How to open a beekeeping business? Beekeeping as a business: stages of organization How many hives do you need for profit

18.11.2016 5

Business in agriculture is a business that many think about, but not everyone dares to take such a decisive step. Even more questions and doubts arise when it comes to a business like beekeeping: how to organize it, what is needed for this and what is the income. In order for investments not to be empty, it is necessary to think over an action plan in advance and calculate possible risks. Planning in this business, as in any business area, is a prerequisite and requirement.

Advantages and disadvantages of beekeeping

The bee business has a lot of positive properties that make it popular among entrepreneurs:

Low initial costs.
High income with little investment.
Opportunity to refuse extra costs for hiring staff in the case of an independent and sole business in the apiary. It is also beneficial to work together with family members.
The absence of a single monopolist in the market of finished products.
Beekeeping can be considered as an independent business and as a side job.
To breed bees, it is enough to replenish your knowledge base with minimal ideas about this matter.

Apiary as a business is fraught with some risks that you should always remember:

growing competition, which is due to the unstable economic situation in many countries of the world, rising unemployment;
beekeeping business requires the formation of a client base, which is hampered by high prices for finished products.

Business Planning: Key Subtleties

In order for the business not to burn out in the opening working season, all the details should be clearly planned. This will allow you to reach a net profit after the first summer period of beekeeping. Experienced beekeepers are advised to pay attention to the following nuances:

The honey business allows you to work alone if you have a country house or a summer cottage with a large plot where you can organize an apiary. If you refuse to conduct business independently, then there is an opportunity to resort to the help of a certain manager. For hire, he will take care of the bees and pump honey. This option of doing business involves additional costs for the salary of this assistant.
There is no way to protect yourself from the risk of losing bee colonies. The death of a whole hive can be provoked by substances that pollinate fields. Collecting pollen from plants, bees capture poisonous particles and bring them to their "home". Such a negative situation is always a big financial loss for the beekeeper.
Any artificial additives in the real finished product can lead to a complete loss of the customer base. Often unscrupulous beekeepers dilute honey with sugar syrup in order to get more product and earn extra money. Such "fraud" can completely destroy the business.
The presence of allergic diseases in a potential beekeeper is an occasion to think about the feasibility of such a business. This is due to the fact that bee stings can provoke anaphylactic shock and even death.
The honey selling business will bring good income if you diversify the finished products. In this case, such a task is very difficult, but doable. To get other varieties of honey, it is enough to transport the apiary to places where bees can collect pollen from different plants.
Business planning involves calculating costs for several years in advance. This should not be forgotten, as the hives need constant care. You should take care in advance and equip a place for wintering, provide for the costs of feeding, warming, and pest control.
The queen bee is able to support a strong colony for two years. After this period, the offspring weakens, a replacement of the uterus is required.
Feedback from experienced beekeepers indicates that beekeeping as a business requires a responsible approach: it is important to calculate all costs, risks, prepare a client base, draw up a work plan.

Investment calculation

If financial opportunities are extremely limited, then a beekeeping business can be started with several bee families. You can avoid the cost of paying hired labor if you maintain the apiary yourself. In this case, the help of family members may be required.

Experienced beekeepers say with confidence that for the production scale and good payback for the first working season, about 40 families are needed. This figure will be the basis for calculating capital costs:

The list of additional costs, which may change, should include wages, the purchase of substances for pest control, monthly taxes and deductions. If the apiary does not have a stationary summer base, then the list will have to include the costs of transporting the hives from one place to another. The larger the number of hives, the more funds will be needed to organize a "nomadic" apiary.

In the summer, bees swarm actively. As a result of this process, new families are formed. They need new hives.

Practical beekeeping: basic steps

When all theoretical issues have been resolved, a work plan has been created, preliminary costs have been calculated, you can proceed to the practical part. Breeding bees as a business involves choosing the best place to accommodate a full-fledged apiary. One hive should occupy an area of 40 m2. It is advisable to choose a low-lying area, which is no more than a couple of kilometers away from honey plants.

If there are other beekeeping farms nearby, then the apiary should be fenced off from them. To do this, use a solid high fence. To pump more honey, it is necessary to locate the apiary in close proximity to fields with buckwheat, sunflower, acacia, clover, linden.

