boxerman wrote: but does running a couple of hives pay for itself or does it just subsidise a hobby?
I suppose it depends how far you want to take it, but yes, you could recoup back the cost of the hive (£99) the bees always come from collected swarms,, so cost (£0) and a little time when visiting the woods anyway, a full super of honey, which the could easily produce two supers will hold around 25-30lb of honey, so lets say 25lb x 2 = 50lb @ £6 per 1lb jar= £300 give or take, add cost of jars bought in bulk and labels, plus some sugar to feed over winter, lets say £50, so your first year you could get back your money, plus £150 ish profit
of course, that's in an ideal world, but you'll then spend £99 of that profit on buying a 2nd hive, as the following year your first hive will want to swarm, you'll do an artificial swarm and have 2 hives, great more honey = more money, but you'll buy another hive or two
last year I had four hives in the woods, one died over winter, three hives, after collecting swarms I now have eight hives over there, and am expecting to remove at least 5 supers of honey = 125-150lb honey
I've already removed three supers this year, and have another two to remove from my garden hives, it goes on and on
