Operational Equipment Expenses for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest

Introduction

When developing a business plan for a commercial beekeeping operation, a beekeeper must plan for honey production. Even if other income sources, such as pollination or nucleus/package/queen sales, are expected to be the primary revenue stream, honey bees almost always make honey in the Pacific Northwest. The amount of honey will vary from year to year, but a plan for processing and selling honey is essential.

Facilities

A beekeeping operation requires a warehouse or base facility for equipment assembly, storage and other operations. The facility must be secure, weatherproof and bee-proof. Bees are not stored in the facility and they must be prevented from entering it. Honey bees will collect unprotected honey and cause chaos if buildings are not completely sealed. A typical warehouse facility for a beekeeping operation has an employee break room, restroom, office space, woodworking area, chemical storage and equipment storage. Warehouse space used for building and repairing woodenware should be designed to prevent sawdust and other debris from contaminating honey or stored equipment. The cost of building a warehouse varies considerably (refer to the “Further reading” section for construction cost estimation guides).

A honey house is a building for extracting, filtering, packing and storing honey. A honey house is either incorporated into the warehouse building or is a stand-alone facility. For sanitation purposes, it must be a separate area. Honey-house costs are similar to warehouse costs, but have additional expenses. A honey house must have a warming room, extraction equipment area and packing room. The warming room heats honey supers to make honey flow easier for faster extraction. This room typically includes a heating element in the floor. Honey houses must meet food safety guidelines and are subject to inspection (refer to the “Further reading” section for licensing guidelines).

Wholesale and retail honey sales

A beekeeper should decide if the honey will be sold wholesale or retail. There are advantages and disadvantages to each (Table 1). In general, selling wholesale is simpler and requires less labor, but selling retail can yield higher profits.

Table 1. Key differences with wholesale and retail honey markets

	Wholesale	Retail
Market sources	Honey packing cooperatives Restaurants, breweries, bakeries	Local grocery stores and other shops On-site honey stand (passive sales) On-site retail store Farmers market vendor E-commerce (e.g. Craigslist, Amazon, eBay)
Proximity to market sources	Proximity doesn’t matter	Close proximity required
Labor costs (e.g. advertising, customer service)	Low	High
Operational equipment costs	High	Higher*
Product purchase price**	Low	High

*Requires additional equipment purchases

**Refer to Revenue Sources for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest

(PNW 742) for details on historic honey prices.

Wholesale honey is generally sold in 55-gallon barrels, which hold about 640–650 pounds of honey. Specialized equipment for wholesale honey includes a scale (such as a cattle scale or floor scale), lifter, heater, forklift and truck for barrels (Table 2, page 3).

For retail honey sales, there is further involvement in packing and marketing. Retail honey requires a separate packing room for bottling, labeling and packing honey for shipment. A packing room houses specialized equipment, such as bottling tanks, filter systems, barrel heaters, labelers, honey buckets or jars (Table 2). Automated equipment is available at every stage of the process.

Table 2. Purchase cost of handling equipment for honey processing

	Cost range
Wholesale honey
Barrel hand truck	$430–$690
Barrel lifter	$800–$4,809
Barrel scale	$850–$2,500
Retail honey
Bottling tank	$800–$7,000
Barrel heaters	$153–$800

*Sources: Information gathered from beekeepers, Betterbee (Greenwich, New York), Cook & Beals Inc. (Loup City, Nebraska), Dadant & Sons Inc. (Hamilton, Illinois), Mann Lake Ltd. (Hackensack, Minnesota) and Maxant Industries (Ayer, Massachusetts).

Honey extraction and wax processing equipment

Operational equipment in the honey house includes honey-extraction equipment, wax-processing equipment, a hot-water system for heating tanks and warming room, pumps, and equipment for moving and storing honey. This equipment is either purchased as a package or in individual pieces. Equipment package prices for extraction lines range from $25,995 to $115,426, according to equipment manufacturers from Nebraska, Utah and New York. Figures in the “Supplemental material” section provide an overview of typical extraction line equipment prices (individually purchased) with two different wax-processing systems.

