Economics of Hive Management, Part 2

In Part 1, we talked about all of the expenses of being a hive management company (lots of labor, and lots of physical materials, bee costs, etc.).

What's the response I most often get?

"But Peter, what about the honey? You make so much selling honey!"

Ah, my friend. Honey is the great deceiver of new beekeepers and new beekeeping companies.

• In 2026, I will sell my neighborhood honey for $24/lb. A premium price because I micro batch my honey by neighborhood, and enough people in Seattle are willing and able to pay that price. It tastes amazing, and people like getting honey from as close to they live as possible. The best place to sell neighborhood honeys is at the neighborhood farmer's market.
  • Let's say that you're getting your jars for $1 each, and your labels for $0.25 each (at this label price you're hand writing the type of honey, neighborhood, harvest, etc. on the label in order to get a quantity discount on the label).
  • Ignoring any labor to make/bottle/label/prepare the honey, you have $23.75 to work with.
  • A good farmers market in the Seattle area will average around $1,000 of honey sales per market. Some markets sell far less than that. Some are better. But let's go with $1,000 of sales per market; 41 lbs of honey. In/around Seattle, that's probably the entire sellable yield from a client yard with two hives.
    • Day of, doing a market that's located close to you takes 8 hours. 2 hours to load, drive to the market, and set up, 4 hours to do the market, and 2 hours to break down, drive back from the market, and unload.
    • Again, minimum wage in Seattle is $21.30/hr in 2026. Add 20% to that for taxes, and we're at a total rate of $25.56/hr. $204 in labor for the day. People who sell for you at farmers markets can't (legally) be paid as independent contractors, so yes, you have to pay them at least minimum wage.
    • The market is going to take 7-9% as your stall fee. We'll go low at 7%: $70.
    • Gas costs money. Call it 2 gallons of gas round trip (the market is close by), another $8-$10.
    • The total cost of doing the market is $282. Your net for the day at a good market is $718. But that is the entire production for your client's yard.
  • So, $718 in sellable honey from a single client yard. That's not too bad. But what are the expenses? Going back to our costs from Part 1:
    • 53 hours of labor. In Seattle, you're losing money already.
    • $1,000 of hive equipment if it's a new client.
    • On the low end, $360 of bees if it's a new client. If not, hedge and assume at least $180 so you don't get caught with not enough bees in a bad year, and no way to pay for new ones.
      • Side note that at this price, the bees probably won't produce much, if any, honey, so you've already shot yourself in the foot if you're trying to pay for your hive management business with honey production.
    • Everything else.
    • What if the weather is bad, or there are queen or disease issues, or a bear gets into the hives (it's happened), and the yard doesn't produce? Beekeepers can't base their business on expectations of honey sales.

What's the moral of the story? Beekeeping is an expensive hobby. It's even more expensive if you want someone to do it for you, because labor is expensive. Honey is delicious, and honey from your yard is the most delicious of all. But the honey will never pay for the management, and if you don't want the bees for the sake of the bees, I guarantee it won't be worth it.

But bees are awesome. They're calming. They're fun to watch. They pollinate your garden, and all of your neighbors' gardens, and on out for miles from your yard. If you love bees for the bees' sake, and if you can't take care of them yourself, it's definitely worth it.