The Quiet Man

Just as he was leaving a man two trucks down from him waved for him to stop. The man walked up to Tom's truck window and said, "You the feller that sold the honey?"

"Yes I am but I don't have any more."

"Yeah, I figured. I live out west a little and have some fruit trees and garden truck. I wondered if you ever took your bees to other folks farms to help pollinate things like some of the big time operators do other places. I had a neighbor that had some hives but he died and his widow doesn't want to mess with them. His hives were close enough to me they worked my place. I need some bees around to pollinate my crops if she sells out and wondered if you would do it."

"Well, I never thought of anything like that. I just have a few hives, mostly for my personal use."

"Hey, I could pay if that would help. I would really like to have some hives and the widow Terrill is agonna sell those bees or just let them go, she said, if she can't sell 'em. I don't have the time to mess with them and don't know beans about bees, anyway."

"Well, I don't know much myself. When I decided to get a hive for my own use I went online to learn something about it and bought some books to read, too. I was amazed at everything I learned. The honey business is way more complicated than I thought. Why people even get college degrees in Agriculture for honey and honeybee production. I am still learning and taking some online courses."

"Well, I really need some bees around. You sure you can't provide some for me? I been checking around and the rent is pretty high for them. I can pay a little if that's a problem. I talked to some other orchard owners and they tell me they pay over $100 a month for a hive of bees during the pollination season. O'course, I know I haveta be careful when I spray so I don't kill yer bees and so forth."

"Sir, I just don't have enough hives to do something like that. I'm sorry."

"Well, ya could buy Miz Terrill's hives. Ya wouldn't even haveta move them. Alls ya would haveta do is collect the money and honey from 'em."

"I really haven't thought much about something like that. Tell you what, let me think about it and if I decide to do it I can call you. What's your phone number and address? If you have it, could you give me Mrs. Terrill's, also?"

"Yeah. I can do that. Wait here just a minnit. I gotta card in tha truck and I'll write Miz Terrill's number on the back of it."

While he was waiting on the man to get the information he asked for, Tom sat thinking about the proposal. He had seen references to commercial bee farming, hive rental services and so forth but never seriously considered it. For one thing, the business looked like it was pretty complicated and the bees were subject to a lot of danger from both pests and chemicals. It would be a nice way to make a few extra dollars when he retired, though. He could begin to ramp up the business now and maybe be able to live on the income from it in a year when he retired.

After Tom got home, he put his things away and went straight to his computer to begin his serious research. His head was spinning from the volume of information he found. He finally decided to sign up for another online course and found a beekeepers club that he joined. They advertised they gave classes to new beekeepers to help them get started in the hobby. While what he contemplated was not really a hobby, he thought they might have some good information for him, anyway.

The next morning, Tom walked over to Chrystal's to see what she thought about the proposal. He knew she wasn't any more knowledgeable than he was about bees, but he hoped it would help to talk with someone about the deal.

They managed to drink a whole pot of coffee while they talked about the bees. Of course nothing was really decided, but she did give Tom some things to think about. As he was leaving, Chrystal said, "You know, Tom, this might be the answer you are looking for. It sounds really neat and you could do the work mostly at your own pace after you retire. It looks as if there is a busy season with the bees just as there is for most other agricultural pursuits, but you would have some flexibility. Renting hives to pollinate crops and selling the honey is a nice deal, too. I mean, someone else basically pays for your bees, and the honey is gravy.

"The largest downside I see to the deal is learning how to care for the bees and the startup costs. If you get many hives you would have to purchase some processing equipment to bottle the honey. It takes much too long to do it like you have been doing. You would really have three income streams from the bees, too. You rent the colonies for crop pollination, you sell the honey and you sell the excess beeswax. Pardon the pun, but it sounds like a sweet deal to me."

Tom laughed and said, "Well, we'll see. I might try it on a small scale, first, and see if I like it and how difficult it will be. I like the idea of being self-employed. I don't really like the idea of having so much to learn and the potential problems diseases could generate if they got into my hives."

