178 



AMERICAN BEE JOURNAL 



May 



HONEY PRODUCTION COSTS 



By M. G. Dadant 



How many of us have given care- 

 ful consideration to the costs of pro- 

 duction of honey under individual 

 circumstances? Probably a majority 

 even of large producers only know 

 whether they are making headway or 

 facing loss, without a comprehensive 

 system of accounting which will give 

 actual profit or loss, including all the 

 items such as interest on investment, 

 depreciation, etc. 



Naturally, if the beekeeper is not 

 making much over interest on his in- 

 vestment, it will be better for him to 

 place his capital in some safe inter- 

 est-bearing investment and spend his 

 time in a more leisurely fashion than 

 does the busy beeman in the height 

 of a prolonged honey season. 



Mr. Frank Rauchfuss has recently 

 prepared some tentative figures cov- 

 ering the season of 1920, which 

 should be of interest. They are as 

 follows: 



Cost of Extracted Honey production 

 in Colorado and Adjoining States 



Season of 1920 

 Basis 500 Colonies in Four Yards 



Equipment — Spring, 1920 



500 colonies bees in 1-story 



10-frame dovetailed hives, 



metal roof cover and in- 

 ner cover, frames with 

 full sheets wired foundation 



at $12 $6,000.00 



50 1-story 10-frame hives, 



frames with full sheets 



foundation, wired, at 



$5.75 287.50 



1,500 extracting bodies with 



combs, complete, at $3.75 5,625.00 

 8-frame power extractor. _ 150.00 

 Peterson Capping melter._ 20.00 

 Steam Uncapping Knife 4.75 



Honey Straining Apparatus 10.00 



150-gallon Honey Tank__. 20.00 



Fairbanks Scale 20.00 



Hershiser Wax Press 41.70 



Miscellaneous Tools and 



Fences for Out Yards .__ 150.00 

 Buildings — 

 Extracting and Honey House 600.00 

 Storage for Extracting Sup- 

 plies 400.00 



"Vehicles — 



One Ford Truck 900.00 



Total Invi'stment in Busi- 

 ness $14,228.95 



Overhead Expenses 



6 per cent Interest on In- 

 vestment, less 2nd year__ 853.74 

 10 per cent Depreciation on 



Buildings, etc. 1,422.90 



Insurance on Buildings and 



Equipment 200.00 



10 per cent Winter Loss on 



5-year average 600.00 



Salary of Owner 8 months 



at $200 per month 1,600.00 



2 Helpers, 3 months at $80 



per month (without 



board) 480.00 



Expenses of running Truck 



for 6 months, at $40 240.00 



Location Rent for 4 Yards 80.00 



Total $5,476.64 



Another set of figures for comb- 

 honey production, based on 8-frame 

 hives, is as follows: 



Equipment value — 

 500 Colonies of Bees in 1- 



story 8-frame Hives, on 



full sheets of Foundation, 



Metal Covers and Inner 



Covers, at $10 per colony$5,000.00 

 50 1-story Hives for In- 

 crease, full wired sheets 



of Foundation, at $5.25 



per hive 262.50 



Wild thyme. Thymus Scrphyllum. 



2,000 Comb-honey Supers, 



made up and painted, 



without sections, at $1 



each 2,000.00 



Miscellaneous small Items 



(escapes, smokers, veils, 



etc.), and fences 100.00 



Buildings — 



Honey House 600.00 



Storage House for supers 



and supplies 400.00 



Vehicles — 

 One Ford Truck „ 900.00 



Total $9,262.50 



Overhead Expenses 



6 per cent Interest on In- 

 vestment 555.75 



Depreciation, 10 per cent on 



Equipment 926.25 



7 per cent Winter Loss (on 



a 5-year average) 350.00 



Insurance on Equipment, 



Bees and Honey 187.25 



Salary of Owner as Man- 

 ager, 8 months at $200---l,600.00 



One Helper for 4 months 

 at $25 per week (vsdth- 

 out board) 425.00 



Location Rent for 4 bee- 

 yards 80.00 



Expense of running Truck 



for 6 months at $40 240.00 



Total $4,364.25 



In extracted honey production the 

 total investment is approximately $30 

 per colony, including all equipment 

 necessary for handling the bees dur- 

 ing the whole year. For comb honey, 

 the investment would only be a little 

 less than $20 per colony. 



These figures cannot be far from 

 correct, assuming that the beekeeper 

 had started in the spring of 1920 

 with new hives bought at market 

 prices. 



Overhead Expenses 



There will probably be more criti- 

 cism of his figures on the overhead 

 expenses. To stand the test of in- 

 come tax officials, the item of depre- 

 ciation would have to be split up and 

 different rates charged on buildings, 

 bees, equipment, supplies and truck. 



Some may object to deductions for 

 winter loss, since these are made up 

 in spring by the help hired and 

 charged. 



The expenses of running truck 

 are certainly not too high. Nor is the 

 item of rental for locations. In the 

 central western States it would be 

 necessary to have more locations for 

 the same number of yards, which 

 would increase the labor, truck ex- 

 pense, location expense, etc. 



On the other hand, Mr. Rauchfuss 

 has omitted taxes on his investment, 

 and suggests also that there should 

 be some provision covering disease, 

 losses from theft, renewal of stock 

 through purchase of queens, feeding 

 of bees, and moving operations. 

 Profits and Losses 



Taking the above figures of in- 

 vestment and expenses as a basis and 

 figuring extracted honey at 15 cents 

 per pound, comb honey at $7, $6.50 

 and $5.50 per case, according to 

 grade, and beeswax at 38 cents per 