Table 3. Purchase cost of honey extraction equipment

	Cost range
Extraction equipment bulk package	$25,995–$115,426
Auger (spinner option*)	$4,809–$5,285
Auger (slurry option*)	$4,185–$7,904
Barrel, 55-gallon	$20–$50
Bulk equipment package	$25,995–$115,426
Cappings spinner	$1,700–$4,500
Deboxer	$4,809–$5,497
Extractor, auto-load	Not sold separately**
Extractor, radial	$4,200–$6,995
Heat exchanger	$4,250–$11,325
Holding tank	$1,500–$2,000
Honey sump	$944–$3,000
Pump, gear (2-inch)	$1,600–$5,850
Pump, high-output (3-inch)	$3,083–$9,700
Settling tank	$3,000–$7,000
Uncapper	$2,595–$22,805
Wax melter	$4,795–$9,420
Wax separator	$9,995–$17,450
Wax spinner	$5,000–$10,643

References

Oregon Department of Revenue. 2009. Cost Factors for Farm Buildings. oregon.gov/DOR/forms/FormsPubs/303-417.pdf

Pray R. (Ed.). 2019. 2019 National Construction Estimator (67th ed.). Carlsbad, California, Craftsman Book Company: 672 pp.

Townsend, E. D. 1923. End-of-season problems: more about honey marketing, rendering wax from the cappings. Gleanings in Bee Culture, 51(9): 590–591.

Tips for beginning or growing beekeeping operations:

Infrastructure costs may be the highest expenditures for a beekeeping operation. A beginning beekeeper may be able to use a small shed, garage or storage container for storage and workshop needs. Another option is to lease space for storage until long-term facilities are acquired.
Beekeepers can reduce the amount of facility space and capital investment if they contract another beekeeper to extract their honey. This typically involves a beekeeper transporting harvested honey supers to the hired beekeeper’s honey house. The hired beekeeper will extract the honey and charge the client beekeeper at a rate per pound or per super of extracted honey. Arrangements vary, but it is common for the hired beekeeper to keep the wax byproduct from the extraction process.

Project supported by National Institute of Food and Agriculture Smith Lever Special Needs Competitive Grants Program (Award# 2018-41210-28702).

About this series

In this series, Budgeting for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest, we describe potential revenue streams and expenditures associated with a commercial beekeeping operation. This publication does not discuss depreciation, interest, taxes, insurance costs or enterprise budgets. Refer to the “Further reading” section for detailed beekeeping business plan guides.

Included in this series:

Fact Sheet 1: Revenue Sources for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest
Fact Sheet 2: Operational Equipment Expenses for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest
Fact Sheet 3: Beekeeping Equipment Expenses: Woodenware and Other Components
Fact Sheet 4: Honey Bee Colony Maintenance Expenses: Supplemental Feed, Requeening and Medication

This publication will be made available in an accessible alternative format upon request. Please contact [email protected] or 1-800-561-6719. © 2020 Oregon State University. Extension work is a cooperative program of Oregon State University, the U.S. Department of Agriculture, and Oregon counties. Oregon State University Extension Service offers educational programs, activities, and materials without discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, familial/parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, genetic information, veteran’s status, reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.) Oregon State University Extension Service is an AA/EOE/Veterans/Disabled.

Published May 2020

About the authors

Ellen Topitzhofer

Carolyn Breece

Faculty Research Assistant

Dan Wyns

Academic specialist

Michigan State University

Ramesh Sagili

Apiculturist

An auto-load extractor.

A radial extractor

© 2020 Published and distributed in furtherance of the Acts of Congress of May 8 and June 30, 1914, by the Oregon State University Extension Service, Washington State University Extension, University of Idaho Extension and the U.S. Department of Agriculture cooperating. The three participating Extension services offer educational programs, activities and materials without discrimination on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, gender identity (including gender expression), sexual orientation, disability, age, marital status, familial/ parental status, income derived from a public assistance program, political beliefs, genetic information, veteran’s status, reprisal or retaliation for prior civil rights activity. (Not all prohibited bases apply to all programs.)

OSU Extension Service

Operational Equipment Expenses for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest

Introduction

Facilities

Wholesale and retail honey sales

Honey extraction and wax processing equipment

Further reading

Facility construction cost estimation guides

Honey labeling

Licensing guidelines

Beekeeping business plan guides

References

Supplemental files

About the authors

Was this page helpful?

Operational Equipment Expenses for a Commercial Beekeeping Operation in the Pacific Northwest

Introduction

Facilities

Wholesale and retail honey sales

Honey extraction and wax processing equipment

Further reading

Facility construction cost estimation guides

Honey labeling

Licensing guidelines

Beekeeping business plan guides

References

Supplemental files

About the authors

Related publications

Beekeeping Equipment Expenses: Woodenware and Other Components

Honey Bee Colony Maintenance Expenses: Supplemental Feed, Requeening and Medication

Was this page helpful?