The rest of the week Tom spent the majority of his time learning more about the commercial side of beekeeping. It was truly a complicated field, but one he thought he might really like. Finally, he called Mrs. Terrill to discuss her beehives.

When he introduced himself after she answered the phone, she said, "Oh, yes. Zeke told me a couple of days ago you might call. He really wants you to buy my husband's bees. I promised him I would wait to see if you were interested before I advertised them, but I was about to give up on you young man. Are you interested in the hives? I would make you a good deal on the hives and all the equipment Bert had."

"I think I am interested in your bees, ma'am, but I really don't want to jump into deep water here. How many hives are we talking about?"

"I think he had 27 hives with bees in them. I really don't know if they all still have bees. I haven't looked at them all summer. He also had several hives in the barn he wasn't using. You would get them and his machinery and supplies, too, if you wanted everything."

"What kind of machinery and supplies are we talking about, ma'am? Zeke only mentioned the hives. I wasn't thinking about anything else, although I knew I would probably have to buy an extractor and so forth. How much were you wanting for your operation?"

"Oh, I really don't know for sure. I was never interested in the hives or what he did. He got started as a hobby when he retired and it just kept growing. I know he was making almost as much from the bees and honey as when he was working, but that's about all I know about it. What would you be willing to pay?"

"Why don't I come down and see what you have, then we can talk business. Would that be okay with you? I'll bring some information on prices, too, in case we decide to do business. I can come tomorrow morning if that would be convenient for you."

"That's just fine, young man. I'll be looking for you."

True to his word, Tom found prices on almost everything he thought might be for sale by Mrs. Terrill. He was amazed when he got to her home the next day. It was a very neat older house set back in the woods. It appeared to be about 2500 square feet sitting in a well-manicured lawn. He could see several outbuildings behind the main house.

Mrs. Terrill led Tom to the largest building behind the house. It had a garage door on the front along with a walk-in door. He could also see a garage door on one side of the building. They entered through the walk-in door. Tom stood in surprise when he saw the room filled with supplies of all types. There were supers, complete hives, frames, wire, smokers, lumber, jars to feed the bees, and just about any other bee related thing he could think of. He had no idea what some of the items were for, but he had seen most of them online.

After he looked around the room a moment, Mrs. Terrill opened a door at the back of the room and said, "Come on Tom. This is most of the supplies I was talking about. The next room was where he extracted the honey and bottled it. All of these things would go, too."

Tom walked in and saw what appeared to be a 20 frame electric extractor, various collection containers, several boxes of jars and other tools to collect honey and wax. There were several racks to store filled bottles on, as well as racks holding clean ready to use equipment.

Through yet another door they found a John Deere Gator and small trailer. Mrs. Terrill said, "This was my Bert's work truck he called it. I know it's not really a truck, but he used it to care for the bees and haul the hives and honey around. It would go with the deal, too."

Finally, they finished looking at the equipment in the building and walked outside toward the back of the property. She said, "Most of his bees are back here. He did have ten hives over at Zeke's place and I just left them there."

Tom walked carefully toward the hives. He could see bees entering and leaving all 17 of the hives lined neatly along the back fence. He turned to Mrs. Terrill and said, "I imagine the hives on Zeke's place are still active, also. I don't think I need to see them. I have no idea what all this is worth. I have a list of prices for the large items, but I have no idea what to tell you about the small parts and supplies or the Gator.

"I found prices for new hives ranging from $179 to over $600. I didn't think to price a starter colony of bees. An extractor similar to yours would sell for about $1500 new. I have no idea what a used one would sell for. I would like to have the hives of bees and even the extractor and bottling equipment as well as the accessories but I have no idea what to offer you for them."

"Well Tom, I really don't know what this is all worth either. How about we go into the house and have some ice tea while we look at the prices you brought with you? Maybe we can come up with something."

