The document outlines a plan for building a sustainable apiary business aimed at achieving self-sufficiency and minimizing financial risk within five years. Key strategies include raising their own queens, making their own equipment, and maintaining consistent hive management practices. The focus is on keeping costs low and ensuring the apiary can function without relying on external resources.

1. B U I L D I N G A S U S T A I N A B L E A P I A R Y

2. BUILDING A SUSTAINABLE APIARY
Our goal - To build out an apiary business that we could convert to a full time
job within 5 years
• Minimize financial risk
• Self Sufficiency

3. MINIMIZE FINANCIAL RISK
Basic Financial Goals
• Retirement job
• Not going to be rich, but it will allow us to keep working with income
• No loans hanging over our heads

4. SELF SUFFICIENCY
Steps to getting to or maintaining self-sufficiency
• Only buy outside when we cannot produce inside
• Raise our own queens from our own survivor stock
• Make our own gear whenever possible
• Keep equipment costs down

5. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
• OTS queen rearing

6. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
• OTS queen rearing

7. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
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• Build out population to plan for winter
losses

8. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
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• Build out population to plan for winter
losses

9. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
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• Create Diversity from
• Swarms
• Cutouts
• Trades with other beekeepers

10. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
•
•
• Create Diversity from
• Swarms
• Cutouts
• Trades with other beekeepers

11. RAISING OUR OWN
QUEENS
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• Banking queens in small colonies for
breeding

12. MAKE OUR OWN GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE
• Standardize sizes for all boxes

13. MAKE OUR OWN GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE
• Standardize sizes for all boxes
• Hive boxes

14. HIVE BOXES
• Wanted to keep them as light as
possible to allow for ease of storage
and movement
• All boxes the same size/depth to
allow for nectar management and
manipulation
• Nothing more awkward than needing
to move a deep frame into a medium
box

15. MAKE OUR OWN GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE
• Standardize sizes for all boxes
•
• Nucs

16. NUCS
• Needed small "low risk" colonies to
allow for:
• Brood building
• Drawing comb
• Creating new starting colonies for
expansion
• Selling for income

17. MAKE OUR OWN GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE
• Standardize sizes for all boxes
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•
• Double Nucs

18. DOUBLE NUCS
• Used for overwintering nucleus
colonies
• Maintain consistent temperature in
the hives
• Allows for many colonies in a small
space during the winter

19. MAKE OUR OWN GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE
• Standardize sizes for all boxes
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•
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• Queen Castles

20. QUEEN CASTLES
• Next step after notching the comb
and collecting queen cells
• Take a frame of brood a frame of
pollen and an empty frame, along
with a queen cell pushed into the
face of the comb
• Allows for a queen to get established
before committing to a large hive.
Saves resources

21. MAKE OUR OWN GEAR WHENEVER POSSIBLE
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• Keeps costs down and we can build to suit

22. KEEP EQUIPMENT COSTS DOWN
• Small honey extractor

23. KEEP EQUIPMENT COSTS DOWN
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• Honey is not a primary source of income

24. KEEP EQUIPMENT COSTS DOWN
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• No long haul migrations

25. KEEP EQUIPMENT COSTS DOWN
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• Hive Hosting contracts pay for their own hardware

26. KEEP EQUIPMENT COSTS DOWN
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• When we do have to expand woodenware, we can mill our our own lumber