Bee Keeping for Profit

 Bee Keeping for Profit 

    GEORGE JESSUP , Council Bluffs, Iowa, began raising bees as a side line. Before long, this side line returned enough profits to more than take care of expenses, and today his income from bee keeping exceeds a thousand dollars annually. In fact, bees not only pay all his household expenses, but enable him to put a good round sum in the bank every year. “Few occupations,” says Jessup, “offer the interest and relaxation bee keeping affords, and for the office worker it has the additional incentive of being carried on out of doors. I started with one colony in a large hive, which I was told would provide ample room for brooding and winter storage, eliminate swarming, and provide large combs for the queen bee thus making her more efficient. My initial expenses for bees and equipment ran about twenty dollars, and my cost of producing honey that year was five dollars. The colony produced a hundred pounds of honey, all of which I sold locally to retailers at an average price of sixty cents a bail, a measure which contains five pounds. “The second year the colony was increased greatly by a winter brood, so I split it, and made a second colony, which also came in with a hundred pounds of honey. That, I found, was about the average yield for each bee colony. Meanwhile, I was so pleased with the way the bee keeping was going, that I increased the number of colonies to ten, and sold some of the honey at wholesale, getting an average of forty-five cents a bail for it. There is, of course, more work connected with the ten colonies, but not a great deal more as about all there is to do is gather the honey. Bees do not require much attention. You can leave them alone for several days and they will feed themselves and work for you while you are away. Last year, I added fifteen more colonies, to bring the total number to twenty-five, and my profit increased proportionately. “Most of the honey I produce goes to local grocers. Some of it I ship to Dubuque and points not too distant. I sell to local grocers at sixty cents a bail as a general rule, and get fifty-five to seventy cents from outside markets. When I sell to the consumer, I get twenty cents a pound, and I did a lot of consumer business last year. It’s in that market most of the money is to be made. However, I haven’t been able to take the time to develop consumer demand properly, although I’ve been determined for a long time to go after it. “Bee keeping is fascinating as well as profitable. You can keep bees in any place—the cellar, barn, garage, attic or even in a closet which has an outside window, and be perfectly sure that as long as you have a good queen in charge, the colony will stay ‘put.’ If the colony is permitted to get too large, however, there is a chance that a queen coming out of the winter brood will lure a portion of them to swarm in a hollow tree somewhere. So it is good policy to watch them and separate them, giving the queens from your brood a house of their own so they won’t lure other bees to swarm. “I believe much of my success has been due to the use of the Caucasian bees exclusively. These bees are gentler and permit you to work among them faster than you could with other types. They seem to be less inclined to develop disease, and their crop of honey is fully as good as the Italian bee. Experience has taught me the disadvantages of the big hive, however, and I now use standard ten frame equipment, with full depth hive bodies for supers. I simplify the provisioning of the brood chamber by slipping in a frame of honey from another super, assuring ample winter stores. Combs with patches of drone are easily removed by exchanging with combs from supers and allowing the brood to emerge above. When the comb is filled with honey at the end of the season it is handled right along with the rest of the crop until extracted. A mark across the top bar, made with a hive tool, makes its identification simple and disposal sure.” A bee apiary may be started with a few dollars. A small colony will more than pay for itself in a short time, and furnish a hobby or a side line that is immensely fascinating. Housing equipment may be made by yourself, or may be purchased for as little as ten dollars. The equipment is designed as a permanent colony home, and is built to withstand freezing temperatures. Bees may be secured at very reasonable prices. You may buy a twopound package of baby bees, with a young queen, for as little as two dollars. Two or three of such packages will start a very fine colony for you, and will soon be producing a hundred pounds of honey annually or better. It may be pointed out that the existing demand for honey far exceeds visible supply, and that a good price may be obtained for your entire honey yield all the year round. Wholesale prices vary somewhat in different sections of the country, ranging from thirty to fifty-five cents a bail. Retail prices range between forty-five cents and eighty-five cents a bail. In most sections, however, neither wholesale prices nor retail fluctuate much more than ten cents a bail.