After choosing a place, the procedure for coordination with the owner of the land and registration with the municipal authority is carried out. Traditionally, in rural areas, these powers are vested in a representative body. The following package of documents is required for the procedure:

application in the prescribed form;
statement on the choice of taxation system;
copy of the passport;
a receipt certifying the payment of the state fee.

Regardless of the number of hired workers, the owner of the apiary is obliged to pay monthly insurance and pension contributions. The next step is a veterinary examination and registration of the apiary itself. This procedure is carried out on a personal application.

With a successful outcome, the owner of the hives receives a special passport, which may be needed when transporting the hives from one place to another. You should always take it with you when honey is brought to sell.

The bee business will be successful if you choose the right breed of insects for breeding. The optimal ones are those that are typical for the region. They must be purchased before the end of May, but not before April. Important characteristics of a family are:

Conditional "performance" of the uterus.
Frost and disease resistance.
Efficiency and number of working insects in the family.

Attractive breeds for the middle zone with a temperate climate are:

forest dark;
gray Caucasian;
yellow Italian.

In order for the apiary to fully function, it should be equipped with the necessary equipment and accessories:

Vertical or horizontal hives with frames.
Overalls for the beekeeper.
Smoker with sawdust.
Frame box.
Containers for queens.
Feeders and drinkers.
Table for processing honeycombs and frames.
Wax melting device.
Sieve.
Honey extraction equipment.

Video: honey business.

How much can you earn selling bee products?

In one season, from 30 to 50 kilograms of honey can be obtained from each family of bees. The retail price now averages 300 rubles per kilogram. Simple calculations say that you can earn from 9 to 15 thousand rubles, and from the whole apiary - from 360 to 600 thousand rubles. Additionally, you can sell bee products - wax, propolis, pollen, while earning from 108 to 180 thousand rubles.

Such figures are direct evidence that the first successful beekeeping season will be able to fully cover the costs of organizing an apiary and even bring a considerable net profit. This is possible with a ready-made client base or a good advertising campaign.

If the process of swarming bees was successful, then the number of colonies is growing rapidly. They need to be planted in new hives. Next year, income will multiply: there will be more families, which means there will be more honey. You can also make money by selling families. The average price for them is 5 thousand rubles.

Many economists, political scientists and successful businessmen argue in unison that agriculture is the most promising area today. The relevance of its various branches is growing by leaps and bounds. In the modern world, there is even a tendency for the population to migrate to villages away from the noise of the city.

If you intend to start a business in the agricultural sector, boundless horizons open up before you. Beekeeping is one of the most popular niches in this industry. It is suitable for those people who are ready for a fairly significant investment of labor and time. True, the profit more than justifies all the efforts. This business involves many undeniable advantages, but risks and negatives are also present in it.

Pros and cons of this type of business

The demand for delicious and extremely healthy honey will never decrease. And this makes beekeeping a very attractive and promising niche for your own business. And besides, the resulting product is easy to sell through a variety of channels, and the business itself does not require a large start-up capital, paying off in the shortest possible time.

Judge for yourself, to start beekeeping, on average, one thousand US dollars is needed to buy bees, as well as starter equipment.

You can expand your business not only by purchasing new hives and bee families, but also by organizing the production of carved wax candles. If you have an apiary, you receive a considerable income not only from the honey itself, but also from from the sale of pollen, propolis, bee bread and royal jelly. The collection of propolis and pollen, although it is a very laborious process, but the price of these products is very high. In addition, in this case, the production is practically waste-free, which is the most profitable option.

But keep in mind that you must have relevant experience and deep knowledge in this area. Bees require certain conditions of keeping, are very dependent on weather conditions and get sick from time to time. There are also unprofitable years when these insects require special care and feeding, while not bringing much income. The lack of a certain amount of knowledge about all the nuances of beekeeping can lead to the loss of the entire business overnight. True, you can hire an experienced beekeeper to look after the apiary, but this will force you to additional costs.

Another option for such a business also provides for the presence of an apiary, but bee products are sold to wholesalers. The pitfall is the low purchase price. You risk losing a lot of money, as a result of which the business will simply bring extremely little income.

