally did something in the process of moving the bees over. The cells definitely dont look like any kind of supersedure cells or swarm cells but they stick out of the frame a good 1/4" or so. Do you think they tried to make another queen or should i be trying to buy a queen to put back in the hive and hope they take her? Its been a week since i noticed those cells, so i would think if they were queen cells they would've hatched already.
My experience with emergency queens late in the season isn’t favorable. I’d probably combine them with a stronger colony if they are indeed queenless. You can try to save them if you want.
Contact a SUGAR producer/packer in your area. Ask about their "sweeps". The one in my area sells 2000 lb totes of sugar that ends up on the floor for about half retail costs.
@@DuckRiverHoney The difference in a late nuc and an early nuc is 3-4 weeks. I never make a nuc if it does not give them time to store some nectar flow. My area is early 2nd week of March and late is mid April.
You seem to have a grasp of where you are and where you want to be. You are using a lot of energy and time growing. But once you reach that magic number you can divert that time to other revenue streams. You probably won't know your magic number until you reach it though.
don't worry about what me and anyone else say about your feeding operation, gotta do what you gotta do. Who cares. but the other thing about making nucs, I have made decision with is focusing on making bees instead of honey. I believe more money will be with making queens and nucs especially with hygenic or mite resistance. Small 1 man operations will need to make that choice, both take up most your time. Honey will obviously still be there (much to my dismay, I despise extracting) but priorities need to be chosen, unless you have employees.
Where are you getting your sugar from? I get mine from the The Restaurant Store by the pallet, they have a membership fee but availability and price is pretty good.
Nathan, the hive box you showed that was 5 years old and badly rotted - you said it was cypress?? Cypress is indestructible. It doesn't rot. Where did you get it? It's not cypress, to be sure. If someone is selling equipment claiming to be made of cypress, it appears to be a scam.
Ha I know u want to be a full time bee keeper, but are u able to support your family with your bee business right now. I hope everything works out for u. and your business does good. You are only 1 person and u cant do it all. Non of my business I want u to do good and not kill yourself anyway hope everything works out good for you.
