If any experienced beekeeper read my last post, they would currently point out that it isn’t so simple to just go from 200 hives to a 1000. Doing so will leave me overwhelmed and underequipped. I am not going to be so niene and do this but also, I want to stay hungry.
The difference between sustainable agriculture and Regenerative agriculture is that we no longer and just sustain and growth is needed.
So, 2024 will be about building skills, gaining experience and developing an better understanding of want 1000 hives would looking like. The average colony of bees in Northern NJ produces 60 pounds of honey. If I got 60 people to tell me that they want to be notified when the 2024 I will add one hive to the operation. If 3,600-people, do I will add 60-hives. Growing in proportion with the demand I will be will assume to be there. 20 of these hives I will manage as someone should in their first year of keeping bees so to be able to document the seasonal management.
While managing those 250 colonies I will simultaneously answer the call to save a billion bees, which I laid out in my next post (link here). While this study is taking place, I will take queen rearing classes traveling to <beekeeping classes for which I have signed up>. This will fill my time and give me the experience needed for the coming years.
In year 2, 2025, I will take those 60-hives split them. Being conservative in your outlook on success is important here which is why I will assume I will have 40 of the 60 over winter and that I will be able to pull 30 nucs from them. The making of these nuc, of the queens, is the skill that will be needing in a major way. I will run an experiment to see how many times I can split those nucleus colonies in the season.
At the beginning of the 2025 season, I will again solicit interest in local honey. How many people really buying bees to mean that demand and managing them in the same fashion as 2024.