Drawing up a business plan

Before writing a business plan, carefully study the market and the characteristics of competitors in your area. This will allow you to understand all the difficulties that you are at risk of encountering and will help you to set goals very clearly. The experience of competitors will also show all the points that need to be emphasized so as not to burn out at the very beginning of a career.

First of all, you will need:

Availability of an appropriate piece of land. It should be located in a dry, non-marshy, quiet area away from farms with animals, as well as dirty water bodies. An equally important point is the proximity of the forest, flowering gardens or fields.
Next, you need to think through your workspace to the smallest detail. Be sure to take care of the presence of a special "kubrick" for the cold season. It must be insulated and reliably protect the apiary itself from wind and frost, providing the beekeeper with easy access for feeding insects.
You will also need a special room for pumping honey and a working outbuilding for working with frames (gluing wax and cleaning the frames themselves), storing various equipment and a place to store honey.
An office for written work should also be provided on the territory, where you can keep a beekeeper's diary and read specialized literature. Be sure to include specialized books and magazines in the expense item, as successful beekeeping involves constant self-education.
It will be a huge plus if you have your own transport. If this is not available, it is highly recommended to buy a car, preferably a large one. You will need it to transport the hives to the medical survey, to transport honey and bee packages.
The very first item of expenditure is the purchase of the necessary raw materials. It is 70% of the total investment. This refers to the purchase of queen bees, as well as frames with bee brood. The price will vary depending on the bee species. One bee family will cost about sixty dollars. Hives can be bought new or used to save some money. Their average cost is about eighty dollars apiece.
It is also necessary to purchase certain equipment, which includes a honey extractor, honey storage cans, chisels, wax plates, special clothing, gloves and much more. The purchase of equipment will pull on a fairly decent amount.
You should definitely buy thermal chambers for dissolving honey, as well as mixers for blending honey, which are distinguished by a certain high cost.
If you have an impressive amount, you can build your own laboratory. It allows you to analyze honey, but it costs accordingly - from two hundred thousand dollars. If at first you cannot afford it, you will need to take into account the cost of a quality certificate, which can be obtained from specialized laboratories.
Medical preparations should also be included in the expenditure item. Preventive treatment with Sanapin occurs twice a year.

As for the staff, a small private apiary can be managed alone. But during the period of active honey collection, as a rule, at least one assistant is needed. For this, it will be possible to hire a seasonal worker. If the territory is quite large, or if you do not have deep enough knowledge in this area, you will also have to take into account the monthly salary of employees.

A separate expense item is provided for the preparation of all necessary documentation for opening such a business. All additional expenses, in addition to the purchase of the bees and hives themselves, will cost about four hundred dollars..

A business plan must be written down to the smallest detail and strictly adhere to each item. Only in this way will your success be guaranteed.

The profitability of a business will be influenced by many factors: the presence of competitors, your experience in beekeeping, the available material base, as well as the way the products are sold.

During the season, which lasts from May to August, on average, up to seven tons of honey can be obtained from a standard apiary. One kilogram of this product is estimated at about four dollars. Accordingly, the annual profit is about thirty thousand dollars, of which half will go to the costs associated with production.

There are two types of apiaries: nomadic and stationary. Each type involves a certain type of hives, and also provides for requirements for the territory itself.

A nomadic apiary can be transported from field to field, depending on the time of flowering of certain plants. It assumes the obligatory presence of assistants, but, as a rule, allows you to get many times more honey.

In the case of a large number of honey plants in the area, it is recommended to install a stationary apiary. When installing it, keep in mind that the optimal distance to the flowering field is two kilometers.

Determining the type of honey

In order to decide on the type of honey, you need to understand which variety is popular in your region. To do this, you can conduct your own research, as well as seek the advice of a specialist.

Varieties differ significantly in price. Mint, linden, clover, buckwheat, heather, sunflower, coriander and many other plants can act as a source. The price is determined by the beneficial properties of honey and taste characteristics. Given the geographic location, you can choose the type of honey that will bring the most profit.

Which bees to choose

This choice is influenced by the climatic and botanical features of your region. In protected areas, for example, only a certain breed of bees is allowed.

