Price of nucs going up

[lazy shooter]

I see where BeeWeaver is selling nucs for $335.00.  At that price, beekeeping could be profitable.  It seems they have developed mite resistant bees to the point that they can command that price.  This is a good thing for all of you other nuc sellers, because you can wander upward from the normal price of $150.00.

Prices shown at beeweaver.com

[Perry]

Wow! At that price I would want some sort of guarantee that mites won't take them out. I am going to try to hold the line on my nuc prices, but the price of offshore queens will be a factor for those that want early nucs.

[Gypsi]

I just buy BeeWeaver queens. and yes when I hit the beeweaver hive with OAV I got a mite drop of around 350.  Only did it once, need to do it again. have to go to work

[tefer2]

At that price, I would expect to get two!   

[lazy shooter]

My point is, I know he sold out last year.  If he can sell them for that much then i think the rest of you may be selling too cheap.  I'm not knocking beeweaver, i'm just thinking that all of you sell nucs too cheap.  I realize you can't jump your prices to three hundred bucks, but you may be able to bump them 25 to 50 dollars.  If you do, and if your bees sell, you could do the same thing next year.  Remember, you get what you negotiate.  Don't wait for your customers to offer more money.

[Perry]

Listen LS, when you finally decide to retire, I've got a mind to put you on the payroll up here. If minimum wage don't do it for ya, maybe a partnership?

[apisbees]

You would figure with selling nucs at that price their price on queens would be higher. but for small their queens are only $35.00. Buy a nuc form someone at s more reasonable price or split your own hive and requeen with a BeeWeever queen. You end up with the same genetics in the end at a savings.

[Ray4852]

335 a nuc is way out of line. I could buy 3 packages at that price and re queen them with a local queen later in the year.

[lazy shooter]

Listen LS, when you finally decide to retire, I've got a mind to put you on the payroll up here. If minimum wage don't do it for ya, maybe a partnership?

I would love to be partners with a young energetic person such as you.  I wish we weren't separated by some 2,500 plus miles.

Remember, you don't get the price you want, you get the price you negotiate.  Ag producers have to be the worst negotiators in the world.  They provide one of the NECESSITIES of life, food, and they are poorly rewarded for it.  It's hard to imagine a system where the producer of food is poorly paid.

Our local pecan producers sold their pecans last year for o.90 (ninety cents) per pound, but the retailers sold them to the public for five dollars a pound.  The pecans are bought by bulk buyers that sell and deliver them to the pecan shellers.  The pecan shellers sell them in bulk to custom processors, who in turn package them with the retailers name and the retailer sells them the public.  I would bet my next consulting fee that the producer makes less money than any of the middle people.  And, as I stated in another three, the producer has the most RISK.  As a business, agriculture in general, sucks.  rant over.

[apisbees]

Let me carry on your rant. Agricultural products prices are set by the retailer to the consumer. retailer makes sure he gets his full percentage mark up. He uses this to negotiate the price he buys it from the wholesaler. The Wholesaler takes his profit and negotiate the price he buys it from the Packer. The packer takes his selling price and subtracts all costs associated with the processing of the product, and adds in a profit margin for handling the crop. Any product that doesn't make the grade is culled and the farmer doesn't get any compensation for this part of their crop. they still have to pay the processing charges on that percentage of the crop. even it is is sold and turned into juice jams or other value added products. The farmer gets what is left after all the other vultures have had their feed, regardless if whether what was left covered the cost of production. Rant Over..

[lazy shooter]

Apis, your above assessment is correct, and my answer to the above is the agriculturist of this nation has to form cooperatives and sell their own products.  Our pecan farmers could make candy and pies and sell them to the public.  Yes, it would take some up front money and some time to get the business operational, but in three or four years they could be selling pecans at six or seven dollars a pound in lieu of 0.90 cents per pound.

That's why I keep repeating that beekeepers should raise their prices.  Sell your own honey or become the servant of the middle man, the man that does not have as much skin in the game as the producer.  We have farmers in my area that have two or three million dollars tied up in land and equipment and they earn a very meager living.  Some of their children qualify for free lunch.  When I seriously think of this, I am astounded.

I have purchased land several times through Capital Farm Production companies.  At the time of purchase, I was required to buy a percentage of the loan in company stock.  My last purchase of $349,000.00 costs me a bit over 1,400 dollars per month in mortgage payments, but twice a year I receive a patronage check.  Those two checks add up to five to six thousand dollars.  I have a competitive loan, and I share in the cooperatives profits.  That is the model that farmers should use, but they all seem to take in stride the system in place.  The system that is robbing them of their just rewards.  again, rant over.

[Ray4852]

Lazy

agriculture is a tough field to work in. You cant find people off the street to work in this field. They wont last. I live among farmers most of my life. I worked with them when I was younger part time. My big complaint working with them. They wont stick together. Every farmer is independent. They all have different ideas. They all complain about the same thing you are saying here.  I was a union man for 40 years with the RR. Farmers hate the word union. I told them to stick together and start a union. I don’t like a lot of things the unions do to get higher pay for its members but its a way off life in our country. You have to belong to some form of political interest to get ahead. You pay a little you get a little. Its rough road if you don’t have political support if you work for a living.. When I sold my honey this year. I sold it wholesale 400Lbs. I thought about taking it to farmers market. I put a lot of work into it. I felt the same way you feel now. Why should I give it away for a cheaper price. When I sold it I was glad I found somebody to take it off my hands. I was happy with the price. When I sold it I felt the pain of my local farmers. I new I was working with agriculture now. Hard work and the pay is not good. I sure wouldn’t want to do this for living.

[brooksbeefarm]

As long as i can remember, the people who have no sweat in producing the food product, makes more than the farmer. When a farmer goes to buy seed, fertilizer, equipment, ec. they ask how much is it, or what do i owe you? When that same farmer goes to sell his product, he has to ask, what will you give me for it. No wonder when kids got old enough to leave the farm and find a city job they left the farm. I remember an old farmer saying ( at the feed store) that it's a good thing that they invented tractors, that if young'ns had to stare at old Dobbin's butt and smell his farts all day long like i did, there wouldn't be no farmers.  Jack
PS. i do sell my own honey.

[Riverrat]

If a nuc is going to $335.  Just think what an established hive in 2 deeps should bring.  At that price its going to price a lot of people out of the market