Hive Share

“Hive Share” Program is a unique one of kind honeybee program in Canada where a client rents a beehive from HoneyHoney and in so doing grows their own honey. It is great experience for families, people, children and companies in Ontario or other provinces in Canada to take part, learn about the bees and to better our environment. Individuals may have direct involvement (hands on & theory) with the honeybees. There is no guarantee of how much honey one beehive will produce as there are varying factors such as  weather conditions, chemicals, treatments, diseases, viruses  that will affect production of honey in any given year however our estimates are about 70lbs per hive. Once you decide to get into the bee industry it is so very catchy and addicting but truly enjoyable and challenging. I have researched bees for many years and still  learn something every day. every day is truly exciting with much anticipation what’s will occur next and always routing for the bees. it’s never boring that’s for sure.

In the fall and winter of 2017/2018 most beekeepers experienced an average of 70% loss of beehives. It didn’t matter whether the beekeeper was a commercial operation or hobbyist most apiarists say that it was the worst losses ever in the history of honeybees. The positive side is  that the Queen bees which survived have phenomenal survival genes that will get past onto their colonies. Our Queen bees are selected for surviving winters, honey production, gentleness, mite resistant and grooming capabilities. We purchase a variety of queens from local top notch queen breeders with varied DNA to ensure bio diversity among our queens and worker bees. This ensures we have great producing queens for years to come while remaining completely sustainable.

In 2019 beekeepers did better although some still experienced hundreds of dead colonies. The weird aspect is  that nobody can say for sure what it is. Think about it if the bees are dying what is happening to our bodies inside when you drink for example the lake water which contains over 100,000 different chemicals and most of it is estrogen based pesticide, fungicides, industrial waste (we call it fluoride that strengthens the teeth but it is really slum and grim that results from industrial waste is what I have been told). And the great old (round up) chemicals with the active agent “glysophate” and “neonicotinoids” (aka neonics) combined with other chemicals to create a toxic cocktail about 7,000 times the norm. If your bees are drinking from these sorts of run offs or filed puddles then your bees are in deep trouble. And our government is lazy, stands by knowing well that the side effects of such chemicals kill our bees and also seriously affect human health.

According to Stats Canada the average beehive produces about 82 lbs of honey per year in Ontario while other reports suggest over 100 lbs of honey per year. For the purposes of our “Hive Share” program we assume that each beehive will produce approximately ~70 lbs of honey per year. There are many factors that can affect yearly honey production (see below) while in a bumper year could produce over 200 lbs. HoneyHoney doesn’t and cannot guarantee any quantities that the colonies will produce.

In most cases the beehive/colony will remain on HoneyHoney’s designated property however, if the client wishes they may have the beehive placed on their personal property. In such cases certain condition/s shall apply in addition certain distance restriction/s shall also apply given that it would be impossible for HoneyHoney to maintain the colonies if they were spread out all over Ontario. Each beehive must have weekly inspections in order to keep it healthy and thriving. Secondly, there is an economic impact that needs to be considered as the company cannot drive all over southern Ontario to inspect one beehive if the client is located 200 km from its base operation. In such cases perhaps something can be worked out with both parties. It is better that the beehive and colony remain in the company’s control and/or on designated property/s to ensure the hive performs optimally and is taken care of, inspected on a regular basis and action taken when necessary.

The client shall receive their proportionate share of the colony’s yearly honey production and given to them as raw, filtered, unpasteurized honey. Each colony may produce more than 70 lbs of honey of which the client gets 70% and HoneyHoney gets 30% of the honey production.

Hive Share 2020

Hive Share program-Grow your own honey. This program lasts for 5 years while the cut off to apply for the Hive Share for 2022 is July 31, 2022 at which point any money deposit provided will be applied the following year. When your program commences it will end in 5th year fall following the deposit. Customer/s shall supply their own jars or pails (usually we sell our jars at costs to them). The customer and HoneyHoney will split the honey in the hive 70/30%-70% going to the customer.

Available Qty: 15

Price: 1,400.00

Instructions:
Quantity:  
I agree to the Terms & Conditions
You must agree to the Terms & Conditions!

If the client wishes to have the beehive on their property they must comply with all regulations (municipally, provincially and federally and carry liability insurance) and be approved in writing to do so by HoneyHoney prior to doing so. Copies of compliance/s must be provided to HoneyHoney before the beehive and colony is delivered to their premises. In case where the hive is on HoneyHoney’s designated property all personal information must be provide at the time of signing and if any changes occur then the information must also be provided to HoneyHoney immediately so that we may contact you at any time to provide ongoing updates about your rented honey bee colony.

Each client shall be notified of their respective amounts in honey whenever the honey run finishes and is filtered and packaged in containers which the client provides. The exact weight will not be known until the frames have been removed and honey extracted.

How much honey can one expect to get from renting a beehive?