The main types are:

Experienced beekeepers recommend that beginners start with Carpathian or gray mountain Caucasian breeds. They are quite peaceful, they are easier to care for. In addition, they make better use of a weak honey flow and very vigorously collect pollen from blossoming flowers. The downside of Caucasian bees is soreness and poor cold tolerance. The Carpathian breed, in turn, is characterized by low swarming and high endurance during wintering.
Central Russian bees more evil and require the approach of an experienced specialist. They tolerate cold more easily and are also less painful, but full equipment is required to work with them.
It is necessary to be extremely careful with the purchase of foreign breeds, which include Italian, Krainka, Buckfast. These queens are sold only abroad, are very expensive and are subject to lengthy checks.

Experts unanimously say: it is advisable to give preference to traditional bees for your region. This is especially true in cases where the duration of cold weather in a given area reaches five or more months.

Is certification needed?

Requirements for certification are very loyal. In order to obtain the right to sell honey, you must obtain an ordinary permit, which is issued in veterinary laboratories. It is inexpensive and is issued after examining samples to determine the quality of honey.

The special certificate includes a long list of indicators and values. It indicates the content of water, tin, sucrose, reducing sugars, toxic substances and impurities. Also, a separate category is devoted to the rules for the storage and transportation of honey, which must meet certain sanitary standards. Requirements are imposed both on the storage temperature and on the packaging container.

Another question is if you want to sell your products in supermarkets or abroad. In this case, it is necessary to register an LLC. After that, the apiary, finished products and production workshop must undergo full certification.

Sales channels

In this regard, the beekeeping business has the broadest prospects. Small entrepreneurs who own 10-20 bee colonies mainly sell their products on their own.

For larger entrepreneurs, it is possible to sell honey through large supermarkets that buy products in large wholesale quantities.

About prospects

According to experienced beekeepers, this business has really great prospects. The beekeeping market is not yet structured, and honey prices are rising every year. And demand is only growing, both in the domestic and foreign markets. An understanding of the value of a natural product is gradually coming to people, and in conditions of poor ecology and low quality of life, an increasing percentage of the population is actively interested in a healthy lifestyle.

The domestic product will be valued higher and will be in great demand among buyers than the Chinese one, which is now abundant on the market. After all, the quality of the latter is a huge question, due to the active use of genetically modified crops. For example, the United States, which until recently was the main buyer of Chinese honey, has already limited its supply to the territory of its country.

The most profitable time to start such a business is the beginning of May.. At this time, the gardens are just finishing blooming, and the weather is warm, so the bee colonies become the strongest by this period. The market value of these insects increases slightly in May, but the costs, as a rule, justify themselves already in the first season.

About the development of business in Russia and the honey market in the country as a whole - in the following video:

Proper organization of the apiary allows you to get up to 50 liters of honey from one hive. For beginner beekeepers, an indicator of 30 liters will also be very good. But all these results may turn out to be unprofitable as a business if the scale of the apiary does not allow for a high turnover, and also if there are difficulties with the sales market.

How many hives do you need to start a business

If you decide to start beekeeping from scratch and you have no experience, so as not to lose your investments in the first year, experts recommend starting with a small amount - 5 families (hives). A small apiary will allow you to work out the technology and assess the demand for your product. The average retail price for a liter of honey is about $4 per liter, thus, by selling the product obtained during the season, you can get at least $600, which will fully cover the initial costs of organizing.

If you have some experience or you have the opportunity to consult with specialists, you can organize an enterprise that will allow you to become a plus in the first season. The scale of such an apiary is from 10 to 40 bee colonies, and the approximate revenue from the sale of honey alone will be about $4,800.

A full-fledged business in the production of honey and bee products is considered to be an apiary from 50 families. At the same time, for a small business, the upper recommended limit is 100 hives, since a larger number will require an expanded staff and huge areas to provide an apiary. It is also worth choosing the scale based on the calculation that one experienced beekeeper will be able to serve up to 20-30 hives, and a beginner can handle only 10-15 hives alone.