They sat at the kitchen table with the price list. Mrs. Terrill said, "Let's do the easy things first Tom. Now we both know none of these things are new, but they are all in good condition. Those that aren't we just won't put a price on. If it's broken or doesn't work you can just take it for free. Now, 27 hives with bees ought to be worth $200 each or $5400.00. The used extractor should be worth $750 more. I know he was thinking about buying a larger Gator and they offered him $5000 trade allowance so we'll just call the Gator worth that. Now, so far, we have a little over $11,000.00. There are 13 empty hives in the storage room. Let's value them at $150 each. All of this large stuff comes to $13,100. How about if we just say $15,000 gets you everything to do with the bees?

"Now I know that sounds like a lot of money, Tom, but think about it for a minute. Zeke has ten hives. He really only needs them for two or three months a year but he said he was willing to pay $100 a month per hive so you get $3,000 back from him the first year in rent on your bees. Now my Bert said most years he got 65 pounds of honey to sell from each hive. He usually sold it for $5.00 a pound, so that was $325 per hive or $8775.00 in honey. If you can do that, you would almost make your investment back the first year. I think that's a good deal for both of us. I get a little money I don't really need, but get rid of all Bert's bees and equipment. You get a going operation and a nice little side income. What do you say?"

"That's real tempting Mrs. Terrill but it really doesn't seem fair to you. And to be honest, it is really more than I wanted to spend. I don't have a good place to set up the extractor and bottler either. I would have to clean up my old house basement to use for the honey operation. I only work part time and have a small nest egg in the bank to cushion me for emergency expenses..."

"Well then, let's just call it a deal. I'm in no hurry for the money. I have plenty. You don't have to pay me until you take the stuff home. I'm pretty sure you should work the bees quickly though. I wouldn't be surprised if some or all the hives are going to swarm soon if they haven't already. I bet they're all full of honey, too. No one has harvested any this summer."

Tom sat dithering for several minutes. He could tell Mrs. Terrill was somewhat impatient with him. Finally he sighed and said, "I may need my head examined but I'll buy everything if I can take a little at a time as I get room for it and can move it. All I have to move things in is that little Ranger out there. It will take a lot of trips, even if I rent a trailer for some of them."

"Oh, didn't I mention the trailer out behind? It's only a 14 foot one, but it was part of the deal, too. It's really old and sort of beat up, but Bert used it to haul lumber and hives and other things when he needed to. He really hated to use his truck because he didn't want to scratch it up so he bought the trailer to haul things in. I noticed the tires are flat and probably pretty well shot, but it's yours, too."

Tom gave Mrs. Terrill a check for half the purchase price and made arrangements to start moving the equipment the first of the next month. He needed to clean out the building he made out of the old house basement and get it ready for his operation before he moved everything. He knew he needed to do that rapidly because the hives would need to be robbed of excess honey as soon as possible and he had to have somewhere to process the honey before he robbed the hives.

It took three weeks to get the building clean and the equipment moved and set up. He moved the 17 hives not on Zeke's place to three different locations on his acreage so they could work the neighbors' crops to collect honey. He had to shoehorn everything into the space he had, but he got it all moved and had a small amount of room to work. He could already see he would have to add onto the old basement to use for his honey operation.

After everything was moved, he began harvesting the honey from the newly purchased hives. The second day he was working, Chrystal walked over to see him. It was 7:30 in the evening and he was still working on the honey. She came into the building and watched as he rushed back and forth. When he finally noticed her, Tom said, "Oh, hello Chrystal. I didn't see you. Have you been here long?"

"No, not long, Tom. I haven't seen you since we talked about you buying more bees and I wondered what had become of you. It was a nice evening so I decided to walk over and see how you were doing since I felt the need for a break and some company. What is all this stuff?"