Each hive ought to produce an average of 70 lbs (31.15 kg) of honey in a given year. There is no guarantee as to how much honey each beehive will produce because of many environmental factors (see schedule ”A” for factors that will affect honey production). A beehive may produce up to 200 lbs in a good year.

Retail honey sells for roughly $14/kg so effectively whatever amount of honey the beehive produces you can estimate the worth of honey you or your family may receive in any given year.

What if I introduce another person to the Hive Share program?

If an existing customer refers a person to the Hive Share program they will receive a$100 referral fee once the new person by referral has paid in full and has become a client.

Why Hive Share program and what are the owners take on it?

The company’s purpose is threefold. Firstly, this program allows individuals to get involved with the life of honey bees, bettering our environment that needs much work and to do something about it. Secondly, the client will receive honey in return for paying a rental fee. Thirdly, it allows the company to expand and grow quickly to establish itself so that the apiary can offer a variety of courses throughout the year to families, schools, children, teens and company’s while it delivers quality products to the consumer.

Summer sessions with the kids?

HoneyHoney offered free theory and hands bee sessions for kids4kids in Burlington in 2016. It was hugely successful and many children and teens became very familiar the life and workings of a queen bee, drones and worker bees. The program involved 45 minutes of theory and 45 minutes of hands at the beehive once a week. The feedback was remarkable even kids who were afraid of bees are no longer frightened by them. It is a life confidence booster for all involved. Just seeing the children and teens touching and be within 1 foot to observe the colony is and was very exciting for all!

Can the clients/renters go and observe their beehive?

Yes, they may but it has to be on a prearranged date. HoneyHoney will also provide a summer schedule whereby all the clients can come and observe, touch and talk about their bee hives. If the day is rainy rescheduling will be necessary because water and moisture is the honey bee’s worst enemy.

What if a Beehive dies from disease or severe winter freeze?

HoneyHoney has enough reserve beehives that if a colony is wiped out through winter weather or disease, HoneyHoney will provide a new bee colony consisting of (a queen bee and several thousand working bees and reintroduce them into the collapsed beehive/s. Normally a new young colony of bees with a queen bee would cost about $200.00 (it is free to the client who is renting). If such losses are incurred honey production for the year which the disaster struck will not produce honey and any honey produced in that year will be turned back into the beehive. In such cases the term shall remain 5 years whether or not the disaster struck or not. HoneyHoney cannot control environmental conditions such as drought, colony collapse disorder or any other reason why a bee hive dies or swarms.

HoneyHoney will do whatever it can and provide regular service, ongoing inspection/s in attempt to correct matters that requires its attention. HoneyHoney shall decide what is in the colonies best interests as far as medical treatments, beehive expansion, locations and winterization of the beehives.

If there is an act of god or vandalism again HoneyHoney is not responsible for such acts however, the company will attempt to rebuild your colony. If it is an act of vandalism or the beehive is stolen the customer is responsible to compensate HoneyHoney for the individual boxes and frames. HoneyHoney will however, provide another queen and workers bees to start up the colony again however; the colony may require relocation and that will be in the company’s sole discretion and decision to determine when, how and where.

When is the deposit due? Money is payable upon signing the contract by Credit Card, Cheque, PayPal or in cash but only commences when the money has been deposited and the money clears the bank.

When is the best time to commence renting the beehive? The best time to start renting is the fall and up to February of the following year because ordering queen bees are limited by the bee suppliers or by our own grafting/procedures.

Quarterly updates will be issued as to how the bees are progressing. Each beehive shall be marked with a serial code indicating which beehive the client has rented.

What does the renter receive from their rental of the beehive? The renter will receive 70% of the beehives honey production from the beehive which they rented.

What does the renter/client do with the honey? You may want to repackage the honey into 10 or 15 kg pails or ½ kg or 1kg jars ALL to be supplied by the client for their portion of the honey. The renter/ client shall drop off and pick up the containers which they shall want to be filled. The client/renter is responsible for all shipping costs for the production and packaging of honey.

In the alternative HoneyHoney may buy back the honey at whole sale market price or a price agreeable to both parties. Customer is responsible to provide the packaging materials along with any shipping costs and duties if shipped into the USA or Canada and all labelling if necessary.

Does Honey ever go bad?

If the honey is capped by the bees and water moisture is about 17%/18% the honey can remain without going bad for a million years. The honey is preserved with the propolis and enzymes it contains.

Is the weight mentioned in the ‘hive Share” program accurate?

No it is not because each beehive will produce different quantities of honey given environmental condition, location, weather conditions, chemical factors, beehive diseases, mites and various other factors. The average production for an Ontario beehive is between 82lbs and over 100lbs per year. HoneyHoney can only quote what the company has experienced and mention what other association have stated in their webs it’s including stats Canada. HoneyHoney has estimated a lower number so that nobody gets disappointed however, there might be seasons where a beehive produces only 50lbs or less or completely collapses.

Can a client get out of the “Hive Share” program at any time?