How many times a year pump honey

Breeding bees is a seasonal business, while you will receive income in stages, after each pumping out of honey. The main period of work with the apiary is six months from spring to autumn. Winter time is usually reserved for auxiliary work. In order for honey to be suitable for sale, it must ripen (have a certain degree of moisture content of 18-20%).

There are no exact dates for honey ripening, and they may vary depending on the region, weather conditions of the current year and other factors. In practice, the maturity of honey is determined by the degree of closure of honeycombs (frames) by bees (at least 65%). If unripe honey is collected, fermentation processes will occur in it, mold and pathogenic bacteria will form that are dangerous to human life. This is a serious threat to your business and your customers!

In central Russia, honey is pumped out twice a year - in May and August. In the southern regions and in Ukraine, fees are possible up to 4 times per season, which significantly increases profitability. Such a spread is provided by an abundance of flowering honey plants. The more of them, the faster the cells fill up, and, consequently, your potential profit is higher.

How to set up a market

Another factor influencing the level of income is the sales market that your business idea should take into account. There are several ways to sell a product:

Retail sale in spontaneous markets and fairs. Suitable for apiaries with small and medium volumes. The disadvantage of this method is the extra time involved. This is the most popular way to market products for small businesses.
Delivery to resellers. The least profitable option, since the prices from buyers are always very low. This option is suitable for small apiaries remote from the city, used as an additional income.
Opening a classic or online store. This is a costly method, but in the long run it will allow you to create your own brand, scale your business and get more tangible profits without having to deal with the apiary personally.
Supplies to supermarkets. This sales format is suitable for large enterprises that also buy honey from other small entrepreneurs.

In addition to honey itself, do not forget about bee products, which are also no less valuable. So, for example, wax (from $ 10 per 1 kg) you can donate to churches for the production of candles or sell to beauty salons. In turn, propolis (from $ 150 per 1 kg) can be donated to pharmaceutical companies or traditional medicine shops. You can also sell royal jelly, zabrus and bee venom.

Types and planning of apiary

An important criterion for choosing a place for arranging an apiary is the adjacent natural areas. First of all, there should be a sufficient number of honey plants on the site, including trees and meadow grasses. The most popular plants for collecting pollen (bribes) are: acacia, linden, buckwheat, sunflower, fruit trees, phacelia, oil radish, heather, Ivan tea and others. All of them differ in flowering time, which is very important to consider if you expect to get the maximum amount of honey per season. Also, each plant has its own nectar productivity, which can be found in the specialized literature on beekeeping.

It is not desirable to have an apiary near water bodies (there are a lot of insect pests), livestock farms, as well as large agricultural enterprises that are characterized by the use of agricultural chemicals (for example, if insecticides are used, your bees may die).

In practice, there are two types of apiaries:

Stationary. Hives are installed in a specific fixed area. This format is suitable for those who have their own land, where they can plant honey plants on their own or they randomly grow in sufficient quantities in the area.
nomadic. In this case, the hives are constantly transported from one place to another, choosing the zones richest in bribes. If you want to succeed in this business, this is the most commercially profitable option, but it requires your own transport to implement, and transportation costs must also be included in the cost of the final product.

To calculate the volume of an apiary, based on the existing natural conditions (the number of families that can be located on a given site), it is necessary to add up the nectar content of all plants in the nearby area (within a radius of 1-2 km). At the same time, it is taken into account that, on average, for one bee colony, life support requires the presence of plants with a total nectar content of at least 105 kg.

Example:

On the site near the apiary there is: 8 hectares of buckwheat (nectar content 80 kg per 1 hectare), 3 hectares of linden (800 kg), 5 hectares of sunflower (60 kg). Thus, we get: 8×80+3×800+5×60=3340 kg;

3340÷105=22 families.

At the same time, since the calculations are taken from averaged data and in reality it is difficult to determine the amount of bribe to ensure the quality of honey, the final calculated value is divided by two. As a result, the optimal number of bees for such a plot will be 11 colonies, which will give about 440 liters of pure product for sale and provide at least $1,760 in profit.

Actually, the apiary itself (the location of the hives) will have a relatively small area. So for 5-10 hives, 15 square meters are enough, installed at a distance of 3 meters from each other.

