Most small beekeepers cannot tell you if they made money last year. They know they sold some honey and bought some sugar, but not the number at the end. If you do not write it down, you are guessing. Records are the most boring part of this business and one of the most useful. You do not need software. One notebook or one spreadsheet works. Here is what to track. 1. Every dollar out. Equipment, frames, foundation, sugar, pollen sub, mite treatments, jars, labels, queens, fuel, market fees. Keep the receipt or snap a photo of it the same day. Write the date, what it was, and what it cost. 2. Every dollar in. Jars sold, nucs sold, queens sold, class seats, lease fees, swarm calls. Write the date, what sold, how many, and the price. If you sell at a market, write down what sold first and what came home. 3. Hive count, every month. How many colonies you started the month with, how many you ended with, and why any were lost: mites, queen failure, starvation, robbing, weather. Losses are a cost. A dead hive means replacing bees, and that money comes out of your profit. 4. Every inspection, short. Date, hive number, queen seen or eggs seen, mite count if you did one, food stores, and what you did. Number your hives so you can follow one colony across the year. This is how you find out which hives pay and which ones you keep feeding for nothing. 5. Your hours. Most people skip this one. Write down roughly how long each yard visit, extraction day, or market day took. At the end of the year divide your profit by your hours. That is what you really earned per hour, and it tells you which stream is worth growing. A few practical notes: - Keep bee money separate from household money. A separate account or even a separate envelope makes the year-end math much easier. - - Once a month, total it up. Ten minutes. Money in, money out, hives alive. - - If you lease hives to landowners for ag exemption, they may need records from you for the appraisal district, so keep placement dates, hive counts, and inspection dates for every property. Rules vary by county, so check with your appraisal district. - - For taxes, ask a tax professional what applies to you. Good records make that conversation short and cheap.

Gus works 85-plus hours a week in the oil patch and still keeps bees. A lot of you are in the same spot: daylight is short, weekends go fast, and the bees do not wait. What is your real schedule for the yard? How many hours a week can you give it, and what do you skip so the important work still gets done? Reply with your hours and your one non-negotiable hive task. Help each other find a schedule that holds. @Gus Lutjens @Paula Carnell @Thomas Thiel what does your week look like with the bees right now?

Most beekeepers who lose money with bees are not bad beekeepers. They try to do everything at once: honey, nucs, queens, candles, classes. Each one costs money and time to start, and none of them gets done well. Pick one stream for the next twelve months and build it right. Over the last few weeks we covered honey, feed stores, leasing, nucs, queens, wax, classes, and farm stays. Here is how to choose one and put it on a calendar. Step 1. Pick the stream that fits what you already have: 1. A few hives and no land to spare: honey, sold direct to people you know. 2. Strong colonies and time in spring: nucs. They sell before honey ever comes in. 3. Land or landowners nearby: leasing hives for ag exemption. For reference, we charge $385 per hive per year plus a $200 setup. 4. You like teaching: a class. Ours is $99. Pick one. Write it down. Step 2. Write three numbers for that stream: 1. What you will sell. Jars, nucs, hives placed, or seats filled. 2. What you will charge. Look at what others near you charge. If you are guessing, write "estimate" next to it. 3. What it costs you. Equipment, sugar, jars, labels, fuel, and your hours. Price minus cost, times how many, is your number for the year. If it comes out negative, fix the plan now, not next fall. Step 3. Map the twelve months. For a Texas beekeeper selling nucs it might look like this: - Nov to Jan: keep colonies alive, treat for mites, feed. Take presale orders. - Feb to Mar: build up colonies, order or raise queens, get boxes and frames ready. - Apr to May: make splits and deliver nucs. - Jun to Aug: requeen, rebuild, pull any honey. - Sep to Oct: mite checks, feeding, and set next year's price. Your months will shift with your climate and your stream. The point is that every month has one job. Step 4. Track it. One notebook or one spreadsheet. Every dollar in, every dollar out, every hive lost. At the end of twelve months you will know if this stream is worth growing or if you should switch. Step 5. Add a second stream only after the first one pays. Honey customers become class students. Class students buy nucs. Landowners buy honey. Grow from what already works.

If you sell honey at all, where does the first jar usually go: neighbors, a farmers market, a feed store, online, or somewhere else? I started in 2017 with 10 hives around Burleson, Texas. Early sales were mostly people who already knew us. The channel came later. Reply with your main channel and about what you get for a pint or a pound. If you have not sold any yet, say who you would ask first. Answer each other if you can. @Jim Flach @Justin McAdams @Paula Carnell , where did your first jar go?

Winter is when a small yard either holds or shrinks. Food, mites, a dry box, and a plan for a weak hive are the four I watch first across our yards. What is on your list this week, and what have you already finished? One or two items is enough. If you are new, post the one winter step you are least sure about and let the group weigh in. @Jim Flach @Justin McAdams @Xander Du Preez what is one winter job you already checked off, and one you are still putting off? Read someone else's list and tell them what you would add.