The decision is up to the company and they will attempt to work something out but it is not their obligation to do so because the term of the contract is 5 years. If money is returned it will be done on terms satisfactory and beneficial to HoneyHoney and an administration fee of 25% will automatically apply in every case plus any other costs must be worked out on prorated basis.

How much work does the client required to do?

The client does virtually nothing in the 5 years other than provide the jars or pails for the annual honey production which starts in late august along with picking up the finished products and/or pay for shipping cost. Client will be notified of when to provide their containers to HoneyHoney. If the beehive is placed on their property, then the renter needs to purchase all beehive equipment to open the beehives for inspections. Training shall be provided in order the renter can safely enter the beehive. Remember the bees are wild insect and can turn on anybody at any time.

The client is entitled to come up once a month (schedule will be made to all renters of the beehive and they may wish to bring up family members, friends etc. so everyone becomes more familiar with this fascinating insect) on a date specified by the company (unless otherwise agreed to by the beekeeper) and they may ask questions at any time, handle the bees and frames if they so choose to but with proper attire and equipment. They simply call the company anytime to get answers about their respective beehive colony or related questions.

What happens to the honey in the 1st year?

During the first year of beehive rental all of the honey is put back into beehive to build a stronger more vibrant beehive colony for the following year/s. The Colony is started in spring of first year (usually by May 24th). By September the colony ought to be about 30,000 or 40,000 bees strong. Again, different environment factors will affect how often the queen lays her eggs and therefore how many bees are in the colony. Sometimes the queen is lazy and the colony will supersede her with a new queen because of her lack of egg production (see Schedule “A” for factors affecting production of honey.

Estimated rental deposit for someone who rents 1 (one) ($600.00 deposit) through the “Hive Share” program.
Year 1= all the honey is returned to the beehive
Year 2 = 32.15 kg honey
Year 3= 32.15 kg honey
Year 4= 40.00 kg honey
Year 5 = 44.00 kg honey
Total 148.30 lbs of honey

If you were to equate this to an average retail price with inflation it would be roughly 148.30 lbs of honey /2.24 (lbs to kg conversion) x $15/kg avg. retail price = $2,224.50 worth of honey x 70/30 split= $1,557.15. Cost of just renting of beehive for 5 years is $600 and if find another who signs on then the person shall get a $100 referral payment.

The renter is welcome to reinvest his or her money into the “Hive Share” program subject to any market and bee related price adjustments, subject to HoneyHoney acceptance of such investments and/or continuing the “Hive Share” program.
Factors affecting honey production;

1. Most bees die off from viruses, parasites and diseases, to single-source diets, compromised disease resistance, inclement weather, and pesticides (Stankus, 2008).
2. Location- if the beehives are put into an area where little to no flowers bloom/exist honey production will be down or if there are extremely long cold winters with much moisture.
3. How many blooming flowers there are in the area/region and time of blossom (tress vs flowers vs gardens vs. wild flowers) all have significant factors in bee populations and honey production.
4. The concentration of bees vs. flowering crops, gardens in an area/region.
5. If there is a drought, lack of water or if there is too much rain-workers cannot go out in the rain and forage for flower or pollen.
6. The distance between the beehive and food sources. If a bee has to forage 5 km or 8 km for food supply or is the food source within 1 km makes a significant contribution to honey production.
7. If the colony is not inspected regularly the hive may split and 50% of workers will take off with the old queen.
8. If pollen patties are given to beehive in spring, the queen will be stimulated to produce more worker bees, more worker bees generally mean/s more honey brought back to beehive.
9. Winter candy boards- this is the honey bees emergency reserve food s that is given to them just in case they run out of honey. It is a 2” board with screen bottom (hardware cloth) so bees and queen may get access to the sugar/water mixture.
10. If the queen dies and there is no supersedure taking place.
11. If the queen has not mated the colony will collapse.
12. If beehives are placed near GMO crops
13. If farmers use harsh chemicals on their crops, bees are affected by these chemicals.
14. Colony Collapse Disorder- suspect cause are neonicotinoids. In France and Italy they have been banned for the time being and many apiaries are recovering or have recovered fully.
15. Herbicides, pesticides, fungicides etc. are affect bees performance and health.
16. If the beehive isn’t properly maintained it can cause death to the bees.
17. If there is excessive moisture in the hive, moisture is deadly to the bees if in direct contact.
18. Diseases such as Varroa mites, Nosema disease and tracheal mites, American or European foul brood can be deadly to bee colonies and its population.
19. If beehives are not treated in fall and spring could cause mite population to explode and kill the colony. These are some of the major factors which affect bee colonies and their production of honey.
20. If wild animals such as bears, racoons, possums, mice, squirrels, ants to mention a few get into hive they can seriously damage and kill the bee colony.
21. Other fall robbers that steel the bees stored honey, other bees, wasps, yellow jackets etc.
22. Natural disasters.
23. RF, microwave and cell tower energy. There are other factors which affect honey production which will be identified in HoneyHoney’s website.