Financial calculation of the apiary and technical equipment

Considering the question of how to make a business in beekeeping, it is important not only to study the features of housekeeping, but also to draw up a business plan, the main part of which is the calculation of financial costs. The main starting investment will depend on the size of the apiary and the characteristics of your region.

Cost calculation example:

hives. They are horizontal and vertical. They consist of a main body and are designed for a certain number of frames (optimally at least 10 frames per hive). A new hive costs $20 or more, but you can save money by buying a used hive starting at $10.
hive frames. Often they come with a hive or a family of bees, but you need to buy spare ones. They cost from $0.2 per joke. To accommodate one family of bees, 4 frames are required, which are located in one hive. The remaining frames in the hive are used to collect honey. Thus, when taking 2-3 frames from the hive to pump out honey, at least 3 frames should remain in the hive to feed the bees. In the active season, one family can have up to 20 frames.
Protective suit (mask, gloves). Sold as a set and separately. It costs from $10.
honey extractor. Special device for pumping honey. It can be designed for a different number of frames. The starting price of a new device is from $130.
smoker. A device for fumigating bees with smoke, in case of increased aggression. Price from 4$.
Auxiliary tools. A bee chisel for opening hives, a comb for attaching foundation, scrapers, knives, brushes for bees - the total cost is from $ 20.
bees. The cost and choice of bees depends on your region of residence. In the domestic market, mainly seven breeds of bees are used, which differ in the requirements for climatic conditions and honey production. So, for example, gray Caucasian, yellow Caucasian and Italian bees do not tolerate a cold climate and are suitable exclusively for the southern regions. Central Russian bees and karnika are characterized by a tendency to swarm (this reduces honey production), but are resistant to cold. Steppe Ukrainian and Carpathian bees are easy to care for and relatively versatile, and therefore are recommended for beginners. The cost of a quality bee colony starts from $50.

Thus, to organize an apiary of 10 families, you will need:

20×10+20×0.2×10+10+130+4+20+50×10=904$

In addition, it is necessary to take into account the cost of maintaining the apiary throughout the year, as well as packaging and storage of products. This includes the following expenses:

Nutrition before the flowering of honey plants- 1-2 kg of sugar per 1 liter of water for making syrup. Top dressing is performed daily at 200 grams per family. It should be considered as an aid in the case when the bees do not have a sufficient supply of honey to feed in winter or early spring. As a rule, about 20 kg of honey is required for the wintering of a family.
Feeding for disease prevention- such top dressing is carried out in the spring. Together with syrup, bees are given vaccines against infectious diseases, as well as various vitamin complexes. The cost of drugs on average from $ 5-10.
Pillows for warming hives for the winter- from $1 piece (the price varies depending on the size).
Package- as a rule, they use plastic sealed containers for honey and plastic bags for other bee products. Price from $1 each.
Transportation and storage- calculated individually.

How to legalize a beekeeping business

For a small apiary, it is not necessary to become an official entrepreneur. But to sell honey, even if you sell through friends, you need to get a veterinary certificate. To do this, during the period of pumping honey, 0.5 liters are handed over to the local veterinary laboratory and a conclusion is received on compliance with sanitary standards. It is advisable to get it even just for your own peace of mind, because if sanitation standards are violated, honey can be a very dangerous product.

When it is planned to sell at a market or fair, another 0.5 liters will need to be sent for detailed analysis to a certification laboratory. To bring the product not only to the local market, but also to the neighboring region, it is necessary to obtain another conclusion of the veterinary service in Form 2, but already in the district office.

If you still want to legalize the business in order to engage in permanent trade in the market or supply to intermediaries, you can register the activity as a farm. And when opening your own store, it is better to register an individual entrepreneur (FOP).

Choosing beekeeping as a business for yourself: where to start, how to succeed and what problems you may encounter, you can also learn in practice from other beekeeper colleagues, simply by getting a seasonal job with them to gain experience. At the same time, you can not hide the fact that you consider honey as a business and want to learn how to care for bees, because the main feature of most beekeepers is friendliness and willingness to teamwork.

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 colonies 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 realization

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 confident in the receipt of the required amount of product, 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.

