Honey straws

[Perry]

Been thinking about Honey Stix for some time now. I think these would be a hit, but the machines I see out there have me wondering a bit, is there something simpler and cheaper. Surfing the net when it's too cold to do bee stuff and I may have stumbled on to something. Any thoughts on this? Looks pretty simple to me, no valves, etc. About all one would need is a sealer and you're in business.

[Bakersdozen]

What would be the initial cost for the sealer plus the tubes?  These are very popular with kids and people that aren't so sure about buying a bottle of honey.  At the state fair we sold honey sticks, for 25 cents each. Those were bought from one of the bigger companies, like Mann Lake.  They were in about 7 different flavors.  How long would it take to pay for the sealer at 25 cents each?  How much honey is in each stick?  The trouble with premade sticks is you don't know where the honey came from.  If they gave these details in the video, I apologize, I couldn't hear over the music and background noise.

[Perry]

The video didn't really have anything audio wise, just some people chatting about nothing. From what I could quickly determine is that the sealers are somewhere between $100 to $200, the straws I have no idea.

[apisbees]

They filled 5 and sealed 6 in 2minuts 11 seconds. Each stix holds 1 tsp (5 grams) of honey, with 15 calories. or 100 stix per pound. 5 cents honey, 4 cents for straw. 16 cents for sealer, flavor, color, and labor. At a production rate of 150 stix per hour.

[brooksbeefarm]

I sell honey sticks at the farmers market and have people ask how i make them, (mostly old women)  I tell them in the winter i take straws and a eye dropper and fill them, then take my wife's iron and seal the ends You should hear some of the names these sweet old ladies call me. Jack

[Perry]

They filled 5 and sealed 6 in 2minuts 11 seconds. Each stix holds 1 tsp (5 grams) of honey, with 15 calories. or 100 stix per pound. 5 cents honey, 4 cents for straw. 16 cents for sealer, flavor, color, and labor. At a production rate of 150 stix per hour.

You've done the math, so is that a good deal or no?

[apisbees]

http://honeystixandagavestix.glorybee.com/shop/HoneyStix-Bulk-Packs/?page=99999
When you can buy them at 12.5 cents a piece, get a 50% markup and not have to mess around with it.. for me no.

[apisbees]

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/beekeeping-supplies/product/FO-202.html
You would be buying in us dollars so with exchange the costs are a bit higher.

[riverbee]

perry, considered doing so myself with the impulse sealer, and like jack using a syringe.  but jack probably has more time and patience than the rest of us to fill straws and seal them up with an iron.......... especially in large quantities..........

i saw this from tim arheits website from honey run apiaries on how he does it and he was using the impulse sealer and a syringe:

honey sticks tim arheit honey run apiaries

another blog post by tim on honey sticks:
tim arheit honey sticks

and his blog post about making a machine...........don't think it has advanced:
tim arheit honey stick machine

like apis, i don't mess with it (be kinda fun to try it out) but this is where i get my honey stix:

honey sticks THE HONEY JAR
he is in utah........great sticks and awesome customer service!

[Bakersdozen]

riverbee's source in Utah looks pretty good.  I will say, from my experience selling honey sticks, the kids and teens really like those different flavors.  Not uncommon for the kids to get one in each flavor so they can compare the different flavors.

I think "do-it-yourself"  looks pretty tedious.  With your kind of winters, it might be welcomed. 

[brooksbeefarm]

I get mine at Glory Bee Co. if you buy the 100 straw packs of same flavor, you get a discount, i order three to four hundred dollars worth every year to sell at the farmers market for $.25 ea. Kids see them and come running, parents follow and usually buy a jar of honey. I don't make much off honey sticks, the grand kids take a supply home when they come over, even the ones who are teenagers now.  Jack

[riverbee]

"riverbee's source in Utah looks pretty good.  I will say, from my experience selling honey sticks, the kids and teens really like those different flavors.  Not uncommon for the kids to get one in each flavor so they can compare the different flavors."

kyle kanno, (the honey jar) a young senior high school student who was an entrepreneur turned beekeeper. (family business) they have given me discounts and will mix and match for different flavors.  the blackberry stix are awesome! you are right bakers the kids really like the different flavors to try out, the adults are really looking for something to carry to put in tea or coffee, but the stix do sell well, or if you are doing a presentation for kids, the honey stix are a hit.

ps jack, used to get the honey stix from glory bee, now use the honey jar, just cause they will mix and match a variety of honey stix for me, but you probably purchase way more than i do, i just get smaller quantities.

[Mikey N.C.]

Just got home from Moore County N.C. bee meet, they said one day at state fair booth made $6400.00 the straws made the big% of that at  $ .50 each

[Yankee11]

Perry,

I have one of those sealers and I got it to make honey straws just like that video.

I got mine brand new on ebay, it wasn't that bad expensive, Heres the deal though, I would get a little honey squirt out of the end of straw and pop went
the heating element wire. It came with a spare wire. 25 straws later- pop went the spare.

Moral of the store, buy lots of extra element wires. :-)

In fact, I probably will not use mine if you wanna make a deal, you will have to replace the wire though. :-) It's in the top of my closet.

I am happy with buying them for 12 cents and selling for 25 cents.

[Yankee11]

They are all over ebay for 30 bucks free shipping. and they come with about 4 extra wires. you could do 100 straws  I think the trick is to seal them without any honey coming out of the end of the straw and getting on the wire.

I don't think I could give you mine for free and ship it to you for 30.00

[Perry]

Thanks for the offer, but you are probably right, shipping would be a killer.
 I thought I read somewhere a fella that is making one of those straw filling "machines", mentioned that you need a sealer that puts out 750 watts. I wonder if that might have been the problem?

[brooksbeefarm]

Two years ago i was selling honey straws 5 for a dollar and would sell out. The first year selling them $.25 ec sales went down some, this year was a little better, almost back to where they were. If i went to $.50 ec i think i would end up with a display box of granulated honey sticks at the end of the season? Jack

[Mikey N.C.]

I assumed they were buying in bulk ? ?

[apisbees]

Most suppliers sell in 100 packs Glory Bee sells in 2000 also with the price per stick at 9.5 cents down from 13.5 cents for 100

[Perry]

I don't know if simply buying honey straws and selling them is the way I want to go. The whole idea behind it (for me) is to allow people to sample my honey.