Honey production is a sweet business; literally and figuratively speaking. This is because honey has social, economic and ecological benefits that include but are not limited to the following:
- Honey bees act as pollinators and therefore help to increase the production of plants and trees useful for environmental protection.
- Honey is a balanced food. It contains minerals, enzymes, water and all substances necessary for the maintenance of life.
- Honey contains an antioxidant known as ‘pinocembrine’ which helps to improve brain function.
- Honey is a natural antibiotic and is useful for treating skin infections and removing scars from wounds.
- Honey and beeswax are used to create many industrial and cosmetic products.
- Honey is seen as a healthier alternative to sugar.
- Eating honey regularly can help boost the immune system and prevent cancer.
- It helps detoxify the blood and improve circulation.
- Honey helps to lose weight. Drinking a mixture of warm water, lemon and honey helps cleanse the body and eliminate toxins and unwanted fats.
- Honey can help relieve indigestion and neutralize gas.
I could go on and on about the many proven benefits of honey and what makes honey such a best selling product on the market today. Honey production is one of the easiest businesses to do. The beauty of it is that it doesn’t feel like work. It’s so interesting that it would feel like a hobby that you’re making money out of.
However, it is important to make a caveat at this point. If you suffer from honey allergies, this may not be the best business for you, except that you will be hiring the services of someone to manage and run the business for you.
Also, if you are starting your bee farm from home, perhaps in your garden or somewhere nearby, you should make sure that no one in your family suffers from such allergies and that everyone is willing to participate in running the bee farm. You should also protect yourself and your family from bee stings because it is often said that bee stings can be fatal. Let’s talk about how bees produce their honey to give you an idea of what the business is all about.
How bees help in the production of honey
Bees have different kinds within the colony. Those that are responsible for honey production are known as worker bees, which are sexually immature female bees. They perch on fruit trees, flowers, and plants and suck nectar from these plants and bring it back to the hive. Back in the hive, the nectar is naturally broken down and converted into simple sugars, then stored in honeycombs which the bees turn into honey.
That is the natural way bees make their honey, but if you want to start a honey production business, you may not get much honey this way, so you have to create your own bee farm or buy honey from beekeepers for packaging. Both methods are good, but producing your own honey is cheaper and would guarantee the source of your honey.
Starting a Honey Production Business Plan
To start your own hive, you would have to buy boxes of bees, hive bodies for breeding and honey to store the honey. You would also have a bottom board, a lid and an outer cover, as well as frames to serve as honeycombs. Then, you should choose a suitable place to set up your bee farm. The best place to use is near the water supply and facing east, and make sure there are trees and flowers around the area.
Next, you should take your bees. You can order bees online; a 3-pound package would contain about 10,000 bees, which is enough to get you started. You can also buy them from local beekeepers. The three bees you need are:
-Queen Bees
-Working bees
-Drone bees
The queen bee is responsible for laying eggs and producing all other bees. She can lay up to 1,000 eggs at a time. Worker bees, on the other hand, do all the production work and live only six weeks, while drone bees are responsible for impregnating the queen bee; interesting, isn’t it?
How to harvest honey from the hive
The harvesting of the honey must be done with great care. As a beginner, it is more advisable to hire the services of experienced people to do it for you so that you can learn and handle it yourself next time. To begin with, you have to be dressed in safety armour to protect yourself from bee stings. You can easily find this type of protective gear online or in stores.
Next, you should use a smoker to inhale smoke around the entrance of the hive, smoking should be done from behind. This would send the bees further down the hive, so you can now remove the inner covering of the hive. You would then have to remove the bees from the frame with a bee brush or a beehive brush and then place the frame in a super empty box. To extract the honey, place the honey-laden frame in a honey extractor or turn the frames and force the honey down into the bottom after straining and removing the wax.
How to pack the honey for sale
How you decide to pack your honey is entirely up to you. However, if you decide to go for a transparent package, you should settle for an attractive one and make sure that the honey is free of all impurities. You should also think about hiring a graphic designer to present you with an attractive label that makes your product more appealing.
How to market your honey
You can use personal sales strategies to market your honey. Of course, the demand for pure and organic honey is very high, so you will have no problem selling your honey. You can supply your product to supermarkets and retailers. Another way to sell is to hire the services of marketing professionals to sell on your behalf.