Honey production (beekeeping) is a fast payback (~2 years) and profitable business (~15-25%). Despite the non-waste production of honey, the business requires experience and specific knowledge of baiting and caring for bees. Honey is a natural product containing many useful vitamins: retinol, group B, C, E, which strengthen and support the body's immunity. The main honey producers in the Russian Federation are private farms and industrial companies. In this article, we will look at the main points on how to organize beekeeping as a business from scratch.

Advantages and Disadvantages of Starting a Honey Production Business

The technology for obtaining honey is poorly subjected to unification, and the organization of an apiary does not require a large investment of capital. Therefore, this type of activity is well suited for small businesses.

According to the results of a study of the bee products market, most consumers purchase honey not in retail stores, but in apiaries and markets. Because of this, distribution networks do not exert monopoly pressure on beekeepers. One beekeeper can take care of 60 beehives, which makes it possible to rationally approach the independent packaging and sale of honey. Consider the key advantages and disadvantages of starting a business.

Advantages	Flaws
Minimum investment in the organization of the apiary, the possibility of individual care of the apiary	Expertise in caring for bees
A large number of honey consumers + the possibility of selling wax, pollen, propolis, bee bread and royal jelly	Seasonal business (May-August), after the bees leave for the winter
Ability to create your own distribution network	The main risk is marketing, not being able to sell your products in the required volume

Despite the need for expert knowledge in caring for bees and apiary, the final product for sale can be not only honey, but also wax (for candle makers or craftsmen), pollen, propolis, bee bread and royal jelly.

Consumers of honey are large wholesale stores (buying honey at an ultra-low price), cosmetic companies, medical firms, retail stores, markets, honey fairs. One of the most optimal options for selling with the maximum margin (markup on cost) are honey fairs, held 1-2 times a year. So traditional is the honey fair in Moscow at VDNKh, local weekend fairs are also developed in various parts of the city.

Habitat and species of bees

If you are engaged in beekeeping, then you will have to live next to bees and take into account the nature of insects when working. In summer, the apiary will require your daily presence. For an apiary with 60 hives, you will need about 25 acres of land. It is desirable to enclose this area with green spaces. Also around the apiary should be an abundance of honey plants. The most valuable varieties of honey are obtained from:

mint;
buckwheat;
acacias;
lindens.

Rare honeycomb, hyssop, sweet clover, sainfoin and mignonette honey is also valued. When choosing a place for an apiary, have a phytomap with you. The choice of the breed of bees with which to work depends on the nature of the honey plant. Russian beekeepers prefer gray Caucasian, Central Russian and Ukrainian steppe bees.

Kind of bees	Peculiarities
Gray Caucasian bees	successfully collect pollen from clover and herb honey plants, do not let other bees near their hives and do not steal honey themselves. The main disadvantage of such bees is low cold resistance, so long frosts are fatal for them. Caucasian bees are not too aggressive.
Central Russian bees	effectively interact with linden and buckwheat, they are very aggressive and prone to swarming.
Ukrainian steppe bees	it is advisable to start if linden, sunflowers, buckwheat and other honey plants grow around the hives. This species of bees survives the winter well and is able to stay in high-quality hives all year round.

Be careful when buying foreign bees: Italian, Krainka, Buckfast. They are much more expensive and subject to lengthy inspections.

In addition to the abundance of honey plants, when choosing a place for an apiary, the availability of electricity, communications and water supply is taken into account.

Product certification

To sell honey, you need to get your products certified at a certification center, where the quality of honey will be checked. The certificate will determine the level of toxicity and the amount of additives in a given product. The conditions of storage, packaging and transportation of products are also subject to verification.

Types of apiary: comparison

There are two types of apiaries: nomadic and stationary. The table below shows their advantages and disadvantages.

Registration of an apiary as a business in the tax

If the apiary is registered in the name of an individual (not an individual entrepreneur), then it is not taxed. The apiary site must be registered as a household plot (up to 50 acres, auxiliary workers are not hired), and all the necessary documents must be drawn up for it: a certificate from the household book, which is issued by the administration of the village council, an apiary passport (issued at the interdistrict veterinary station), veterinary certificate for honey (upon sale). The LPH form can be used for other types of agricultural activities: → , → , → .

You can not pay taxes if the apiary is framed as a private household plot - up to 50 acres and without hired workers.