"Well, I've been busy as a bee you might say. I went ahead and bought the beekeeping operation we talked about the other day. I feel guilty about doing it though. I almost feel as if I stole the thing from the woman that sold it to me. The hives hadn't been serviced this year yet so as soon as I got the stuff moved, I had to collect the honey and now I am extracting it from the combs and putting it in jars. I'll have to make a trip to the farmer's market with it as soon as I can. If our numbers are anywhere near correct, I will have it all paid for in about two years, assuming I don't lose most of the bees. That fits in great with my retirement plans, too. What I make on the honey should be a little more than what I'll lose when I retire. Of course, that is assuming my numbers are correct."

Chrystal stood watching Tom move back and forth for a while. They talked as he did so. He spent most of the time answering her questions about the operation, how things worked and the projected harvest of honey.

Finally, Tom finished the job he was working on when Chrystal came and could slow down. He moved over to a sink and quickly washed the few containers and tools he used, then turned to the still watching Chrystal and said, "There, done for the evening. Would you like to come down to the house for some tea? I'm ready to sit down and relax. I've been on the go since a little after 8 this morning and on my feet most of that time."

"Yeah, I would. I never thought I would admit it, but I am ready for some conversation and relaxation. This book I'm working on now is the pits. It's boring as hell and I swear the author never took an English class in his life."

"Oh, come on. It can't be that bad. Why did the company buy it if it's as dry as all that?"

"I don't know for sure. I suspect there was something going on under the table or something. I will admit the story line is, or at least could be, interesting. The yahoo just can't write and spell well enough to make the grade. I will admit I am being paid more for this one than normal because of all the work I'll have to do to make it flow and look better. By the time I'm done, I could have just written the book. I have to almost completely rewrite the darn thing. Really, I feel as if my name should be on the cover as co-author.

" Now, tell me about the honey business. What made you decide to jump into it so fast?"

"I don't know, really. I sometimes wonder if I took leave of my sanity or something. Oh, it is sort of interesting and I get a kick out of selling my little bit of honey I have sold so far, but even no more hives than I have now, it is turning into quite a bit of work. It won't be so bad, I hope, when I get the hives worked up this time. They were all over full of honey and a few of them looked as if the bees had already swarmed before I moved them. All of the hives were getting ready to swarm except for two. I have to get more hives set out tomorrow and split the hives or I'll lose the bees getting ready to swarm. I really don't know how I'll find the time. I guess I'll just leave the honey sitting and process it after I split the hives. At least it won't spoil.

"Wow, listen to you. You sound like you've been doing this forever. What do you mean by splitting the hives and the bees swarming?"

"When the bee colony becomes too large for the hive they're in, they grow another queen and some of the worker bees and the new queen leave to form another colony. When you split the hive, you take the new queen or queen cell and move it and some of the worker bees to another hive so you can keep them instead of lose them when they swarm to find another hive on their own."

"Oh, how many hives will you have after you split the ones you are going to work on tomorrow?"

"It looks as if I will have another ten hives to make me a total of 40 working hives if they all live and don't leave after I open them up. I'll probably have to split another ten or twelve hives within another week or two, so I might end up with as many as 50 hives by the end of the summer."

"Wow. That's great! You'll be able to regain your investment even faster then, won't you? How much honey will you get from all those hives?"

"From what I've seen in the data I've studied and from talking to a couple of beekeepers, I'll harvest from 50-100 pounds of honey per year from each hive. Of course, the harvest depends on several factors such as the health of the hive, the season and availability of flowers for them to work. The lady I bought these from said her husband told her he averaged 65 pounds per hive, per year. I'm being conservative and only planning on an average of 50 pounds per hive. If I do that, I'll get $12,500 gross income a year just from the honey, assuming I end up with 50 hives. I don't know what expenses will be, but unless I expand and need more hives they will be minimal. The largest expense will be the jars to sell the honey in. That doesn't take into account any money I get for renting the hives to farmers so their crops will be pollinated. A neighbor of the lady I purchased the hives from is paying me almost $3,000 to put ten hives on his farm for three months to help pollinate his fruit trees and truck garden."