'Renting' beehives. How much?

[rossbyjove]

I have been asked by a resident's association to look after their couple of beehives this year after the previous beekeeper gave up beekeeping at the end of last year. I'll be paying for all costs including treatments/feed/wax/extraction/jarring/labelling etc during the year, and it's a bit of a drive away. I already sell my own honey, so was thinking for every 1/2 lb jar of honey their hives produce, they get £1 as a way of 'renting' the hives and bees off them, or should we follow a different model? We do spring, summer and heather extractions so even at £1 per jar I'm estimating that they may get almost £200 per hive each year, but is that enough? I'm trying to protect myself from the likes of last year where we got very little summer honey, and if I pay a flat fee of perhaps £200 per hive or more I could end up out of pocket after all the effort.

What was their arrangement with the previous beekeeper ?
If the cost and effort is all yours, so are the rewards, surely ? .

 

[ericbeaumont]

end up out of pocket after all the effort

probably more complicated than I first thought

Yes, the expectations of both parties are wide apart and I reckon you made the right decision to decline the offer.

For contracts I charge £40-60 an hour; £3/jar as a bottling charge is the ball park, but that was before jar price rose by 40%+. Unless the organisation sees the bees as a professional job they will always try to get what they want without paying for it properly.

 

[Newbeeneil]

That would be more straightforward, but the trouble is that I would have no idea what to charge for my time/labour, and also the extraction and jarring. Is there any beekeeper already doing this kind of thing and has an agreed amount they get per hive?
Even though they're a bit of a drive away, being a rural area they are still considered fairly local and we cross paths with them regularly. The danger is that any 'wage' will seem to them as extortionate, especially after the last beekeeper was a volunteer, and if I don't produce the goods at the end of the year that meet their expectations, bad year or not, I'll be seen to be to blame. I know I'm probably overthinking it.

Hi, I have several contracts where I look after bees for clients. If you would like to PM me I can help with pricing etc.