In the form of business - an individual entrepreneur, LLC is paid UTII (single tax on imputed income). At the same time, the amount of tax depends on the area (often just for the workplace) and is fixed, besides, the cash desk is not needed. When registering with a tax IP, you must select OKVED - 52.27.39 "Retail trade in other food products not included in other groups." If it is taken from an individual entrepreneur, LLC or KFH OKVED 01.25.1 “Bee breeding”, the best choice would be the ESHN (single agricultural tax) or USN (simplified taxation system) with a tax rate of 6%.

Top 7. Rating of honey varieties in the Russian Federation

According to a study by the analytical company "Step by Step", the following varieties of honey are most popular among the population of Russia:

lime
chestnut
buckwheat
acacia
sweet clover
floral
fireweed

Video lesson "Beekeeping for Dummies"

This video explains in detail how to organize your own apiary from scratch.

Beekeeping Costs: Business Plan

The farther the site is located from large settlements, the lower its cost. Therefore, the middle zone of Russia is best suited for the site: Bashkiria, Altai Territory, the Caucasus, etc. Additional costs may be the repair or construction of buildings on this site. But the main initial investment costs will be the purchase of raw materials (~70%).

It will take about $200 to buy one hive with all the equipment and a bee colony. It is also advisable to purchase containers for honey and a three-frame honey extractor - this is an additional $500. The overalls of the beekeeper will require another 100 dollars. As a result, the initial organization of the apiary will cost ~$15,000.

With proper business organization, one hive produces up to 40 kg. honey per year. With a retail price of $7.50, the annual revenue would be $18,000. In addition, the bees will provide the beekeeper with pollen, wax and propolis.

This calculation does not take into account some costs, which include:

taxes;
marketing costs;
bee colony insurance;
payment for water and electricity;
obtaining quality certificates for honey.

All costs vary depending on the location of the beekeeping business. The main obstacle for a beginner beekeeper is lack of experience. Therefore, a novice beekeeper should consider the following points:

1. Do not start 60 hives at once, without work experience. Start with 15 and gradually increase the number of hives, by the 3rd go of doing business, bring it up to 60. This will reduce possible losses and costs.

2. Communicate with beekeepers whose apiaries are near yours - their experience will be useful to you.

Communicate in the community of beekeepers! At forums (pchelovodstvo.ru/forum, dombee.info), conferences and fairs.

Profitable sale of honey

When selling honey, the cooperation of neighboring beekeepers is important. The local rural population has low purchasing power and often maintains 2-4 hives themselves to collect honey for their own consumption. People who buy honey and sell it in cities underestimate the purchase price, reducing the profitability of the apiary.

A good solution is a long-term partnership between a group of beekeepers and one retailer of honey. In this case, he will be sure that large volumes of honey will go on sale. This will significantly reduce his transport costs and raise the purchase price.

Attempts to negotiate with supermarkets in large cities are doomed to failure. The consumer is ready to pay a high price for honey bought directly from the apiary. Honey from the manufacturer makes the consumer be sure of its naturalness. If there is a desire to sell honey in tons, then pay attention to large bakeries, which are the largest consumers of beekeeping products.

The organization of an online store is a very interesting direction in the development of an apiary. Many townspeople who rarely visit markets and do not trust store-bought honey choose this method of purchasing the product. Flower pollen is also successfully sold in this way.

Reviews of beekeepers about business

Below are the reviews and opinions of beekeepers about this business.

Evaluation of the attractiveness of a business by a magazine site

Business Profitability	(3.0 out of 5)	Business Attractiveness 3.0
Project payback	(4.0 out of 5)
Ease of starting a business	(2.0 out of 5)
Beekeeping as a business is a promising business. The payback period of the initial investment is ~2 years with a profitability of ~15-25%. The main difficulty lies in the need for experience and expertise in this area (this can be 2-3 years). Business is seasonal from May to August. The ability to not pay taxes when registering as private household plots (up to 50 acres and without hired workers), this allows you to reduce costs and concentrate on creating an apiary and organizing product distribution channels. When scaling, it becomes necessary to register as an individual entrepreneur, LLC or peasant farm.